The Park University women's basketball program went head-to-head with Graceland University on Monday afternoon, defeating the Yellowjackets to finish up the last Heart of America Athletic Conference game until after the New Year, 65-62.

Park extends their winning streak to three games and are in a nice position at 6-4 in the Heart and 8-5 on the regular season. The Pirates are No. 5 in the conference at the moment, while the Yellowjackets are No. 13 in the Heart at 2-11 and 0-9 in conference play.

Graceland shot it well out of the gate and worked themselves to a 7-0 start to begin the game. Emma Perry created a 5-0 run on a couple of jumpers including a three-point bucket to make it 7-5. Graceland managed a pair of free-throw makes, but then Park's Nadiyah Cooper went on her own 5-0 run with a three to make it 10-9. After another lead change off of a Graceland layup, Makayla Artis gave the Pirates another lead with a pair of made free-throws, 12-11. The Pirates began to pour it on with a 7-2 run to close out the final two minutes of the quarter with by the hands of Nevaeh Spillman, Jordan Bianco, and a Perry triple, 19-13.

Through the first 3:45 of the second quarter only two points were scored by either side. Graceland ended the drought with a three-ball at 6:15, only to be answered by Cooper though to maintain a six-point lead, 24-18. Three-point shooting continued to be on display, as Perry put Park up 10 with two more makes from beyond the arc with 4:10 to play, 30-20. There would be some trading off of scores the rest of the quarter, but Park would control things for an 8-point halftime lead, 34-26.

Not a lot of movement in the deficit was made by the Yellowjackets until the 6:05 mark in the third quarter, as a layup and three-pointer cut down the lead to 39-34. This time Paige Scott nailed a three-pointer to give the Pirates a needed lift at the 5:15 mark, 42-34. This held the Yellowjackets for a couple minutes, but another 5-0 run made it 46-43 with 2:52 to play. The Pirates did not back down from the pressure all game though, as two layups by Cooper and two steals by Scott brought Park back to a manageable seven-point lead to end the quarter, 50-43.

The final three-pointer of the game for the Pirates came by Kate Sokolova to begin the fourth quarter and then Cooper raised Park to its largest lead of the game with a layup for a 12-point spread, 55-43. The Pirates would be 8-for-20 from beyond the arc in the game and did not lean heavily on it in the fourth quarter at only one-for-four. Back-to-back turnovers got the Yellowjackets some openings with three consecutive scores to half the Park lead. Spillman got her number called with multiple layups to keep Park in a friendly position, but the Yellowjackets continued to surge with a 4-0 run to make it 59-55 with 4:34 to go. Cooper and Artis made key buckets down the stretch to stiff arm the Yellowjackets and despite Graceland coming within three points with a three-pointer at 1:04, Artis iced the game with free-throws to make it 65-60. A very last second foul occurred to send Graceland to the line, but at no threat to Park as the game concluded 65-62.

The Pirates shot 40.4-percent from the field, while the Yellowjackets were only a couple percentage points away at 38.7-percent.

Park had an advantage from downtown with a 40-percent day, while the Yellowjackets had two less makes and shot 26.1-percent.

The Pirates had a brilliant day at the line with 15-of-17 in free-throws, while the Yellowjackets only had two misses as well on less attempts at eight-of-10.

The Yellowjackets had four less turnovers than Park's 15, but only managed to have two more points off those turnovers.

Second chance points were essentially even, but the Yellowjackets outscored Park 32 to 22 in points in the paint and 25 to seven in bench points.

No one had the answer for Cooper who went eight-for-12 from the field on a team leading 19-point performance.

Perry and Artis were sitting on near double-doubles with nine rebounds apiece. Perry however did put up a big number offensively with 16 points with an impressive four-of-seven day from three-point range, while Artis was just below double-figures with eight points.

Spillman and Scott had quality days as well, contributing eight and seven points respectively.

Besides Artis and Perry, hauling in the majority of boards, Bianco and Cooper also grabbed five and four rebounds for the game.

The Pirates will have a non-conference, road matchup with Avila University on New Year's Eve day at 2pm in Kansas City, Mo. WATCH
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