The Park University women's basketball program was on the road in Dubuque, Iowa on Saturday, facing the Pride of Clarke University. Park came away with a nicely executed come from behind win 85-82.

Park, on a three game win streak, bumps up 17-10 on the year with a 14-9 Heart of America Athletic Conference record, while Clarke is now 10-15 with an 8-13 conference record.
Clarke got the leg up in the first quarter, starting at the 5:49 mark as a 9-0 run made it 17-7 with 3:47 left to play. Park would not score until the 2:49 mark by Nadiyah Cooper, and the Pride continued to build on their lead, scoring 29 points in the first quarter to lead 29-15.

A nice 7-0 run by Park to jumpstart the second quarter was exactly what was needed. Paige Scott buried a three-pointer and Nevaeh Spillman scored after her steal to make it 29-22 with 7:59 to go. Still, Clarke came back with another big run and led by 17-points with 5:25 to play, 39-22. As the quarter winded down, Kate Sokolova hit a timely three-pointer to get Park back within 10 points with 1:20 left, 45-35. Before the quarter was out though, the Pride scored one last time to go up 12-points, 47-35.

The script was flipped in the second half, as 50 points were scored by Park. Emma Perry started off the third quarter with a three-pointer, and multiple steals by Scott and Spillman led to a layup by Perry the other way to make it 47-40. The Pride stayed in control for the most part, but the Pirates were not relenting, as another three-pointer by Perry at 5:15 kept it within single digits, 54-47. As the quarter continued to progress, two more three-pointers by Scott made the game its closest since the first quarter with 48 seconds left, 64-59. Before the quarter ended, Spillman made it a four-point game with a free-throw, but a jumper by Clarke made it a 66-60 game at the end of the quarter.

Spillman continued to score into the fourth quarter with the first four points for Park. The Pirates then cut it within two points at the 6:25 mark with a layup by Scott and then the Pirates courtesy of Spillman tied the game at 68-68. Park stayed on the offensive and under five minutes left, earned its first lead, again by Spillman on a layup, 72-70. Cooper and Makayla Artis went back and forth with the Pride and Park led by one point with 3:01 to play, 76-75. The Pride managed one last push to regain control with a 5-0 run, but Park was able to respond under 10 minutes with a crucial and-one by Cooper to make it 80-79. Two more lead changes would take place, as Clarke led 82-81 with 50 seconds left. Perry managed to haul in one of the biggest offensive rebounds of the game that forced a Clarke foul and she hit her two free-throws to give the Pirates the lead, 83-82. A costly turnover by Clarke and subsequent foul sent Spillman to the line where she hit both to make it 85-83. With under three seconds, Clarke had two three-point chances but none of them fell and Park completed the improbable road comeback.

Clarke shot 43.5-percent to Park's 39.5-percent from the field. Park came on strong with their three-point shooting as well at seven-of-20 to Clarke's 13-of-31.

From the free-throw line Park had the advantage with an 18-of-24 day compared to only nine-of-14 for Clarke.

The tipping point could be seen in turnovers, as Clarke more than doubled Park's turnovers with 18. The Pirates capitalized on those mistakes with 17 points off turnovers to only four points off eight Park turnovers for Clarke.

Park owned the paint with 40 points in the paint to 24 for Clarke. The Pirates made the most of transition buckets with 12 points off fastbreaks to only two points for Clarke.

Remarkably, 64 points came from Clarke's bench, while nine points were contributed by Park's non-starters.

Cooper led Park with 20 points and a team-leading three steals, while three other starters were in double-figure scoring.

Scott was next in line with 18 points on four made three-pointers. Perry was one rebound away from a double-double with 16 points and co-led Park with Jordan Bianco in assists with three.
Sokolova made good contributions with seven points and six rebounds.

Artis was next in line on the rebounding numbers behind Perry with eight for the game.

Five Pirates had at least two steals in the game for the team's season high of 13 steals in a game.

The Pirates have their final regular season matchup with Missouri Valley College on Wednesday, February 19 at 5:30pm. WATCH
Box Score