Pride drop tight finish to Park on Senior Day

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In their final home game of the 2024-25 season, the Clarke University women's basketball team fell to Park University by a final score of 85-82 in the Kehl Center on Saturday afternoon.

Following the completion of the game, Clarke recognized the six seniors who dressed for their final home game in their CU careers including four year players Anisha Vondenkamp, Beatrice Atienza, and Lilly Schilling, who were the final remaining members of the 2023 NAIA Championship team, as well as two-year transfers Maci Kuchta, Audree Peck, and Jorja Hanselman.

Five of those seniors started for the Pride and got off to a back-and-forth start in the early portions of the first quarter but Vondenkamp was able to provide a spark, scoring the first eight points for CU that included a two-point jumper late in the shot clock for their first points then back-to-back three pointers to give Clarke an early 8-4 lead.

That first quarter would end with a 29-15 Clarke advantage with Josie Potts adding a pair of threes then both Sydni Morris and Reese Ryan scoring four points in the opening 10 minutes to help tie the Pride's highest scoring quarter of the season, matching a 29-point fourth quarter on Dec. 3 against Culver-Stockton.

The Pirates were able to slowly chip away at that lead throughout the remainder of the game, outscoring Clarke by two in the second, six in the third, and nine in the fourth behind a trapping press defense that forced 18 CU turnovers that led to 18 Pirate points to pull off the three-point win with their last seven points all coming from the free throw line.

Having the last possession of the game down three points, CU was able to get an open look at a layup with enough time to still send Park back to the line but passed it up to go for the tie on a three pointers as Kuchta was able to get two cracks at tying the game after getting her own offensive rebound on the first miss and heaving a fade away triple that banked off the glassed and rimmed in and out after the buzzer to end the game.

Along with celebrating senior day, Kuchta also reached a total of 1,000 points in her collegiate basketball career scoring the final bucket of the first half to reach 10 points as her career included stops at William Penn and Iowa Wesleyan before joining the Pride to accumulate those 1,000 points.

Kuchta was one of four members of the Pride to finish in double figures in the game as Zoe Kennedy led the team with 19 points, Hailey Walters scored 15, and Ryan added 11 while the four in double figures for PU included a game-high 20 from Nadiyah Cooper, 18 from Paige Scott, 17 from Nevaeh Spillman, and 16 from Emma Perry.

Clarke women's basketball will play their final three regular season games next week and all on the road starting with a make-up date against William Penn on Monday, Feb. 17 with a 5:30 p.m. CT scheduled tip in Oskaloosa, Iowa.