Pride use huge second half to come back from down 16 for win at Park

PARKVILLE, Mo. - Looking to continue their strong second half of the season, the Clarke University women's basketball team was able to pull out a four-point win at Park University by a 75-71 final score on Saturday afternoon.

Only leading the game one time momentarily early int he first quarter, the Pride trailed entering every subsequent quarter including deficits of 27-19 after the first, 45-34 at halftime, and 58-53 entering the final 10 minutes of play in the fourth quarter.

CU's defense led them to a fourth quarter rally where they outscored the Pirates 22-13 as Park went 3-for-14 (21.4%) while turning the ball over seven times as the Pride didn't fair too much better, going 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the field but turned it over only three times and went 14-for-15 (93.3%) from the free throw line compared to Park's 7-for-12 (58.3%) from the charity stripe.

In the fourth, a pair of Reese Ryan free throws gave Clarke their first lead since being up 6-5 in the first quarter at 63-62, but PU was able to tie the game back up at 67-67 with under a minute to go in the game.

The following Pride possession, Zoe Kennedy would assist on a Josie Potts layup through a foul for a three-point play, giving CU a 70-67 lead where the remainder of the game would be a free throw game that saw the Pirates miss one early and Kennedy to 4-for-4 to grow Clarke's lead to four points, where the final score eventually landed at 75-71.

That go-ahead three-point play was the only make from the field for Potts in her 36 minutes on the floor as she did plenty to stuff the statsheet in other ways, finishing with five rebounds, three assists, and a steal while Kennedy finished a rebound shy of a double-double at a game-high 28 points, 17 of which came from going 17-for-18 (94.4%) from the free throw line, with nine rebounds, six assists, three blocked shots, and a steal, and Ryan was able to reach a double-double at 10 points and 10 rebounds, with a career-high six blocked shots, one shy of the school record, and three steals.

Hailey Walters was the third member of the Pride in double figures with 13 points, including two of the team's four three pointers with six rebounds, two steals, and an assist in 33 minutes with Camdyn Kay adding eight points along with Breckan Stewart and Jessica Morgan producing seven and five points respectively off the bench.

Clarke women's basketball will return home for a pair of home games next week starting with a Wednesday, Feb. 11 matchup against William Penn University with a 5:30 p.m. CT scheduled opening tip at the Kehl Center.