Wildcats Come Up Short in Road Battle at Park, 74-63

PARKVILLE, Mo. - Playing in its third game in the past five days, Baker women's basketball hung tough in its road matchup at Park on Wednesday evening before falling to the Pirates, 74-63 in Parkville, Mo.

With the Pirates only pulling away at the end, the Wildcats practically matched the hosts on the stat sheet with both sides shooting an identical 21-for-31 from the free throw line. Park (24-for-60) shot just slightly better from the floor than BU (19-for-53) and one-upped them with five 3-pointers in the game.

For the third time in the past four games, Destiny Kiner posted a 20-point night with a game-high 23 points to go along with four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Alyssa Morris registered all but one of Baker's four threes in the game and finished with 19 points. Sophia Barrett had 10 points and seven rebounds.

An offensive rebound from Taniya Tease led to a three-point play to start the game for BU as Tease got the put-back and ensuing free throw to fall. Morris' three made it a 10-8 lead for the Wildcats before Park closed out the quarter with a couple of buckets to own a 14-11 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.

Another second-chance opportunity pulled BU within one in the second quarter with Morris crashing the boards and making it a 16-15 deficit. After the Pirates pushed their lead out to five, a three from Kiner made it a one-possession game again.

Later on in the quarter, back-to-back threes from Morris kept the Wildcats close, but the Pirates matched with a pair of treys on their end to take a 34-29 lead at the break.

The Pirates used a 10-2 run to create some breathing room out of halftime as layups from Barrett and Kiner were all the offense BU could get going in the third quarter. Kiner's defense led to an easy breakaway layup as the Wildcats started to climb their way back.

With four seconds left in the period, Morris converted a three-point play before the buzzer, getting a friendly bounce on her drive to the basket to make it a 49-44 ballgame going into the final 10 minutes.

An early three from the Pirates swung the momentum back in their favor as they kept BU at an arm's length away for the rest of the game. Barrett cut it to a five-point game with a layup and a couple of free throws from Kiner a little bit later made the deficit 59-54 with less than four minutes left to play.

That would be as close as the Wildcats would get though as Park missed only one shot in the final four minutes and weathered late free-throw troubles to come out on top, 74-63.

Baker will get a week off to recharge before heading back out on the road to face Peru State on Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. in Peru, Neb.

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