MESA, Ari. - The women's basketball team entered the night one game behind the Buccaneers in the Cal Pac standings.
The women's were able to pick up a huge 59-54 win in its first game of the Arizona road trip.
Rachel Gafford scored the first points of the night when she nailed a mid-range jumper.
Simpson would open the quarter with an 11-3 advantage capped off by an
Anna Marshall three-ball.
It would be all Simpson in the first quarter as they doubled up and outscored Park 16-8 with a three-pointer to close out the first quarter by
Hannah Parsons.
The Red Hawks would pick up the second quarter where they left off as
Dyani Del Castillo drained a three-pointer to begin the scoring and put Simpson up 11 points.
However, the Buccaneers would flip the script and outscore the Red Hawks 23-10 thanks to a 16-4 Buccaneers run.
Itzel Torres would convert on a late second-quarter layup just before the half to trim the Park lead to three points.
Simpson would begin the second half trailing Park 26-31 before
Rachel Gafford would nail a jumper on Simpson's opening possession in the half.
Down by as much as eight points in the third quarter, the Red Hawks would begin to chip away as Castillo would hit both free throws followed by back-to-back buckets by
Rory Hetrick.
Marshall would put the exclamation on top for the Red Hawks as she hit a late three-pointer to give Simpson the 43-41 lead to end the third quarter.
Gabby Sebit would have an impact play to open the fourth and final quarter when she created a Buccaneer turnover with a steal and finished with a fastbreak layup.
With less than a minute to play,
Tessa Kinney would hit one big free throw to make it a two-possession game in favor of the Red Hawks, 53-49.
Up by two points with less than twenty seconds to play, the Buccaneers looked to tie or take the lead when
Rory Hetrick created a huge turnover with a steal as she took it back the other way for a basket to ice the game.
The Red Hawks would hang on for the 59-54 hard-fought victory between one of the Cal Pac's toughest teams this year.
Dyani Del Castillo had a big game as she had a team-high 18 points.
Rory Hetrick followed Castillo with 12 points of her own to go along with seven rebounds.
With the win, Simpson is now tied with the Buccaneers as they are one game out of first place in the Cal Pac standings.
Simpson will continue its Arizona road trip as they take on Benedictine tomorrow at 4 PM.
