MERCED, Calif. - The women's basketball team opened the Cal Pac Conference Tournament as the first game of the day against fourth-seed Park-Gilbert University.
The first points of the game for Simpson belonged to a jumper by
Nikki Thompson on the opening possession of the game.
A
Dyani Del Castillo steal moments later led to a three-pointer by Castillo to give Simpson the early lead.
Anna Marshall put the final points of the first quarter on the board with a layup to give Simpson the 17-11 lead.
The Bucs drew first blood in the second quarter before a
Nikki Thompson layup padded Simpson's lead back to six.
A 12-0 Buccaneers run helped give them a 25-19 lead before a Hetrick bucket ended the Buccaneer run.
A layup by Hetrick to end the half helped cut into the 10-point deficit to make it a 31-23 Park lead.
The Buccaneers dominated the second quarter of play by outscoring Simpson 20-6 to take the 31-23 lead heading into halftime.
Simpson faced an eight-point lead but were in familiar territory as they faced an 11-point deficit and won in overtime against the same Bucs crew a few weeks ago.
Back-to-back buckets by Gafford and Castillo to open the second half trimmed the Park lead to just four points.
Simpson roared back and pulled within one point after another bucket by Castillo made it a 34-33 ballgame.
But the Buccaneers pulled away and rebuilt its lead to 11 points as they closed out the 47-36 lead to end the third quarter of play.
The Red Hawks chipped away as they pulled within five points with just under seven minutes left after a layup by Hetrick.
However, the Buccaneers caught fire and padded its lead to a game-high 17 points with just under three minutes to play.
Simpson could not overcome the second-half deficit as they fell to Park 62-50 to end its season.
Rory Hetrick had a team-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and six steals.
Rachel Gafford followed Hetrick with 10 points and three rebounds in her final game in a Red Hawks jersey.
With the loss, Simpson says goodbye to three seniors;
Rachel Gafford,
Riley Wallen, and
Kayla Morgan.
Simpson now enters the off season to retool to make another strong playoff push next year as they look to be a force to be reckon with in the Cal Pac.
