ST. LOUIS- The Missouri Baptist women's basketball squad started AMC play on the right foot with a 84-52 victory over Stephens. The Spartans improved to 3-5, 1-0 with the win.

The Spartans shot 45 percent from the field as a team on 29-of-64 and made 25-of-30 free throw shots. The Spartans and Stars both pulled down 34 rebounds and MBU forced Stephens into 26 turnovers.

Taylor Klingelhoefer led Missouri Baptist with 23 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe. She also led MBU with four steals and played over 38 minutes in the contest. Kennedy Smith was the other Spartan player to finish in double digits, as she scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. She also led MBU with seven rebounds.

In the first half, MBU built up a 27-9 lead over the first 14 minutes of play.

Stephens made a run in the final six minutes, outscoring MBU 16-9, and cut the deficit at halftime to, 36-26.

In the second half, Stephens cut the MBU lead to single digits, a 38-31 lead with 16:51 left in the game.

Klingelhoefer nailed a field goal to give MBU a 59-42 with just under 10 minutes to play in the game.

Over the final 10 minutes of play, Missouri Baptist outscored the Stars, 25-10, which gave the Spartans the 84-52 victory.

The win moved the Spartans to 3-5 and 1-0 in AMC play.

Missouri Baptist will take on NCAA Division II member McKendree University on December 14 in the final non-conference game of the season.