ST. LOUIS- The Missouri Baptist women's basketball team could not overcome a 15-point first half deficit, and fell to Hannibal-LaGrange, 67-54. The Spartans dropped to 3-7 and 1-1 in AMC play.
Angela Talley poured in a career-high 20 points to lead MBU in scoring. She made 6-of-11 shots from the field and drained a career-high 2-of-2 from the land of plenty. Kristyne Smyth scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 from three-point range. Haley Elders recorded a season-high eight rebounds, including two offensive rebounds.
Missouri Baptist shot just 26 percent from the floor on 14-of-53, but did make 5-of-12 shots from three-point range. The Trojans shot 39 percent from the field on 22-of-57 shooting. HLG pulled down 45 rebounds, compared to 41 Spartan rebounds.
The Spartans struggled to sink shots in the first half, making just 3-of-21 shots from the field. The turning point in the half came with 8:49 left when Hannibal-LaGrange led 13-9. The Trojans went on an 18-4 run over the next 6:22 to take a 31-13 lead. Missouri Baptist made just two field goals in the game until Talley drained a three-pointer to stop the bleeding and cut the deficit to 31-16 with 2:27 left in the half.
Neither team could find a point during the remainder of the half and Hannibal-LaGrange led at the half, 31-16.
In the second half, HLG seemed to begin to pull away over the first three minutes, as they held a 40-22 lead, its largest lead of the game.
Jasmine Jackson splashed a three-pointer with 13:45 left in the game, which cut the deficit to 40-30.
Hannibal-LaGrange went on a furious 21-10 run over the next nine minutes and held a 61-40 lead with just 4:58 left in the game.
Missouri Baptist would not go down without a fight as the blue and white scored 14-straight points over a three minute span and cut the Trojan lead to just 61-54 with 2:01 left in the game. Talley sparked the Spartans with nine points during the run, including a three-pointer, a two-pointer, and four free throws.
Hannibal-LaGrange ended the game on a 6-0 run to finish off MBU.
The Spartans will host Benedictine-Springfield on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
