ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist women's basketball team made 30-of-35 free throws, but fell to Park University tonight, 70-67. The Spartans attempted just 34 field goals in the game, a season-low.
Missouri Baptist (5-12, 3-6 AMC) shot 47% from the field, making 16-of-34 shots. The Spartans also made 5-of-12 shots from deep range. Park (8-7, 6-3 AMC) shot just 33% from the field, making 21-of-62 shots. The Pirates made 27-of-39 shots from the charity stripe and won the rebounding battle, 35-30.
Kristyne Smyth once again led MBU in scoring. She netted 16 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 from three-point land, and sank a season-high 8-of-10 shots from the free throw line. Smyth has scored at least 15 points in six consecutive contests.
Jasmine Jackson scored ten points on 1-of-3 from the floor, but made a season-high 8-of-10 free throw attempts. It was Jackson's ninth game scoring in double figures.
After Park jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the first 2:30 of the game, Morgan Settle got the Spartans on the board with 17:30 left in the half.
Smyth tied the contest at 4-4 with two free throws just 25 second later.
Settle scored the next two baskets for MBU, a layup and a three-pointer, and the teams were tied 9-9 with 12:49 left in the half.
Jasmine Jackson scored Missouri Baptist's next five points, all on free throws, which gave the Spartans a 14-11 lead with 9:02 left in the first 20 minutes. Freshman Kennedy Smith hit a shot in the paint to increase the MBU lead to 16-11 with 8:39 left in the frame, which propelled the Spartans to a 7-0 run over nearly a five minute stretch.
Park did not score again until 7:36 left to go in the half, which cut the MBU lead to 16-13.
The Spartans did not hit another field goal for 7:09, but sank ten free throws during the span and held the largest lead of the game, 26-17.
Jasmine Jackson hit a shot in the paint for the Spartans with 1:30 left in the half, which gave MBU a 28-22 lead. The made shot was just 1-of-5 made field goal shots for the Spartans in the half.
Missouri Baptist led at the break, 28-24 after sinking 15-of-17 free throw shots.
In the second half, Kristyne Smyth took over on offense for the Spartans. Over the first three minutes of play, she scored six of MBU's eight points, which guided the Spartans to a 36-29 lead with 17:10 left in the game.
Park began to chip away at the Spartan lead, and cut the deficit to 36-33 with 15:42 left in the game. Leslie Damper answered back just seven seconds later with a jumper, giving MBU a 38-33 lead.
Kennedy Smith scored five-straight points for the Spartans, which helped maintain a 43-36 lead for MBU with 12:25 left in the game.
Park used an 8-0 over a span of 2:39 and took a 46-45 lead with 8:28 left in the contest.
Kristyne Smyth had an answer for that run, as she drained a mid-range jumper just nine seconds later, giving the Spartans a 47-46 lead.
The Spartans would need a spark after the Pirates used another run to take a 53-47 lead with 6:20 left in the game. That spark came from Haley Elders, as she hit the shot in the paint and got fouled. She sank the free throw, cutting the MBU deficit to 53-50 with 6:05 left in the game.
Missouri Baptist trailed by four points before Kristyne Smyth splashed a huge three-pointer, cutting the Park lead to 56-55 with 4:21 to go in the game.
After two Park free throws, Leslie Damper dialed-up from deep range, tying the contest at 58-58 with only 3:37 left in the game.
The Spartans trailed by four points once again, but Leslie Damper would hit another huge three-pointer. The shot cut the deficit to 66-65 with 18 second remaining in the game.
After an MBU foul, the Pirates made 1-of-2 free throws, and took a 67-65 lead with 15 seconds left. A costly turnover on the next Spartan possession proved to be the deciding play, as Park made three free throws in the final ten seconds.
Angela Talley cut the deficit to 69-67 with a layup, but the Spartans could not control a rebound on a Park missed free throw, and the Pirates edged the Spartans at the buzzer, 70-67.
Missouri Baptist will host No. 15 Columbia College on Saturday at 6:30 pm. Due to other events on campus, the game will be played at Maryville University.
