ST. LOUIS – [Box Score] The annual "Senior Night" delivered smiles to all, as the Missouri Baptist women's basketball team soundly defeated Park, 76-70. The Spartans had five different players score in double-digits. Missouri Baptist led in the contest for the final 35 minutes and 25 seconds.
Before the contest, the program honored four seniors: Leslie Damper, Kyesha Quarterman, Esther Brown, and Kristyne Smyth. The four were playing in their last home game donning the blue and white uniforms.
Missouri Baptist (11-18, 9-12 AMC) was very productive shooting the basketball. The Spartans hit 21-of-50 (42 percent) shots from the floor, and made 5-of-10 from three-point territory. The team also made 29-of-36 free throw attempts, which was just the third-highest free throw makes this season. The Spartans made 30-of-35 attempts the first meeting against Park on 1/23/14.
Park (14-13, 12-9 AMC) won the rebounding battle, 46-38, after pulling down 22 offensive boards. The Pirates hit on 26-of-74 shots from the floor, and had a 35 percent success-rate. Park was limited to just 4-of-16 from deep range and made only 14-of-26 from the charity stripe.
Taylor Klingelhoefer led the Spartans with 20 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor. She nailed 3-of-4 from downtown, and sank 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
Senior Kristyne Smyth hit 6-of-16 shots from the field and 1-of-4 from three-point range en route to 13 points. She had three rebounds and two assists.
Jasmine Jackson scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor, and also hit 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. She had three rebounds and two assists, along with one block.
Angela Talley co-led the Spartans with seven rebounds. She had 10 points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and made all six free throw shots.
Kennedy Smith was the fifth Spartan to score in double-figures, scoring 10 points on 2-of-6 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. She also had seven rebounds to co-lead the Spartans.
Park took a 5-4 lead with 16:35 left in the half, but would that lead would disappear very quickly.
Taylor Klingelhoefer swished a deep three-ball to give the Spartans a 7-5 lead, a lead in which they would hold for the remainder of the contest.
Park was able to keep the deficit in single digits for the next 8:20, until two free throws by Angela Talley gave the Spartans a 25-14 lead with 7:02 left in the half.
A 12-2 run by Park over a 2:50 span cut the MBU lead to just 29-26 with 4:28 left in the half.
Park hit a shot at the buzzer to end the half in favor of the Spartans, 41-32.
Missouri Baptist was firing on all cylinders in the first 20 minutes, hitting 11-of-23 from the floor, 2-of-4 from three-point range, and 17-of-20 from the free throw line.
Talley led MBU with 10 points in the half, while also pulling down seven rebounds.
In the second half, the two teams basically traded baskets over the first eight minutes, until the Spartans worked their lead up to 17 points, 62-45 with 9:25 left in the game.
Park began to chip away at the deficit, cutting the Spartans lead to just three points (72-69) with 2:39 left in the game.
Missouri Baptist turned up the pressure on the defensive end over the final 2:38, limiting Park to just one point. The Spartans scored the final six points of the game, and ran the clock down to all zeroes.
Missouri Baptist would end the home portion of the 2013-14 schedule victorious, with a 76-70 win.
The Spartans will take on 12th ranked Columbia College on Saturday. Tipoff from Columbia, Mo. is set for 2 pm.
