ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] A late charge did the Spartans in. The final 10 minutes of Saturday's contest against Central Baptist (Ark.) was a killer for visiting Missouri Baptist as the Lady Mustangs took control in front of a home crowd. In their first meeting as conference foes, Missouri Baptist fell to CBC 69-60 and will head into the break looking to buck the trend of the last two games when the season picks back up on New Year's Eve.
Missouri Baptist (3-5, 2-3 AMC) had won its first two games in American Midwest Conference play, but a tough road trip which ended on Saturday with a loss, will focus the team as it heads into the holiday break.
The Spartans trailed by one after one quarter of play, but led by as many as four in the opening 10 minutes. This back and forth trend continued throughout as the MBU offense broke-out in the second quarter. The team shot 47 percent in the second as solid shooting led the visitors to a 34-33 lead heading into the break.
As has been a trend this season, Missouri Baptist took its cues from the hot hand of Jerica Hawkins. The senior led MBU with 12 first half points, but as Hawkins heated-up, the Lady Mustangs took steps to shut-down one of the top players in the AMC.
Central Baptist held Hawkins scoreless in the third quarter, which set-up fellow senior Taylor Klingelhoefer to pick-up the scoring for the Spartans. The O'Fallon, Ill., native posted two of her four, three-pointers in the third quarter and kept MBU ahead by three.
The fourth quarter, however, was a big one for the Lady Mustangs. CBC posted a 19-4 run to take control of the game in its final stages, and went 3-6 from three-point range in that span.
The Spartans went cold in the final quarter on Saturday. MBU went just 4-14 from the floor in the final 10.
Overall in the game, however, Missouri Baptist had some nice performances both individually and as a team. The Spartans committed just eight turnovers in the game, their lowest total of the season.
For Taylor Klingelhoefer, things began to look up for her perimeter shooting after hitting a season-high four, three-pointers in the game. The guard finished with 14 points and is just 75 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
Danna Jenkins, the junior point guard, played all 40 minutes on Saturday for Missouri Baptist.
Rachel Eitherington led both sides in scoring with 20 on Saturday. It was a career performance for the guard from Little Rock, Ark., as she tied a career high from her freshman year. Her previous 20-point performance was set on January 31, 2014 in a 100-78 loss to York (Neb.).
Denesha Dillard chipped-in 10 points off the bench as was an extremely consistent 4-6 from the floor. Aaliyah Block finished with 12 points on the afternoon for the Lady Mustangs and was their final member of the double-digit club.
Missouri Baptist will have 11 days off before ringing-in the New Year with a December 31st tilt against the Park University Pirates. Tip-off is scheduled at 12:00 p.m. at the Carl and Deloris Petty Sports and Recreation Complex.
