ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist forward Cherish Walton must enjoy playing in her hometown of Columbia, Mo. The Missouri Baptist sophomore posted a career-high 18 points on Thursday in a 73-52 win on the road over the Stephens College Stars.
Missouri Baptist (8-15, 8-19 AMC) seemed to find its groove early against Stephens College in the team's second to last game of the 2014-15 regular season.
The Stars led briefly after Katie Heaton hit a bucket to make it 6-4 nearly three minutes into the contest, but Missouri Baptist answered with authority. The Spartans proceeded to go on a remarkable 22-0 run to open-up a 26-6 lead.
Missouri Baptist led 39-23 heading into halftime. Point guard Aimee Iverson led all scorers with 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.
As the second half got underway, Cherish Walton began to make her way to the top of the score sheet. The forward completed her night with 18 points and one steal with just over 23 minutes of time on the court.
Jasmine Jackson also had a nice night for the Spartans. The junior came just two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight boards and 10 points. Aimee Iverson and Morgan Settle also finished the game in double-digits.
On the whole, Missouri Baptist shot 45 percent from the floor in the game and recorded 13 steals. Jackson set a season-high with four and led MBU in that category.
Katie Heaton led the Stars on the night. The freshman recorded 15 points and three steals. Dana Heggemann finished with 12 points and rounded-out the scorers in double digits.
Missouri Baptist will now need to wait until Saturday evening after its game against William Woods University to find out where it will head for the first round of the American Midwest Conference tournament. Currently, Hannibal-LaGrange and Harris-Stowe remain tied for the No. 7 spot with Williams Baptist one game back.
As Missouri Baptist is locked-into the No. 10 seed, several scenarios exist based on Saturday's games to determine MBU's AMC Tournament opponent:
IF Harris-Stowe and Hannibal-LaGrange both win, Harris-Stowe holds the tiebreaker and MBU will travel to play the HSSU Hornets on Monday.
IF Harris-Stowe and Hannibal-LaGrange both lose AND Williams Baptist loses, Harris-Stowe holds the tiebreaker and MBU will travel to play the HSSU Hornets on Monday.
IF Harris-Stowe and Hannibal-LaGrange lose AND Williams Baptist wins, Harris-Stowe holds the tiebreaker and MBU will travel to play the HSSU Hornets on Monday.
IF Hannibal-LaGrange wins and Harris-Stowe loses, MBU will travel to play the HLG Trojans on Monday.
IF Harris-Stowe wins and Hannibal-LaGrange loses, MBU will travel to play the HSSU Hornets on Monday.
