ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Missouri Baptist had plenty of energy heading into the Christmas break on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans put together several key runs and restrained Central Baptist (Ark.) just enough when it mattered in a 67-56 win in St. Louis over the Lady Mustangs.
Missouri Baptist (3-6, 2-3 AMC) proved several things on Saturday's game, many of those lessons to itself after a tough loss just 48 hours earlier to No. 8-ranked Lyon (Ark.) squad. From the outset, both teams played evenly until the Spartans began to put a run together down the final stretch of the first quarter.
A pair of three-pointers, one from Emily White and the other from Karlie Senko helped the Lady Mustangs keep pace in the early going, but Shay Robinson answered. The junior dropped two in a row on Central Baptist as the quarter concluded and gave Missouri Baptist a 21-16 lead heading into the second quarter.
As the second frame got underway, the Lady Mustangs fought back into the game. Audrey Moran cut the deficit to two with a three to open play, and Central Baptist began to push the pace.
Missouri Baptist got its lead to four, thanks to another three ball from Shay Robinson, but the Spartans were unable to hold-on to its lead in the final 2:07. The Lady Mustangs, down 29-25, went on a 5-0 run to end the half in that two minutes and took a 30-29 lead into the break.
After the half, the three-point shooting was red-hot for Missouri Baptist. Amanda Rowden rattled home a three to start the half and Riley Reddin followed with one of her own to grab a 35-30 lead.
The Spartans continued to control the paint in the third quarter and as shots began falling, the hard work began to pay off. Missouri Baptist built a 10-point, 43-33 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the period. The Lady Mustangs, however, fired right back. In a three-minute span, Central Baptist erased eight of the 10-point lead.
The Lady Mustangs held the Spartans to just three points in the final three minutes leading into the fourth quarter and made it a two-point, 46-44 lead for the home team with 10 minutes to play.
It took the Spartans just three minutes to re-build its 10-point advantage. Chanel Brown put five on the board in that span, and combined with another three from Rowden, Missouri Baptist led 56-46.
The Lady Mustangs cut into the lead as the final quarter continued, but a strong 40 minutes of team basketball pushed the Spartans over the hump to their second American Midwest Conference victory of the 2016-17 season.
Robinson led Missouri Baptist on Saturday. The season point leader for the Spartans grabbed her sixth double-digit game of the season and finished with 15 points. Amanda Rowden also put together another big game for the Spartans. The junior from Strafford, Mo., knocked-down two critical three-pointers in the game and finished with 12 points.
The Mustangs were led by Morgan Fimpel and Aliyah Block. The duo combined for 22 points (11 each).
Perhaps the most important part of Saturday's game was from the defensive side of the ball. Missouri Baptist held Central Baptist's leading scorer, Karlie Senko, to a season-low three points. Senko has averaged over 14 points per game on the year heading into Saturday's contest.
Next up for Missouri Baptist is Christmas Break and two tough road matchups against Park (Mo.) and Columbia (Mo.) on December 29 and 31.
