ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] Wire to wire is how it looked to be headed early. Embroiled in an all-too important American Midwest Conference battle with playoff implications involved, Missouri Baptist brought its "A-Game" on Tuesday in a 77-66 win over Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.).
Missouri Baptist (9-14, 8-12 AMC) entered the three-game week needing wins and some help to qualify for the AMC tournament and did its part. MBU had one of its best games on the boards of the year and out-rebounded the Lady Trojans 43-36.
From the outset, the Spartans controlled the pace of play, but the Lady Trojans were never far behind. Missouri Baptist led by as many as five in the first quarter as Taylor Klingelhoefer led the way. The senior traded shots with Hannibal's Morgan Winkler, as both players ended the opening frame with seven points. Klingelhoefer ended the night with eight points.
Missouri Baptist outscored the Lady Trojans in each quarter of Tuesday night's game and led the game by three at the half, though Hannibal-LaGrange stayed right in it until the final quarter.
The Spartans led by one after the first quarter and rebuilt its lead to five in the second, but HLG responded. A pair of threes by Kylee Elmore and Sarah Cline pushed the visitors to one three, one-point leads in the second. As time in the second quarter was winding down, however, the Spartans hit a key bucket to take the lead into halftime. Trina Valencia knocked-down the triple with a second remaining to give MBU the lead heading into the break.
Missouri Baptist extended its lead to seven with just over six to go in the third quarter, but the Lady Trojans came storming back. HLG's Winkler led her team on an 8-0 and put the game back in the balance.
The Spartans, however, took full control in the final ten minutes and put the game away. Missouri Baptist began play with an 8-0 run and never looked back in the big conference victory.
As a team, Missouri Baptist shot 44.6 percent in the contest as Morgan Settle led the way with 18 points. Jerica Hawkins recorded a career-high seven assists in the game as well.
The Spartans will have a chance to make it 2-0 on Thursday as they travel to St. Louis College of Pharmacy (Mo.). Game time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. set to be played at St. Louis Community College-Meramec (Mo.).
