ST. LOUIS – [BOX SCORE] With just one loss of the current home stand, Missouri Baptist grabbed its third win in four games on Thursday afternoon. The Spartans pushed the pace in the early going and weathered the storm late against Williams Baptist (Ark.) in a 78-75 victory in St. Louis.
Missouri Baptist (6-9, 5-6 AMC) struggled offensively in the opening quarter, but rebounded in the second. Thanks in large part to a big defensive effort, the Spartans erased an 18-12 deficit and held the Lady Eagles to 15 to cut the deficit to a one point, 33-32 Williams Baptist lead heading into halftime.
The Spartans took control beginning in the second quarter and stormed out of the break. After trailing by six, Missouri Baptist's shooting came to the forefront and with 3:26 remaining in the half, the home team tied the game at 26-26.
The Lady Eagles put together a strong effort down the stretch of the second, however, and maintained its lead into halftime. Andrea Moffitt and Kate Junkersfeld led the way by combining for six of the final eight points of the half to grab the advantage.
The Spartans turned things around in the third quarter. Missouri Baptist jumped all over the Lady Eagles early and often and built an 11-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The final 10 minutes of Thursday's game were the most entertaining of the 2016-17 thus far for fans of fast-paced action and explosive offense. Both teams combined for 58 points, but it was sound defense and clutch free throw shooting in the final minutes that sealed it for the Spartans.
Though Missouri Baptist was outscored 33-25 in the final frame, Briya Wilborn, Riley Reddin and Chantelle Smith provided key buckets from the charity stripe as the Spartans advanced to 5-6 in American Midwest Conference action.
Shay Robinson's 28 points and four steals on Thursday were not only career-highs on the box score, but her 7-11 may be the most impressive three-point shooting percentage for an individual in Spartan history for players with over five triples in a contest. The last player to knock-down seven in a game was Alexis Rhoades in the 2010-11 season.
As a team, the Spartans shot 50 percent from behind the arc for the game and just under 47 percent from the floor. Perhaps the most impressive statistic, however, was that from the free throw line. Missouri Baptist went an impressive 13-16 from the line (81 percent) in the contest. Not to be outdone was Amanda Scott. The junior recorded 19 points, her second highest total of the season.
Williams Baptist shooting carousel was especially effective in the fourth quarter on Thursday. The team shot 56.9 percent from the floor for the game, its' highest of the 2016-17 campaign thus far.
Alytrius Perry led all scorers for the Lady Eagles in the game. The senior guard tied a career-high with 25 points, a mark she had previously set earlier this season in a 64-59 win over Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) on December 1, 2016.
With the win, the Spartans will have some momentum heading back out on the road next Thursday at Stephens (Mo.).
During Thursday's contest, a change in the weekend schedule occurred as an impending inclement weather has forced several adjustments to AMC Basketball. Saturday's game against NAIA No. 1 Freed-Hardeman (Mo.) has been postponed to a later date. Details of the reschedule will be made available on MBUSpartans.com as soon as it becomes available.
