ST. LOUIS – There was little margin for error in Tuesday evening's tightly-contested American Midwest Conference matchup between the Missouri Baptist University women's basketball team and No. 25 Lindenwood University-Belleville. Ultimately, MBU was outdone by the visiting Lynx at the free-throw line and that turned out to be the difference maker in a 74-63 loss at home.
 
Lindenwood-Belleville converted on 14-of-15 free-throw attempts in a high-scoring fourth quarter. LU-B guards Hailey Erdman and Brianna Mueller teamed up to shoot a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final period as the Lynx did just enough to fend off all of the Spartans' comeback attempts.
 
Despite jumping out to a quick 4-2 lead to begin the game, the Spartans went five minutes without out a field goal and turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter. All things considered, Missouri Baptist trailed by just four heading into the second period.
 
The Spartans took their second lead of the game at 14-13 on an Izzy Farrell 3-pointer. Farrell teamed up with Kadesha Cooper and Megan Fassino to pace the Spartans in the first half combining for 17 of MBU's 19 points and 50 percent of MBU's 18 rebounds. At halftime, Lindenwood-Belleville led by just six (25-19).
 
After shooting a lackluster 29.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Spartans began to find their rhythm midway through the third quarter and carried the improved shooting over into the fourth as well. Missouri Baptist improved its overall shooting clip to 42.9 percent in the second half and went 10-for-12 from the line. Unfortunately, LU-Belleville kept a four-point cushion throughout and the closest the Spartans would get in the fourth quarter was a five-point deficit with 6:13 remaining in the game.
 
Freshman Nicole Griesenauer, who made her first career start, had a strong second half and finished with 10 points and her second double-digit effort of the season. Senior transfer Kadesha Cooper led the Spartans in scoring with 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting and also tallied four boards. Starter Jordan Wyatt contributed in several areas including 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
 
Defensively, the Spartans yielded 74 points to the Lynx with four reaching double figures, however, guard Brianna Mueller, who entered the game as LU-Belleville's leading scorer (19.1 ppg), was limited to just nine points on 2-of-14 shooting and 0-for-3 from long range.
 
Facing a gauntlet of ranked teams in non-conference play, Lindenwood-Belleville got its second win of the year on Tuesday moving to 2-6 overall and 2-1 in the AMC. The Spartans move to 2-5, 1-2 AMC.
 
MBU remains at home on Thursday for a crosstown battle with Harris-Stowe State University (2-3, 0-2 AMC). Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.