FULTON, Mo. – Storming back from a 16-point deficit, the Missouri Baptist University women's basketball team came up just short of defeating William Woods on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans tied the game twice in the final 90 seconds of the game, but were unable to break through with a go-ahead basket, falling to the Owls, 77-74.
 
As evident by MBU's late-game heroics, no lead was safe on Saturday. The Spartans jumped out to a 13-7 lead to begin the game thanks to a 75 percent shooting clip (6-of-8). However, following the fast start, the team went cold and missed its next 12 shots. During the drought, William Woods flipped the script with a 12-point swing to go ahead 19-13. The Owls remain perfect in American Midwest Conference action with a 4-0 mark in league play and 7-2 record overall.
 
After 6 minutes and 43 seconds without a bucket, freshman Sara Hermosa avoided the Spartans' 13-straight miss with a pull-up jumper just inside the arc. The Owls maintained at least a three-point advantage throughout the second quarter and nearly took a double-digit lead into the break before MBU freshman Nicole Greisenauer drained a shot before the buzzer for halftime. MBU trailed 35-26 at halftime.
 
For the second game in a row, sophomore Caroline Rogers paced the Spartans through the first two quarters, totaling six points on 3-of-4 shooting.
 
In the third quarter, William Woods began to push ahead and turned to 6-foot junior guard Peyton Greenlee, who put up a career-high 34 points on the day. Greenlee scored 14 of those points in the third quarter and helped the Owls go up by as much as 16.
 
With 4:01 remaining in the third quarter, the Spartans needed to put an end to WWU's surge and they did just that. Missouri Baptist turned to sophomore Rose Wassef, who had the hot hand. Wassef scored eight straight points for the Spartans and helped narrow the gap to nine by the end of the third.
 
William Woods increased the margin to 14 in the fourth quarter, but another example of a spurt came in the form of a 16-2 run by the Spartans to tie the ballgame at 69-all. It was a collective effort with five different Spartans scoring during the run led by Kadesha Cooper with 7.
 
MBU tied the game again at 71-71 with 40 seconds remaining, but the Owls continued to have an answer and prevent the Spartans from taking the lead. Down 73-71, Wassef missed on a 3-point attempt and potential go-ahead basket. With an Alissa Rowden offensive rebound, the Spartans were able to take a timeout to draw up a play to tie the game. An unsuccessful attempt led to fouling Peyton Greenlee, who knocked down both free throws to give WWU an unsurmountable 4-point lead even with Rose Wassef hitting a late three with a few seconds remaining.

Wassef was one point shy of a career high leading the Spartans with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 5-of-11 from 3-point range. Cooper joined Wassef in double figures with 14 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
 
Up next for the Spartans (3-6, 2-3 AMC) is an exhibition contest at NCAA Division II McKendree University on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m.