ST. LOUIS – The opportunity for the Missouri Baptist women's basketball team to secure a spot in the eight-team American Midwest Conference (AMC) tournament got that much harder following an 81-69 loss at home to Park University on Tuesday.
 
With the loss, Missouri Baptist dropped to 5-15 overall and 4-12 in the AMC, while Park improved its chances in the ninth-place spot moving to 8-12, 7-9 AMC.
 
Mixing up the starting five on Tuesday, Missouri Baptist didn't quite get the spark offensively that it was hoping for with the move. The Spartans found themselves trailing by nine at the end of the first quarter and shot just 3-for-15 (.200).
 
Luckily, the second quarter was a different story for MBU. The shots began to fall for several Spartans and the team easily doubled its scoring output from the opening quarter. Better shot selection result in the second period resulted in a field-goal percentage above 50 percent (.529) and a lights-out clip from 3-point land. The Spartans were 4-for-5 from long range thanks to Kadesha Cooper (2-for-2), Ashonni Limbs (1-for-1) and Nicole Griesenauer (1-for-1).
 
Not only did MBU find its rhythm shooting, it also closed the gap on the Pirates. The nine-point deficit shrunk to six by halftime as the Spartans trailed Park, 39-33.
 
Missouri Baptist started out the second half with a bang as freshman Joelle Atkins made an impressive play under the basket and was fouled in the act of the shooting. The bucket went in and Atkins completed the 3-point play by knocking down her free-throw attempt. Following the quick play to pull within one possession, the Spartan defense buckled down on the other end and forced a Park turnover.
 
Later in the quarter, a 3-pointer by Rose Wassef at the 4:44 mark put Missouri Baptist down by just one – 47-46. Park responded and did so in the form of a 13-3 run to close out the third. Just like that, the Spartans were down by double digits heading into the final stanza.
 
MBU was down but not out. The Spartans made a push early in the fourth and made significant headway doing it in a variety of ways: from beyond-the-arc, at the free-throw line, in the paint. And once again, a Rose Wassef three put the Pirates in danger of surrendering their lead. With 5:03 remaining, Wassef's trey evened the ballgame at 68-68.
 
Unfortunately, missed shots, turnovers and fouls led to the Spartans' demise. Despite Park shooting just 2-of-8 (.250) from the field in the fourth quarter, the Pirates were able to sneak away with a win after converting on 18 of their whopping 22 free throws (.818).
 
Park had two players with 20+ points including Sarah Lamp, who had a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Cautia Wadood, who added 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Another difference maker for the visitors was their advantage in second-chance points, beating the Spartans in that battle on the day, 19-1.
 
Senior Kadesha Cooper led Missouri Baptist in scoring for the third consecutive game with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. The Prattsville, Ark. native also added five rebounds and three rebounds to the fold. Sophomore Caroline Rogers, who earned a start, was second on the team in scoring (9) and was perfect from the floor shooting 3-for-3. While Alissa Rowden had a quiet day shooting, the senior guard dished out a career-high eight assists and did so without a turnover for an incredible assist/turnover ratio for the night.
 
Next up for the Spartans is fifth-place Central Baptist College (14-5, 10-5 AMC) on Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. MBU narrowly missed getting a victory in Arkansas, falling to the Mustangs 76-71 on Dec. 8.