DES MOINES, Iowa – Sophomore guard Tionne Taylor delivered a 26-point performance for Missouri Baptist women's basketball, but it wasn't enough to unseat Grand View University in its own GVU Classic on Saturday.
 
This year's repeat matchup in the Grand View Classic was a vast improvement from 2018 when the Spartans were outplayed in all four quarters and lost to the Vikings by 49 points. On Saturday, turnovers and lackluster shooting in the second half ultimately led to the Spartans' demise. Trailing by just one after the first quarter and five at the half, Missouri Baptist let the game slip away with the Vikings recording an 85-63 win in their season opener.
 
A day after scoring in double figures for the first time in her college career, Tionne Taylor more than doubled her previous best with a game-high 26 points. The problem from the Spartans was that 19 of Taylor's points came in the first half, meaning Grand View went to the drawing board during halftime and found a way to limit the McKendree University transfer to just seven in the second half.
 
Defensively, Missouri Baptist struggled to keep two of GVU's top returners at bay. Last year, Shannon Pisney and Mia Rosener were two of six Viking players with 10+ points and combined to shoot 10-of-13 from the floor. In this year's meeting, Pisney and Rosener each eclipsed 20 points combining for 46 points, 17-of-26 (.653) shooting, 6-of-9 (.666) from 3-point range and 10 blocks.
 
With Grand View locked in on Taylor, the Spartans were unable to find another hot hand. Freshman Taylor Norris, who led the team in scoring the night before against No. 25 William Penn, couldn't get her shots to fall and was just 2-of-13 from the field with 6 points.
 
Making her second straight start, freshman post player Alexis Allstun had another productive game posting a stat line of 8 points (4-of-10) and a game-high 12 rebounds (6 O, 6 D). The Spartans had three other players score at least six points including Jordan Wyatt, Megan Fassino and Taylor Norris.
 
Both teams were perfect from the free-throw line with MBU going 10-for-10 and Grand View going 20-for-20 in the game.
 
With the loss, MBU drops to 0-2 on the season and will look for its first win of the season next Friday when it welcomes Olivet Nazarene University to the Petty Sports & Recreation Complex.