CONWAY, Ark. – In nearly every game this season, Missouri Baptist women's basketball has hit a brick wall in at least one quarter and has struggled to keep pace with its opponent. The same theme occurred on Thursday as the Spartans opened American Midwest Conference (AMC) play with a narrow 73-69 loss at Central Baptist College (4-0, 1-0 AMC).
 
Despite outpacing the Mustangs by seven in the second half, MBU was unsuccessful in getting its first win of the year. The Spartans' Achilles heel against Central Baptist? The second quarter in which CBC outscored the Spartans, 22-10. That gap was just wide enough to squash Missouri Baptist's comeback bid in the final period.
 
Down by as much as 14 in the fourth quarter, the Spartans slowly but surely decreased the deficit to single digits with strong play in the paint and at the free-throw line. With 10 seconds remaining in the contest, Missouri Baptist made its move to get it to a one-possession ballgame at 72-69 following a Rose Wassef 3-pointer. Unfortunately, it was too little too late.
 
With the loss, the Spartans dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the AMC. Unfortunately, the first victory won't come easy for MoBap as it wraps up its Arkansas road trip on Saturday at No. 20-ranked Lyon (3-1, 1-0 AMC). Following Lyon, MBU will play two exhibition games at NCAA DI Western Illinois (3-3) and NCAA DII Kentucky Wesleyan (4-0) followed by a marquee matchup at home with No. 9-ranked Columbia (5-0, 1-0 AMC) to kick off December.
 
Missouri Baptist center Alexis Allstun had her way in the paint on Thursday with game highs in scoring (22) and rebounds (15). The 22-point, 15-rebound performance represents the first career double-double for the 6-1 freshman out of Jackson, Missouri. On the year, Allstun is nearly averaging a double-double with 14.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 62.8 percent from the field.
 
Sophomore guard Tionne Taylor, who has reached double figures in each game so far, finished second on the team in points with 14 against the Mustangs. Other notable performances included starter Kimberley Shaw, who went 3-for-3 from the floor with 7 points, 6 assists and no turnovers. Freshmen Kaylynn Hayden and Lauren Ebert both scored five points apiece off the bench for the Spartans.
 
As a team, MBU outplayed Central Baptist in several aspects of the game including field goal percentage (39.1% -35.7%), rebounding (47-40), assists (19-14) and steals (12-7), however, the key to the Mustangs' win was 11 3-point field goals made and four fewer turnovers than the Spartans.