ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Missouri Baptist Women's Basketball is still in search of their first win of the season after a 72-57 loss to the ninth-ranked Columbia Cougars. After staying in the game early on, an eight-point fourth quarter ultimately did the Spartans in.
 
The Cougars nabbed the first basket of the evening on a three from Jordan Alford. Tionne Taylor and the Spartans responded quickly with the next nine points to take a six-point lead halfway through the first quarter.
 
Unfortunately for the home crowd, the momentum ran out after extending the lead to 15-7. Columbia took the opportunity to claw their way back to tie things at 15 before the second quarter.
 
The Spartan offense did not recover in the second quarter as they only put up nine points to their counterpart's 20 points. The women headed back to the locker room down 35-24 after two.
 
The third quarter was a completely different story. Strong team play drove the Spartans to 25 third-quarter points and a 49-47 lead with 1:46 remaining. Mai Nienhueser and Raegan Wieser scored late buckets for the visitors to reclaim their hold on the game.
 
Once again, the MBU attack ran out of answers for a strong Columbia defense in the fourth, only posting eight points. The game ended with a 72-57 final score in favor of the Cougars.
 
Tionne Taylor led the team with 22 points, three assists, and four steals in nearly 33 minutes on the court. Alexis Allstun was on her heels with 15 points and seven rebounds in a little over 31 minutes.
 
The women will look to rebound on Thursday's Ugly Sweater night against Park University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Carl and Deloris Petty SRC.