HANNIBAL, Mo. – Saturday marked the final game of 2018-19 for the Missouri Baptist women's basketball program and the team successfully ended the season on a high note. Coming off back-to-back games against the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the nation, the Spartans pulled away in the third quarter to defeat Hannibal-LaGrange University on the road, 62-51.
 
With the win over HLGU, Missouri Baptist swept its season series with the Trojans to go along with a sweep of Stephens College. The Spartans finished their first year under new head coach Samuel Pearson with an overall record of 8-20 while going 7-17 in American Midwest Conference play.
 
MBU set the tone early jumping out to an 8-2 advantage. Hannibal-LaGrange surged and grabbed its one and only lead of the game at the 9-8, before the Spartans made another run of their own. One of the catalysts in the fast start was freshman forward Sara Hermosa, who made her second career start on Saturday. The 6-foot-1 forward from Zamora, Spain scored all six of her points in the first quarter to aid the Spartans in a 17-9 first-quarter lead.
 
Hannibal-LaGrange regrouped in between periods and rattled off five straight points to begin the second quarter. Just like that, the Trojans had narrowed the margin to three. A counterattack was in the fold for MBU as Rose Wassef hit a clutch 3-pointer and shifted the momentum in favor of the Spartans.
 
The game remained close heading into halftime though with Missouri Baptist holding a slight 26-20 advantage.
 
The turning point in the game was the third quarter. MBU outscored the Trojans 22-11 in the period thanks to a 14-2 run in which 10 of the points came off of turnovers. Capitalizing on eight HLGU turnovers, the Spartans were able to shoot at an extremely high percentage (71.4%) and entered the fourth quarter with a 48-31 lead.
 
Missouri Baptist's defense continued to hold strong into the final period of play. The Trojans went without a field goal for the final three minutes of the third quarter and another 2 minutes and 30 seconds to begin the fourth. Despite trailing by as much as 20, Hannibal-LaGrange didn't go down without a fight. Missouri Baptist was able to fend off a late push by the home team to come out victorious.
 
Senior forward Le'Ondra Wilson led the team in scoring for the third time this season, finishing with a team-high 12 points and 5 rebounds. Wilson along with seniors Alissa Rowden and Kadesha Cooper combined for 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting (.545).
 
Other notable performances included freshman post player Joelle Atkins, who was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field to tie a career high in points (8). And leading the team in minutes played for the second game in a row, junior guard Jordan Wyatt did a bit of everything for the Spartans, totaling 5 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.