COLUMBIA, Mo. – A strong start and finish steered Missouri Baptist University women's basketball to a decisive 81-48 road victory at Stephens College Saturday afternoon. The 33-point win is the largest margin of victory for the Spartans this year. The previous mark also happened to be against Stephens when the two teams played back on Dec. 7 in St. Louis.
 
With the win, Missouri Baptist improved to 8-12 on the year and made its way back to .500 in conference for the first time this season. In addition to completing their second straight AMC sweep, the Spartans have now won four out of their past five contests.
 
After a sluggish start to the first quarter, MBU snapped out of it and struck while the iron was hot. Tied at 5-5, the Spartans piled it on the Stars going on a 16-0 tear. In the final 5:45 of the first quarter, MBU outscored Stephens, 23-2. Several Spartans got in on the action including guard Nicole Griesenauer with back-to-back triples to start the run, 7 for freshman Alexis Allstun and 5 for freshman Lauren Ebert. During that stretch, the Spartan defense also wreaked havoc on the Stars creating nine turnovers in just over five minutes.
 
Stephens had its best quarter of the ballgame in the second shooting 40 percent from both the field and 3-point range. The Stars managed to slash MBU's 23-point advantage by eight heading into halftime with the Spartans leading 41-26.
 
Following an evenly-matched third period, the baton was passed on to MBU's key reserves, who put the game out of reach. Leading the way for the Spartans in the fourth was junior Rose Wassef with 8 points in the final quarter. The guard from Lakeland, Fla. was extremely efficient shooting the ball on Saturday going 5-for-7 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from long range to tie for a team-high 14 points.
 
Wassef wasn't the only one who scored in double figures. In total, the Spartans had five players reach double digits including Lauren Ebert, Alexis Allstun, Nicole Griesenauer and Tionne Taylor. Ebert recorded season highs in points (14), minutes (23) and field goals made (5), while Griesenauer was 3-of-5 from 3-point land and registered a season-best 11 points off the bench.
 
Other notable stat lines included Alexis Allstun with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in just 16 minutes of action, and Tionne Taylor with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists in less than 20 minutes on the court.
 
Saturday was also a great day for the Spartans' non-starters, who accounted for 60 percent of the scoring (49 bench points).
 
MBU returns home to host Lindenwood University-Belleville on Thursday, Feb. 6 before embarking on another grueling stretch with five away games in a six-game swing.