ST. LOUIS – This year's Missouri Baptist women's basketball team can now boast a feat that no other squad in program history could do: beat Lindenwood University-Belleville. On Thursday evening, the Spartans snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Lynx edging out the visitors by a score of 73-69 in what is most likely the last meeting between the two St. Louis area schools with Lindenwood-Belleville shutting its doors at the end of the school year.
 
Thursday's victory over the Lynx helped MBU secured its first three-game winning streak of the season after two failed attempts earlier in the year. One would have to go back all the way to November 2017 for the last time that the Spartans won three games in a row.
 
With the recent ascend in the AMC standings, Missouri Baptist (9-12, 9-8 AMC) is now in a tie for seventh with Central Baptist and just one game behind Lindenwood-Belleville, who dropped to 13-8 and 10-7 in the AMC. For the first time this season, the Spartans have climbed above .500 in conference play.
 
Neither team shot the ball well from the field in the opening quarter, but the saving grace for MoBap was an 8-of-9 clip from the charity stripe. Thanks to the free throws, MBU led 19-10 after one.
 
What kept the Spartans ahead in Period 1 was non-existent in the second as MBU made zero trips to the free-throw line. The Lynx, who had their best quarter shooting (.437), capitalized on a Spartan drought late in the second quarter and sent the game into halftime at 30-all.
 
After the break, Missouri Baptist came out with guns blazing and opened the quarter on a 12-0 tear in large part due to freshman guard Taylor Norris, who swiped a steal and dished out an assist to Tionne Taylor followed by back-to-back triples. As evident by the steal and fastbreak layup, the Spartan defense wreaked havoc on the Lynx during the run forcing four turnovers in a 3-minute span.
 
Missouri Baptist carried an 8-point advantage heading into the final period. The Spartans gradually upped their lead to as much as 17 with six minutes remaining, however, what seemed to be a wide enough margin slowly deteriorated. LU-B knocked down three clutch treys to get within single digits. Then a series of missed free throws by the Spartans made it even closer as the Lynx made it a one-possession ballgame after two Kyndra Morgan made free throws with 19 seconds remaining.
 
Luckily, time was in MBU's favor as the Spartans held on to a 73-69 win.
 
For the second straight game, the Spartans had at least four players score in double figures. On Thursday, the guard play of Taylor Norris and Tionne Taylor paced MoBap offensively. Norris led the way with team highs in points (19), 3-point field goals made (4), assists (6) and steals (3). Reigning AMC Player of the Week Tionne Taylor was right behind with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
 
Freshman center Alexis Allstun registered her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while fellow frosh Kaylynn Hayden scored in double figures for the fifth time this season with 10 points. Coming up one basket shy of a double-digit outing was sophomore Nicole Griesenauer, who finished with 8 points.
 
The Spartans were unable to slow down the AMC's leading scorer Brianna Mueller, who played all 40 minutes of the game and finished with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-25 shooting and 7 rebounds. The rest of LU-B's team accounted for just 38 points.
 
Never an easy place to play, Missouri Baptist will look to extend its winning streak to four when it visits nearby Harris-Stowe State University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
Because the Spartans scored 70+ points at home, fans score big at Raising Cane's on Friday. Visit the Raising Cane's Des Peres location at 12215 Manchester Road for a buy-one, get-one free Box Combo deal. Don't forget to mention MBU women's basketball's 73-69 win over Lindenwood-Belleville!