WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. – Missouri Baptist did enough in the first three quarters of Tuesday's American Midwest Conference clash to hang on to a 68-65 road win at Williams Baptist. MBU survived a 30-point fourth quarter from the Lady Eagles, who were voted No. 3 in the league's preseason coaches' poll.
 
In addition to snapping a four-game losing streak, the Spartans got their first win over Williams Baptist in 5 tries. Prior to Tuesday's victory, MBU's last win in the series also came on the road at the Southerland-Mabee Center in 2018 (W, 80-67).
 
MBU jumped to one game over .500 at 5-4 overall and snagged their first AMC victory on the year after a pair of narrow losses at home to No. 22-ranked Columbia (Mo.) and No. 23-ranked Lyon (Ark.). On the flip side, the Spartans handed Williams Baptist (5-3, 2-1 AMC) its first loss in conference.
 
Junior Tionne Taylor spearheaded the offensive efforts for MoBap on Tuesday, with one of her more well-rounded games in 2020-21. The O'Fallon, Mo. native led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, while pulling down a season-high 6 rebounds.
 
Both teams jockeyed for position in the first quarter without much offense on either end of the court. Although the Spartans' constant pressure led to eight WBU turnovers in the opening quarter, that translated into just three points off turnovers for MoBap and a slim 12-9 lead after one.
 
With MBU pushing towards a double-digit lead in the second, Williams Baptist capitalized on four trips to the charity stripe (7-of-8) and went into halftime down by five.
 
Just two minutes into the second half, MBU began to distance itself. Kickstarted by a Lauren Ebert 3-pointer, the Spartans proceeded to go on a monster 16-4 run and managed to maintain a 15-point advantage through the third quarter.
 
Averaging 81.4 points thru its first seven games, the home team didn't go down without a fight. If not for WBU's late surge, the Spartans would have held the Lady Eagles well under their season low as Williams Baptist entered the final period with just 35 points. MBU extended the margin to as much as 17 with 6:18 remaining in the game, however, that's when the Lady Eagles put on their rally caps. From that point on, Williams Baptist was lights out shooting 63% from the field (7-of-11) and a near-perfect 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
 
With WBU in foul mode in the final seconds, Tionne Taylor knocked down a free throw on the front end and one on the back end of separate trips to the line to put the game out of reach.
 
Lauren Ebert, Alexis Allstun and Rose Wassef all finished the game with 8 points apiece. Ebert chipped in 9 rebounds (4 O, 5 D) and 2 steals, while Allstun and Wassef combined for 9 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals.
 
Other stat leaders on the day included Joelle Atkins with a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with 6 points, and point guard Taylor Norris with a game- and team-high 6 assists.
 
MBU returns home Thursday for a crosstown meeting with reigning AMC Player of the Week, national scoring leader Grace Beyer (29.5 ppg) and the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy Eutectics (5-2, 1-1 AMC).