ST. LOUIS – Some big defensive stops and a clutch three-pointer late in the fourth quarter propelled the Missouri Baptist Women's Basketball to its first victory at the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC. The Spartans defeated Baker University 66-63 in a dogfight of a game to get back in the win column for the third time in the 2021-22 season.
MoBap overcame a sluggish first quarter in which it only scored 10 points to make it a contest after shooting 9-for-15 in the second. The Spartans would harness that offensive momentum in the third and took off, scoring five three-pointers and shooting a blistering 71 percent from the field en route to 26 points and a six-point lead. Junior
Kamryn Mack led the charge, scoring 16 of her 18 points in the third frame and hitting three triples in key moments to bring the home crowd to life on several occasions. Graduate senior
Rose Wassef, who was celebrating her birthday, filled in another 13 points and hit three trifectas of her own. Two of those buckets came on back-to-back possessions in the third to tie things at 46.
Both teams' largest leads were just eight points, and the atmosphere showed how close it was throughout. Despite falling back after MBU's streaky third quarter, the Wildcats did not go quietly and managed to make it a one possession game with eight minutes in regulation. That's how close things stayed until the final whistle as both teams traded clutch baskets. With 19 seconds left and MoBap trailing by one, forward
Jalexis Russell hit the game-winner, her only field goal of the game, with a three-pointer from the left wing. Following that shot, she pulled down a defensive rebound to ice things.
The win was a complete team effort, with nine players for the home side scoring and several key minutes coming from Mack,
Kayleigh Winch, and
Joelle Atkins off the bench in place of
Tionne Taylor, who got into foul trouble early and struggled to have an impact with the limited minutes. Winch notched five points and had a wild save on a ball headed out of bounds to keep a MBU possession alive, and Atkins stuffed the stat sheet with four points, six boards, four assists and two blocks. Junior
Alexis Allstun also came to play, quietly getting herself 12 points and five rebounds in just 24 minutes of floor time.
The Wildcats were a worthy opponent and did not make things easy at any point for MBU. Baker guard Sophia Barrett led all scorers with 27 points and pulled down six assists and had three blocks to boot. Baker should serve as a good barometer for the Spartans since they played and beat Lyon College 57-56, who was picked to finish top of the AMC this season, earlier this season.
Missouri Baptist goes into the Thanksgiving holiday week with a pair of exhibition matchups in Illinois on the horizon, first with the Leathernecks of Western Illinois University on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 6:00 pm and then a trip to play Illinois State on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 11:00 am. Following those games, the Spartans open conference play in their first AMC matchup with Hannibal-LaGrange University at home on Dec. 2 at 5:30 pm.
