Des Moines, Iowa – Following a tough pair of losses last weekend, Missouri Baptist Women's Basketball regained some mojo and will travel home with a win and a loss from its games at the Grand View Classic, its second tournament in as many weeks. The Spartans fell short in a slugfest with tournament hosts Grand View 80-76 on Friday night before pulling away late in Saturday afternoon's game with William Penn 68-57.
The contest with the Vikings was back-and-forth all through the opening two quarters, with both teams trading the lead throughout the first half. Mobap stretched a lead to eight late in the second frame, its largest of the game, but went into the intermission ahead by only two, 37-35. From there, the Spartans kept the lead until Grand View took it back midway through the third. The Vikings kept MBU at an arms-length the rest of the way, making nine key free throws down the stretch in the fourth quarter to put things out of reach.
The Spartan effort was not without its individual bright spots despite the result. Senior
Tionne Taylor continued her hot offensive start to the season with 33 points off the bench, a new season high, on 50 percent shooting. Point guard
Rose Wassef led in two statistical categories, with five assists and six rebounds. Center
Alexis Allstun and guard
Lauren Ebert put up double-digit scoring efforts as well, with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Grand View was led by Shannon Pisney on the scoring end with 19, spearheading a balanced Viking offensive effort that saw nine players score. The hosts also made MBU pay off the glass, posting 17 second chance points from nine offensive boards.
In the Spartans' second game in Iowa's capital city, the scoring was much more equal. Taylor and Ebert led the charge with 16 apiece, followed by Allstun and junior
Kamryn Mack with 10 each. Wassef again led in assists with six dimes. After a closely contested first half, Mobap grabbed the lead from the Statesmen early in the second and never looked back, outscoring William Penn 32-20 after the break.
Missouri Baptist next travels out of state for its third tourney of the young campaign, this time to the Hoosier state for the Indiana Wesleyan Classic. The Spartans will face Bethel University on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 pm and will follow that with a matchup against 11th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday, time TBA.
