ST. LOUIS – While Missouri Baptist never trailed in Thursday's 77-37 blowout win over William Woods University, it wasn't until the third quarter that the Spartans delivered a "knockout punch" in the form of a 32-0 run. Overall, the MBU women outscored William Woods 45-15 in the second half and locked up their fourth season sweep of an AMC opponent this season.
 
Now winners in 11 of their past 12 games, the Spartans (15-5, 11-3 AMC) pushed their latest winning streak to 5 and continue to play their best brand of basketball as the AMC Tournament approaches. MBU reached the 15-win plateau on Thursday, something the women's basketball program hasn't done since the 2010-11 season.
 
Scoring in three of their first four possessions, the Spartans jumped out to a 7-0 lead and quickly established themselves as the team to beat. By the end of the quarter, MoBap had stretched the margin to nine at 18-9.
 
William Woods had its chance to make a move at the beginning of the second period and was unable to capitalize. The Spartans went 6 minutes, 20 seconds without a made field goal, but weathered the storm with a 4-for-4 clip from the free-throw line and a 10-4 run to end the half ahead 32-22.  
 
Flipping the script from the game in Fulton where WWU led by 9 at half, no second-half comeback was needed for head coach Samuel Pearson and his squad. In fact, the third quarter, which has been a strong suit for the Spartans this year (have outscored opponents 394-289 in the 3Q), was indeed the turning point against the Owls.
 
William Woods cut into MBU's lead and narrowed the gap to six (34-28) before an 8-0 run by the Spartans. This was just the beginning for MBU, who masterfully shut down the Owls for an eight-minute stretch. Sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Kamryn Mack at the 2:56 mark in the third, the Spartans went on an astonishing 32-0 run including a 21-0 start to the fourth quarter. Carrying a large load in the fourth-quarter onslaught was Sara Hermosa with 12 fourth-quarter points and Rose Wassef with 7 points and 2 steals.
 
Missouri Baptist displayed one of its most dominant halves of the entire season. The offense was clicking, the full-court pressure presented ongoing issues for the Owls, but perhaps most impressive was when William Woods did escape the press, MBU's defense absolutely wreaked havoc on the Owls.
 
The Spartans limited William Woods to 25 percent shooting and forced 23 turnovers on the evening. Moreover, WWU standout Natalie Thomas, who tied a career high in points (27) against MoBap two weeks earlier, was nowhere near that level of effectiveness on Thursday. The Owls' freshman guard was held to just 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting and had 6 turnovers.
 
Offensively, the Spartans achieved an optimal level of scoring balance with seven players putting up at least 9 points and five reaching double figures. As a team, MBU shot 49.1% including a 58.5% clip when excluding the second quarter numbers.
 
Individually, Sara Hermosa and Tionne Taylor tied for the game-high in scoring with 12 points apiece, while Joelle Atkins and Kamryn Mack recorded new career bests with 10 points each to their name. In addition to their scoring efforts, Atkins and Mack also flooded the box score with numerous hustle plays and stout defense. Atkins finished with a final stat line of 10 points, 5 rebounds (3 O, D), 4 assists and 1 steal, while Mack finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a game-high 3 steals.
 
At this time, Missouri Baptist's next game will be the regular-season finale and Senior Day at home on Saturday against Stephens College at 1 p.m. The Spartans will be recognizing seniors Joelle Atkins, Caroline Rogers, Kim Shaw and Rose Wassef prior to Saturday's contest.