ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist University women's basketball team saw its six-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday on the heels of a 110-107 triple-overtime loss at home to Williams Baptist University. After going five seasons without an overtime game, the Spartans have now been a part of two overtime games this year, both of which lasted three OT periods.
 
In the midst of the overtime chaos, senior center Joelle Atkins rewrote the single-game rebounding record, recently broken by teammate Alexis Allstun, who totaled 20 in a win over Central Baptist last year. Grabbing 15 defensive boards and 11 on the offensive glass Tuesday, Atkins now holds the single-game game record with 26.
 
With plenty of American Midwest Conference Tournament positioning on the line, Williams Baptist moved ahead of the Spartans in the standings into third after the two entered the contest with identical .750 winning percentages in league play. MBU dropped to 10-5, 6-3 AMC, while WBU improved to 13-5, 10-3 AMC.
 
Eerily similar to the first meeting between the two teams in Arkansas, Missouri Baptist controlled much of the first 30 minutes before conceding another hefty fourth-quarter lead to the Lady Eagles. This time, however, the cushion wasn't large enough. Heading into the fourth with a 17-point lead and a season sweep of Williams Baptist in sight, the Spartans hit a brick wall on both ends of the court for a six-minute stretch. With the Spartans in a funk, WBU capitalized in a big way scoring 22 unanswered points, while MoBap missed 7 shots, committed 5 fouls and turned the ball over three times during the ugly stretch.
 
Alexis Allstun finally put an end to the 22-0 run with 3:35 remaining, but the Spartans still trailed by three. Each time MBU closed in, the Lady Eagles had an answer, except for the final seconds of regulation. Taylor Norris, who scored the final 8 points of regulation for MBU, followed up a clutch, off-balance three with a basket in the paint with less than two seconds remaining. Advancing the ball upcourt on a timeout, Williams Baptist had one final chance to score a gamewinner as time expired, but watched the ball roll along the back of the rim and trickle away from the cylinder.
 
Both teams had their opportunities to close out the win in the first two overtime periods, but neither were successful. The third overtime looked to be swinging in WBU's favor as the visitors took their largest lead of the game (+8) with a little over three minutes remaining. But, once again, MBU had different plans. The Spartans went on a 10-2 run and evened it at 104-104 with :44 remaining. The dagger in the heartbreak loss came in the next possession as William Baptist's Kelsey Abney hit a go-ahead triple, which marked her fourth 3-pointer of the game.
 
In addition to her record-breaking 26 rebounds, Joelle Atkins went 6-of-8 from the free throw line and finished with 8 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
 
Offensively, the Spartans had five players score in double figures led by sophomore Taylor Norris. The Salem, Mo. point guard played 53 out of the 55 minutes, notching 27 points on 10-of-32 shooting, 8 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. Like the Lady Eagles, MBU also had a pair of players hit four threes in the game including Kim Shaw and Tionne Taylor, who finished the night with 18 and 14, respectively. Lauren Ebert posted 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Alexis Allstun finished with 12 and 5.
 
One other notable performance was Sara Hermosa, who played six minutes off the bench and scored 5 of her 8 points in the third overtime with the other three coming on a fast-break, running jumper from long range to beat the buzzer at the end of the first period.
 
The Spartans will have a day of rest before embarking on an extremely rare stretch with three games in three days. MBU travels down I-64 to University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.