ST. LOUIS – In need of a bounce-back win, the Missouri Baptist University women's basketball team got just that on Saturday with a 66-61 victory over Central Baptist College. With a strong second-half performance, the Spartans avoided dropping below .500 in conference play and improved to 7-10, 4-3 AMC.
Central Baptist put the Spartans in an early hole scoring the first seven points of the game.
Alexis Allstun ended the nearly three-minute drought with MBU's first points and continued to be the go-to for the Spartans in the opening quarter scoring 11 on 5-of-6 shooting in the paint. The visitors from Conway, Ark. took a 24-15 lead into the second stanza in large part due to Aminata Seck, who furnished 16 of the Mustangs' first-quarter points.
While the Mustangs increased their lead to as much as 13 in the second, it was MBU that had the clear momentum heading into the locker room. The Spartans upped the full-court pressure in the second quarter resulting in 10 CBC turnovers and 10 points off turnovers to slash the Mustangs' lead to four (37-33) before the final horn at the half.
Central Baptist's turnover woes carried over into the second half allowing the Spartans to seize the moment and grab their first lead of the game at 40-39 just two minutes in. It was only fitting that their first lead came by way of CBC miscue.
Lauren Ebert swiped her fifth steal of the game and assisted
Rose Wassef on a fastbreak layup. Holding the Mustangs to seven points and 1-of-10 from the field, the Spartans outscored the visitors 16-7 to head into the final period up 49-44.
Tionne Taylor, who had a strong third quarter with eight points, etched her name in the Missouri Baptist record books with her bucket with 8:45 remaining. Entering the contest just 16 points shy of 1,000 career points in a Spartan uniform, Taylor joined the exclusive 1,000-point club becoming just the sixth MBU Women's Basketball player since 2003-04 to reach the elusive milestone.
The two teams traded runs and had nearly identical stat lines in the fourth quarter, which meant MBU's big third quarter was the difference maker.
Senior guard
Tionne Taylor paced the Spartans with 21 points shooting 6-of-14 from the field, and six steals. Although Taylor's 3-point attempts weren't falling on Saturday (1-of-9), the senior found ways to score including eight free throws.
Alexis Allstun, who had reached double figures in the opening quarter, finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds.
Lauren Ebert also joined Taylor and Allstun in double digits with 12 points along with a team-highs in rebounds (8), steals (6) and assists (5). Coming off the bench,
Jalexis Russell provided a spark with six points, five assists, three boards and three steals.
MBU will head to Columbia, Mo. on Thursday, Jan. 20 to take on Stephens College (6-8, 2-5 AMC), which sits in a three-way tie for sixth in the league standings with Central Baptist and Harris-Stowe State.
