ST. LOUIS – The 2022-23 basketball season is still in its youth, but the American Midwest Conference (AMC) waits for no one. Missouri Baptist women's basketball found out that it will be a test every time they hit the floor.
 
With only four non-conference games out of the way, MBU (3-2, 1-0 in AMC) was faced with its first league action in only its second home game. The Spartans scrapped their way to a 50-41 win at the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports &Recreation Complex against William Woods University (WWU). The Owls (1-4, 0-1 in AMC) never led, but kept the MoBap scoring low and made life difficult for the Spartans.
 
MBU was led once again by guard Tionne Taylor. The senior pushed the pace for the offense and logged 21 points to be the only player on the court in double figures. Taylor also showed a penchant for nabbing Owl passes, recording five steals to lead all players.
 
The game would go back-and-forth through the first half, with MBU jumping out to a handful of seven-point leads and WWU trying to close the gap. Despite an 11-point advantage with exactly four minutes until intermission, the visitors narrowed it to five as the second quarter horn rang through the Petty SRC.
 
MBU would again take control in the third, getting the lead back out to double digits with six Taylor points and a bucket each from seniors Kelsie Williams, Alexis Allstun, Deyana Dodd and sophomore Aliyah Williams.
 
WWU would not go quietly though. After getting to its largest lead of the night of 15, MoBap saw William Woods cut into the advantage with six straight points. The Spartans would weather the small point-scoring surge and kept the Owls at bay to get their third win of the season.
 
"We did what we needed to do defensively," head coach Sam Pearson said. "We got to figure out how to score the ball better, man. Right now we're really one-sided… but I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty."
 
The Spartans winning the turnover by a margin of 10 (22 for WWU to 12 for MBU) and getting 13 steals as a whole were some stand out notes for Pearson and the team. MBU was outrebounded 38-32, however, and again struggle from beyond the arc, hitting only two of their 11 attempts from 3-point land.
 
Other noteworthy Spartan performances included Alexis Allstun (6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks), Deyana Dodd (6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals), and Kelsie Williams (6 points, 7 rebounds).
 
Missouri Baptist has its sights set on starting conference play 2-0 for the second year running, but will have to make history to do so. MBU will lock in for a battle with Lyon College, who were last season's regular season AMC champion, and who have never lost to the Spartans in the history of the series. Tip-off is set for Saturday, Nov. 19th at 3:00 pm.