ST. LOUIS – It was a chance to make history. Missouri Baptist women's basketball took that chance and did so with bravado.
 
Facing Lyon College (LC) in its second American Midwest Conference matchup this season, Missouri Baptist (4-2, 2-0 in AMC) dominated in every sense, going deep into its bench and getting points from every single active player to win 100-55 on Saturday afternoon at the Petty SRC. The MoBap defeat of Lyon (1-3, 1-1 in AMC) was the first time that the Spartans have ever won over the Scots in 24 games.
 
MBU immediately got to work at beating the LC full-court press. The Spartans kept a furious pace and won the first quarter 27-12 with numerous baskets coming off the fast break with numbers in the front court.
 
In spite of building that lead, a handful of the starting five would get into foul trouble in the early going. Head coach Sam Pearson was tasked with going to the bench early and often.
 
There was no drop off with the changes, however, as sophomore Aliyah Williams led the charge off the pine for the Spartans. Williams scored 11 of her 15 points in quick fashion in the first half, with her banked home 3-pointer to start her tally serving as a spark plug that the rest of the home side followed.
 
When the second quarter had ended, MoBap held a 53-21 lead as the MBU bench's contribution had outscored the Scots entire team with 22 coming from nonstarters. Eleven different Spartans would score before the half, and that number would extend to all 14 that suited up come the second half.
 
Tionne Taylor and Deyana Dodd led a one-two punch, despite Taylor being subbed out a couple times with early fouls. Taylor was the leading scorer with 16, and Dodd had 12. The other starting three of Lauren Ebert, Alexis Allstun and J'Lessa Jordan chipped in with nine, seven, and two points, respectively.
 
The Spartans came out of the intermission hot and increased the advantage all throughout the second half, getting the lead to a basket shy of leading by 50 at one point in the fourth. Ebert opened things up in the third with a trey before Taylor went on a tear, scoring 12 straight points with three 3-pointers. Williams and graduate transfer Kasey Rice scored 3's of their own to cap a 20-7 run that had the Petty rocking.
 
Junior Kayleigh Winch managed to come in and join Williams in getting double figures from the bench, notching 14 points. Winch's final two gave the Spartans the century mark and would come at the free throw line for MBU as the Spartans scored in the triple digits for the first time since Nov. 12 of last season against Bethel.
 
MoBap ended the game with 54 points off the bench, outdid LC in the paint 36-to-16, shot 37-of-64 (57.8 percent) from the field, drained 10 of their 20 attempts from 3, and capitalized off the Scots' mistakes, scoring 33 points from the 26 LC turnovers.
 
"When we play as a team [and] when we share as a unit, we're really dynamic," head coach Sam Pearson said. "[I think] it was a statement that Missouri Baptist women's basketball is for real."
 
Other noteworthy Spartan performances included Rice (7 points), Joelle Atkins (3 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks), Brin Hultz (6 points, 2 assists), and Kelsie Williams (2 points, 6 rebounds).
 
Missouri Baptist will go into Thanksgiving week with just one game on the slate, an exhibition game against Bradley University on Tuesday, Nov. 22nd at 7:00 pm before a bit of a break until more games in the AMC. The next action for MBU that will count on the record will be in Conway, Ark. at Central Baptist on Thursday, Dec. 1st at 5:30 pm.