ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist women's basketball celebrated Senior Day with more than just a victory. The Spartans (17-11, 14-4 AMC) took down Stephens College (8-17, 4-14 AMC) in confident fashion 70-51 inside Lacey Gymnasium. MBU proved it is hitting its stride at the right time with the 19-point triumph and with it set a record for most regular season conference wins in program history. Head coach Sam Pearson's squad finished its conference slate 11-1 after starting 3-3 in league play.
Prior to the game, the Mobap crowd at the Carl & Deloris Petty Sports & Recreation Complex got to send off two seniors for the program at their final regular season home game.
Grace Burrows, a sports management major from Pacific, Mo. and
Sara Hermosa, a marketing major from Zamora, Spain, were both recognized for their contributions to the program during their time at Missouri Baptist.
Once the ceremony had finished, the Spartans got into a back-and-forth first quarter with the Stars. The visitors scored the first six but let up and allowed Mobap to bring it back level, 10-10, after 10 minutes. The home side then exploded for a 19-4 run and took the lead for good. Stephens managed to come out of intermission and cut into the 20-point halftime advantage MBU had built with an 8-point run, but the Spartans quieted the Stars comeback attempt and kept things out of reach for rest of the game.
Burrows hit a 3-pointer for Mobap and put in a shift on 14 minutes of action after starting for the home side on Senior Day.
Tionne Taylor got back to her leading scorer ways and contributed 17 points on 4-of -9 from the field. Taylor was effective on the defensive end as well, grabbing five steals.
A litany of other Spartans stepped up and had respectable statlines. The other notable performances, which saw five total players reach double figures, included
Jalexis Russell (10 points, six rebounds, five assists),
Lauren Ebert (12 points, four rebounds),
Alexis Allstun (10 points, four rebounds),
Kamryn Mack (five points, five rebounds),
Kayleigh Winch (seven points),
Joelle Atkins (two points, four rebounds, four assists) and
Rose Wassef (four points, six assists).
Missouri Baptist now looks to the postseason. Mobap will host William Woods in the AMC tournament quarterfinals by virtue of finishing third in the conference standings. The Spartans will welcome the Owls to the Petty SRC on Wednesday, Feb. 23rd at 7 PM.
