ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist women's basketball began their current winning ways one month ago tomorrow and have showed little signs of slowing down since. The Spartans entered Saturday afternoon to play in what some would consider a "trap" game and looked less than stellar out of the gate, but a booming second half secured MoBap their tenth win in a row.
 
MBU (17-3, 13-1 in AMC) looked like a different team from one half to the next. The first 20 minutes of the game was lowlighted by a combination of pesky defensive play by the opposition and some sloppy passing by the Spartans. It led to a number of MBU turnovers (14 in the first half) and fast break opportunities for Williams Baptist (WBU) (11-10, 7-6 in AMC). The home side quickly found its footing after the intermission and looked unstoppable as they won 84-63.
 
The one constant throughout for the Spartans was Bryce Dowell. The junior from Belleville, Ill., notched a season high in points with 25 and led MoBap in scoring for the second straight game. Often referred to as a "microwave" by head coach Samuel Pearson for her penchant to heat up quickly, the game with WBU proved Dowell can be an oven as well. With 11 points at the intermission and another 14 following the break, Dowell the offensive driving force all afternoon.
 
Despite leading from the first basket to the final horn, the Spartans' first half advantage of 30-25 looked fragile. MBU came out of the locker room and put together a 54-point second half on the Eagles defense while minimizing turnovers. Lauren Ebert scored nine of her 13 points in the second half to lead all starters. Tionne Taylor (12 points) and Alexis Allstun (11 points) followed closely behind. Allstun was the rebounding leader for the home side with eight.
 
"You got to play 40 minutes worth of basketball," Pearson said. "I thought [Williams Baptist] had a great game plan… [but] we were able to make adjustments and find the areas which we can exploit them.
 
"Bryce Dowell is a bucket getter [and] is the ultimate sixth man for us. She's a heck of a player for us. It was a team effort top to bottom. After a slow start to still put 84 on the board, it speaks volumes."
 
Other performances worth mentioning for the Spartans: Deyana Dodd (8 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Kasey Rice (6 points, 7 assists), and Nyah Ford (7 points, 7 rebounds).
 
Missouri Baptist has an opportunity to put a chokehold on the top spot in the American Midwest Conference standings with the rematch everyone has been looking forward to. The Spartans will get a week to prepare for second place Columbia College and will face off with the Cougars next Saturday, Feb. 4th, at 1:00 pm.