ST. LOUIS – The importance of Saturday's game could not be understated for Missouri Baptist women's basketball. The Spartans defense answered the call and in turn put the rest of the American Midwest Conference (AMC) on alert that they are here to contend.
 
The opponent was first place and undefeated in the conference University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (UHSP), who made the short crosstown trip to the Carl & Deloris Petty SRC. Led by NAIA player of the year candidate Grace Beyer (30.8 points/game) and a high-powered offensive attack, seeing a low point total was not expected coming in. The Spartans put on a defensive showing, limiting the Eutectics to their lowest scoring game of the season and dealing the conference leaders their first loss in the AMC, 58-48.
 
Missouri Baptist (10-3, 6-1 in AMC) now holds a tie for second with Columbia College behind USHP (11-4, 7-1 in AMC). MBU has gotten its streak of wins to three following the loss to CC last month and is on a 17-2 run in conference matchups dating back to last season's loss to the Eutectics.
 
It was a bit of a shaky start for MoBap, with UHSP getting a 10-point advantage and limiting the Spartan offense to just six through 10 minutes. MBU flipped the script, making it a tale of two quarters for the half. Bryce Dowell was a boost off the bench, scoring six of her team-high 14 points in the second quarter to close the gap and trail 23-22.
 
MoBap and UHSP traded buckets after the half, with neither side gaining a significant upperhand until the fourth quarter. The Spartans broke things open on threes from Dowell and fellow substitution Nyah Ford, with a fast break layup from Dowell in between, to go up by 13 with five minutes remaining. The home side rode out the win and didn't lead by less than double digits the rest of regulation to seal up the statement victory.
 
The defensive effort from the Spartans, particularly by senior Lauren Ebert, was evident as Beyer was limited to her lowest point total of the year with 15. Elizabeth Allanach held the game high for either side recording 20, but 10 MBU steals and a 17-11 turnover margin favoring MoBap paved the way to the lockdown performance.
 
The Spartans again delivered from the bench with Dowell, Ford, and a host of other scorers outdoing UHSP in bench points 33-3 and winning on the break with an 8-0 fast break scoring tally.
 
"We really wanted it," head coach Sam Pearson said. "They're top of the conference… so we wanted to come out and establish ourselves. We're going to enjoy it for 24 hours, and then it's right back to work."
 
Other stat lines of note for the Spartans came by way of Kasey Rice (13 points, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Nyah Ford (10 points, 3 rebounds), Kelsie Williams (5 points, 5 rebounds), and Joelle Atkins (4 points, 6 rebounds).
 
Missouri Baptist will test its preseason conditioning in the upcoming week, with three games on the slate. MBU plays host to Hannibal-LaGrange on Tuesday, Jan. 10th. Tip-off is at 5:30 pm.