HANNIBAL, Mo. – Missouri Baptist women's basketball tasted defeat for the first time in a month and eighteen days on Saturday. The Spartans faced a short turnaround and were forced to be goldfish by having a short memory with the loss, but did just that. MBU started the latest three-game week of its American Midwest Conference schedule and took care of business with a forceful rebound performance on the road Tuesday night.
MBU (18-4, 14-2 in AMC) got back to winning ways behind a sparkling night of shooting the basketball, particularly early in building an overwhelming lead. The Spartans defeated Hannibal-LaGrange (4-19, 2-14 in AMC) by a score of 82-59. Every MoBap player saw minutes, and all but two scored.
MBU opened the game firing away and scored the contest's first 14 points on six of their first seven shots. The Spartans continued to run away with it from there, building an advantage that reached the 33-point mark by the end of the first half. The visitors ended up with a 62.9 percent mark from the field after the first two quarters of play, which tailed off later in the game but still ended at a respectable 45.3 percent overall.
MBU took care of the rock and only turned the ball over seven times for the lowest mark all season. In turn, the Spartans took the ball away 12 times, with senior
Deyana Dodd leading in the steals column with four. Dodd would also dish out five assists to tie the game high for all players in the category.
Tionne Taylor was the bell cow for the offense again, leading the pack with 17 points from a season high 70.0 percent shooting. The senior and 2021-22 NAIA All-America honorable mention added three steals, three assists, and two rebounds to her stat line. Joining Taylor in double figures was
Alexis Allstun, who followed her 22-point outburst against Columbia with a healthy 12 points and three rebounds.
"Way to bounce back after a tough loss and play team basketball," head coach Sam Pearson said. "I was concerned we may have some hangover from Saturday but we were able to get back to our brand of basketball and take care of business. And for our bench to get some much needed reps felt good."
Other performances worth mentioning for the Spartans were
Lauren Ebert (6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks),
Kasey Rice (8 points, 2 rebounds),
Kayleigh Winch (6 points, 3 rebounds), and
Kelsie Williams (4 points, 4 rebounds).
It will be no rest for the weary the rest of the week. Missouri Baptist will have just one day to continue on and face the AMC's fifth-place team in the Stars of Stephens College at the Petty SRC on Thursday, Feb. 9th for a 5:30 pm tip-off.
