FORT WAYNE, Ind. – For the first time in 17 years, Missouri Baptist women's basketball played in an NAIA National Tournament game. The chance at making history with a first ever win in the postseason went amiss, but the heart showed by the Spartans was evident in the loss to Briar Cliff (BCU).
Missouri Baptist (13 seed) and Briar Cliff (4 seed) met for the nightcap matchup of the Indiana Tech opening site pod of the Liston Quadrant at the Schaeffer Center. The Spartans tried to cause some madness and send the high seed of the four invited to Fort Wayne, Ind. home early, but BCU proved to be a tough out and too much for a shorthanded MBU as the Chargers won, 77-65.
It was a definitive tale of two quarters in the first half. MBU went ahead 19-16 after 10 minutes, but would get locked down over the next 10 and only scored five points in the second. BCU steadily improved every quarter scoring 17, 20, and 24 over the following three periods after the Spartans won the first.
MoBap clawed their way out of the hole in the early part of the third, getting within four after one three-pointer from
Lauren Ebert and one from
Tionne Taylor bookended a Chargers team technical foul and two free throws for Ebert all within a 17-second span. The Spartans fought to stay in it after that rapid eight-point flurry but couldn't regain a lead and faltered down the stretch with foul trouble. BCU was sent to the free throw line 30 times in the second half, making enough to keep Missouri Baptist at bay and end their season.
Taylor and Ebert were the leading scorers for MBU, with 18 and 16, respectively. Ebert was the leading rebounder, and came one board short of a double-double, with nine. MoBap had a tough time holding onto the ball compared to their previous few games in the AMC Championship, turning it over 20 times. The Chargers outrebounded the Spartans 41-31, with 17 of those coming on the offensive end for BCU. They flipped those second chance opportunities and turned them into 14 points compared to just 5 in that category.
Other MBU statlines of note were
Bryce Dowell (10 points, 2 steals),
Alexis Allstun (8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks),
Kelsie Williams (9 points, 4 rebounds), and
Nyah Ford (4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists).
Missouri Baptist ends its season at 24-6, with the most wins in the conference (18) in program history and one shy of the overall record of 25 from the 2005-06 season, which was the last time MBU played in the National Tournament.
