SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri Baptist University STUNT team wrapped up its regular season in Springfield at Drury University's Battle in the 417 tournament and added two wins to its already impressive resume, improving to 12-4 on the year. The Spartans grabbed a pair of wins on Day One against University of Central Arkansas and Texas Woman's University before dropping the last two to St. Mary's University and Maryville University.
In the first-ever meeting with DI STUNT program Central Arkansas, the two teams battled closely in the first period with MBU edging the Bears, 3-2. However, the first-period points would be the only ones scored by UCA in the game as Mo Bap rattled off 15 points in the final three periods to win soundly, 18-2. Leading the way in the tournament opener were
Sophia Welch and
Kylie Lamb with 46 and 45 points, respectively.
Later in the afternoon, the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak to Texas Woman's University. With MBU's narrow 4-2 lead at halftime, the Pioneers outscored the Spartans 2-1 in the third quarter to get within one. Once again, MoBap finished strong with a second-straight 10-point performance in the fourth quarter to pull away with a 15-7 victory. Five Spartans tied for first in power points against TWU including Welch,
Emilia Ealick,
Vashti Altheide,
Kiley Roth, and
Selah Lonard.
Day Two was full of firsts for the Spartans including the first-ever overtime game. In MBU's first contest against St. Mary's, the two teams went into the fourth period tied at 6-all, and each doubled their point total in the final round to force an overtime. St. Mary's outscored the Spartans by one in double overtime to win, 17-16. Welch teamed up with
CiCi Mallqui-Thomas for the top point getters in the game with 37 apiece.
Despite a loss in the tournament finale to STUNT powerhouse Maryville, the Spartans more than held their own against their St. Louis counterparts. In fact, the Spartans scored 12 to match the point total from their last six outings versus Maryville. For the fourth time in as many outings,
Sophia Welch led the way for MBU with 24 points.
Kylie Lamb finished second in points with 23.
The Spartans head into the College STUNT National Championship for the NAIA Division, which will take place April 18-20 in Fullerton, Calif., as the No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 seed Ottawa University (Ariz.) in the opening game on April 18 (3:30 PM PT).
