by Joel Devick
ST. LOUIS – In the first matchup between the two schools this season, American Midwest Conference women’s basketball frontrunners Missouri Baptist and University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (UHSP) played to a statement Spartan victory. The rematch, this time on the home floor of the Eutectics, was more of the same.
In similar defensive fashion to the first meeting and by nearly the exact same scoreline, MBU (20-4, 16-2 in AMC) downed UHSP (20-6, 16-3 in AMC) 59-49 and dealt a blow to the Eutectics hopes of claiming a regular season conference championship. It marks the third season in the last four the Spartans have swept the regular season home-and-away against UHSP and the 21st triumph against the Eutectics in program history. The win also keeps MoBap in lock step with Columbia College for first in the conference with two games remaining.
The Spartans led wire-to-wire. Kasey Rice was steady all game in propelling the offense towards an ever-increasing lead from one quarter to the next. After an 8-4 start to the second positioned UHSP within one possession at 8:29 until halftime, MoBap put together a 12-3 run to take control. The Eutectics never trailed by less than six the rest of the game, and the Spartans held a double-digit lead the majority of the second half.
In game one against UHSP, the MBU defense held 10-time AMC player of the week Beyer to her lowest point total of the year. On Saturday, the Spartans shut down everyone else. Outside of Beyer’s 33 points and Elizabeth Allanach, who had 12, MBU allowed only four points to players from the home side.
Rice was a star on the offensive end for MoBap. The graduate senior managed her highest output of the season with 24. The stat sheet stuffing duo of Lauren Ebert and Rice combined for 37 points, nine rebounds, six steals, and five blocks.
The visitors gave up the ball a bit more than their season average of 15.8 per game with 18 on the afternoon, but outrebounded UHSP 27 to 21, scored 30 points in the paint and hit on 14-of-17 free throw attempts to round out a fundamentally thorough game
