Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team had no problems against visiting Missouri Baptist on Tuesday evening, defeating the Spartans 84-47. With the victory, SBU improves to 4-1 on the season.

The Bearcats and Spartans came out evenly matched for the first four minutes, as the scored was knotted up at 10-10 with 5:56 left in the first quarter, using a pair of three's from Ashlee Pitts to open up the scoring. The Bearcats then pushed their lead to five off of a layup from Sarah Magana followed by a three from Megan Rosenbohm to take a 15-10 lead. After exchanging points for the remainder of the quarter, a layup from Morgan Henderson with 54 seconds left in the first quarter gave SBU a 21-17 lead. 

SBU completely opened the game up in the second quarter, playing solid defense, and using a 15-0 run to quickly extend their lead to 36-17 with 4:20 left in the half. The SBU defense didn't allow a Missouri Baptist point for nearly eight minutes between the first and second quarters, and saw good post presence from Caylee Richardson who had 6 points during the run. After a free throw by MBU the Bearcats went on another 12-0 run to push their lead to 48-18, using three's from Magana and Aliyah Issac, as well as a layup from Isaac and four points from Mackenzie Skupa. SBU would eventually go into the half leading 50-22, and outscoring the Spartans 29-5 in the second quarter.

Coming out of the break the Bearcats pushed their lead to 33 (58-25) off of a three from Rosenbohm with 7:23 left in the quarter. SBU extended their lead to a game high 40 (73-33) when Natalie O'Keefe hit a pair of free throws with 1:07 left in the third, before taking a 73-35 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter the Bearcats cruised, as no starter played more than 6 minutes in the second half, as SBU went on to the 84-47 victory.

Morgan Henderson collected her first career double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, while Natalie O'Keefe narrowly missed a double-double of her own with 12 points and 9 boards. Megan Rosenbohm posted a game high 13 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Aliyah Isaac was also in double-figures with 10 points off of the bench. As a team, SBU shot 50.0% from the field, 41.2% from beyond the arc, and 78.6% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will take a short break from action, and will return to the court for MIAA play on Thursday, December 3 when they host Northwest Missouri. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.