FULTON, Mo. -- The No. 25-ranked William Woods University women's basketball team could not hit a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer, as they fell 87-84 to Missouri Baptist University at Anderson Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by three, William Woods (9-5; 2-4 AMC) grabbed a rebound after a Missouri Baptist (5-8; 3-2 AMC) missed free throw and took the ball down the court. Junior guard Blake French got a good look from behind the arc, but her shot was unable to tie the game, as the Owls dropped its third American Midwest Conference contest in four games.

The No. 25-ranked team in the country allowed a season-high 87 points, as the Spartans hit 47.8 percent from the floor in the victory. Kristyne Smyth paced MBU on the afternoon with a season-best 28 points off the bench. Taylor Klingelhoefer added 18 points off the pine for the Spartans, as they outscored WWU 52-28 in points off the bench.

"We didn't defend well enough today," said Head Coach Dan Chapla. "Even though we scored some points, like we have for most of the season, we are not defending the way we have in years past. We've been trying to emphasize defense in practice, but we have games like this, where we get beat off the dribble and play poor post defense. Credit Missouri Baptist, they really stepped up and played extremely well. Smyth had a good game, she hit open shots and was able to drive on us. We didn't play good enough help defense on her tonight and she made us pay for it."

Despite the loss, William Woods managed to score a season-best 84 points. Senior Katie Scherder tied her season-high in points with 19. The 5-10 forward hit 7-of-12 from the field and drained three of her six shots from behind the arc.

"It was good to see Katie have a good game," said Chapla. "She was aggressive today, took some open shots when she had them. We need that from her just about every game if we want to succeed."

Scherder was one of four Owls in double-figures, as Destani Stensrud scored a season-best 16 points. Blake French tallied 11 points, and forward Stephanie Copelin was two boards shy of a double-double, as she scored 10 points and collected a team-best eight caroms.

It was a closely played first half between the two teams, as the first frame featured nine ties and five lead changes. Both teams could not build more than a five-point lead, and with the game tied at 39-39, Smyth closed out the half with an old fashion three-point play to give Missouri Baptist a 42-39 lead going into halftime.

The second half was much of the same, as both teams were tied throughout the majority of the frame. An Owls 7-0 run, capped off by a Scherder basket, broke a 51-51 tie. Yet, Missouri Baptist scored nine of the game's next 11 points to tie the game back up at 60-60.

After trading baskets for the next few minutes, MBU went on a 5-0 spurt to take an 84-79. The Owls had a chance to tie the game in the final few seconds, but French's three-point attempt fell just short at the buzzer to give the Spartans the 87-84 upset victory.

William Woods will be back in action on Tuesday night, as they host Benedictine University at Springfield. Tip-off from Anderson Arena is set for 5:30 p.m.

Check back with wwuowls.com for a full preview and recap of this and every game during the 2013-14 season.  

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