13 Dec 2023 Mustangs earn first W of the season against Baptist Bible

CONWAY — Returning home for the first time since Nov. 18, Central Baptist College women’s basketball hosted the Patriots of Baptist Bible College on Tuesday at A. R. Reddin Fieldhouse. CBC (1-5) took the lead early and held it the rest of the way, racing to an 85-74 win over BBC (7-4).

Caroline Citty led four Mustangs in double figures with 22 points while Olivia Lambrigtsen added 15 to go with a team-best eight rebounds, Tamara Christmas chipped in with 14 and Rhys Anderson added 10. The Mustangs outshot BBC 50 percent to 35 percent from the field and outrebounded them 45-32.

GAME FLOW

Baptist Bible took an early lead on a free throw 20 seconds into the contest. Christmas’ first layup of the night 10 seconds later gave CBC a 2-1 lead and the teams would trade the lead two more times before a layup from Citty at the 6:58 mark in the first half gave CBC a 7-5 lead that they would hold the rest of the game. CBC led 23-17 after one quarter and stretched the lead to 10 early in the second. The lead ballooned to 14 (42-28) with 2:31 left in the quarter before settling at 42-33 at the half.

Another layup from Christmas opened the scoring in the second half to make it 44-33 with 9:41 left in the third and CBC fought off a 14-5 run from Baptist Bible that cut the lead to 49-47 thanks to back-to-back huge plays. A jumper from Citty with 5:02 left followed by her converting the old fashioned three-point play to stretch the lead to five before Aliya Grotjohn cashed in on a four-point play on the next possession to stretch the lead to nine. CBC would take a 61-54 lead into the fourth quarter and saw the lead dwindle down to two with two minutes left, but the Lady Mustangs were able to salt the game away at the free throw line to bring the score final.

UP NEXT

CBC is off until Jan. 6 when they return to American Midwest Conference play against the Cottey Comets. Tipoff from Hinkhouse Gym in Nevada, Mo., is slated for 1 p.m.