Lady Eagles Come Up Short in AMC Championship Game

COLUMBIA, Mo. (3/2/24) - The Williams Baptist women's basketball team saw its American Midwest Championship run come to an end Monday night with a 79-66 loss to Columbia in the title game at the Arena at Southwell Complex on the Columbia College campus.

Despite the loss, the Lady Eagles (24-6) will receive an automatic bid to the 64-team NAIA Tournament. The selection show will take place Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. (CT) on the NAIA YouTube Channel. It will be the first appearance in the NAIA Tournament in school history.

Williams led by as many as 15 in the first half, but Columbia went on a 21-5 run to open the third quarter to take a 46-41 lead they would not relinquish. They built their advantage by taking the ball at the Lady Eagles' defense and did not allow them to find any type of rhythm offensively. 

"Tonight just wasn't our night," WBU head coach John Mayberry said. "Give credit to Columbia for making the necessary adjustments in the second half. We had our chances and shots just did not fall for us, but this doesn't take away anything that this team has done this season. I am extremely proud of every one of them and we are not finished yet. This one will sting, but we get to do something that hasn't been done before in the history of this program, play in a NAIA Tournament and we look forward to that."

Carmen Taylor, who led WBU with 21 points, gave her team a spark at the end of the third quarter when she hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to get within 53-51. However, Williams could not carry the momentum over as a 6-0 run by the Cougars coupled with a 2:30 scoring drought from the Lady Eagles pushed the lead to 62-53.

The deficit grew to its largest at 73-57 with 3:59 remaining, but Williams Baptist had one more run left. 

A 7-0 got them within 75-66 with 2:16 to go, which included six points from Nijah Moore who found success driving to the basket with a dribble-drive penetration, but Williams couldn't get shots to fall in the final minutes as Columbia went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to help seal the win.

Kaylee Clark finished in double-figures with 11 points, while Charmen Taylor added 10. 

The Lady Eagles methodically built their advantage in the first half thanks to a swarming defense and taking advantage of its physicality on the offensive end. 

WBU turned up the pressure on the offensive end of the floor in the second quarter when Clark opened the period with a 3-pointer to spark a 12-2 run that built a 15-point advantage for the Lady Eagles at 33-18.

The run was aided by a stifling defense that forced the Cougars into 13 turnovers, eight of which were steals, that Williams Baptist turned into 18 points. 

The first and second rounds of the NAIA Tournament will take place March 15-16 at host sites around the country with the final 16 teams advancing to Sioux City, Iowa for the remainder of the tournament March 21-26.