The Briar Cliff women's basketball team moved a step closer to the NAIA National Tournament Final Site Tuesday with a 77-65 win over Missouri Baptist in the first round. The Chargers won their 28th game all-time at the National Tournament, and their first since the 2015-16 season.
 
After a slow start on offense, the Chargers trailed 16-19 after the first 10 minutes of play. Despite shooting 37.5% from the field, compared to 61.5% from the Spartans, the Chargers only trailed by three. They forced five Spartan turnovers, with three steals, and were led by Payton Slaughter's seven points.
 
The Charger defense ramped up the pressure in the second quarter, holding the Spartans to five points on 2-of-11 shooting. On the opposite side of the ball, BC began to settle in by shooting over 50.0% from the field and beyond the arc.
 
The Chargers scored six points, with Peyton Wingert and Kennedy Benne scoring three each, through the first five minutes of the second quarter. Kaegan Held had the hot hand for the Cliff in the final five minutes of the half, scoring all 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting.
 
Briar Cliff took the lead with 6:07 left in the second quarter and would hold the advantage for the remainder of the game. The Blue and Gold took a 33-24 lead into the halftime break.
 
Madelyn Deitchler kept the second quarter momentum rolling with an and-one to start the third quarter scoring. The Spartans, however, would cut the BC lead to four early in the period. A quick 7-0 Charger run, with back-to-back 3-pointers from Wingert and Slaughter, brought the lead back to double-digits. Konnor Sudmann scored the final eight points for BC in the third, but their lead was trimmed to eight, 53-45.
 
The Spartans pulled within five points with 9:06 left in the game, but the Chargers used a 14-2 run to push their advantage to a comfortable 69-52 lead with 3:32 left. Slaughter connected on 3-of-4 attempts from the free throw line in the final :30 to close out the 77-65 win.
 
Slaughter had a game high 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting with nine free throws, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Deitchler added 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while Sudmann had 13 points, five boards and five assists.
 
In total, six Chargers scored in double digits, three tallied three or more assists and four recorded two steals each.
 
Briar Cliff scored 34 points in the paint, 17 off turnovers, 14 second chance points and 11 bench points.
 
The Chargers will face Indiana Tech Wednesday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana at 5:00 PM CT/6:00 PM ET.