Davis nets 32, Afunugo, Greer get double-doubles in win

Box Score
Alesha Robertson wanted the Flying Queens to focus on just one thing, so the Wayland Baptist coach kept the message to her team before Saturday afternoon's game against Mid-America Christian very simple.
 
"I feel like we do a better job when we don't over-think things," Robertson said, "so the only thing I wrote on the board (in the locker room) was 'Win.'"
 
That's exactly what they did.
 
Angeleigh Davis scored a career-high 32 points, and Stephanie Afunugo and Iesha Greer recorded double-doubles to lead the Flying Queens to a convincing 101-64 Sooner Athletic Conference victory in Hutcherson Center.
 
"It was a good win for us," Robertson said. "(MACU) is very athletic and they've had a good season and beaten a lot of good teams, so I felt like this was a really good win for us."
 
The game for Wayland was the fifth in its last six outings against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25. MACU (10-5, 4-2 SAC), the equivalent of 26^th, was on the verge of its first-ever appearance in the poll before the Flying Queens (5-8, 2-2) spoiled it.
 
Things couldn't have started much better for Wayland, which scored the first 10 points of the game, including six by Davis.
 
"I thought our girls came out and played really well," Robertson said. "I didn't want to fill their brains up with a lot of stuff. I just wanted us to focus on doing everything right on offense and focus on doing everything right on defense…the small things, stuff learned when they were five years old. They did a good job of doing that."
 
By the 7½-minute mark of the first half, Wayland had doubled up MACU, leading 39-19. But the Lady Evangels responded by scoring the next 12 points, and three minutes after they were up by 20 the Flying Queens were clinging to an eight-point lead.
 
But after Wayland's LaTericka Anderson, who rejoined the team for the first time since the end of last season on Thursday, made a layp-up and Afunugo connected, the Flying Queens never let the Lady Evangels within single digits again.
 
Wayland was up by 13 at halftime, 52-39, and after Laura Castillo opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer followed by a bucket from Afunugo, the rout was on.
 
Already up by 25, the Flying Queens scored 13 unanswered points to expand their lead to 95-57. Wayland's largest lead was 39 after a layup by Aubrey Pedigo that put the Flying Queens over the century mark with 21 seconds left.
 
"It always helps when we're scoring," Robertson said. "We really focused on pushing the ball today."
 
Davis was 12-of-19 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers, and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line as she netted her 32 points in 27 minutes. Her previous scoring high was 26 against MACU last season.
 
"She came to play," Robertson said. "I challenged her before the game to get 25 points. She told me afterwards, 'Coach, I didn't get 25.' I told her that I'll take 25 and above.
 
"Angeleigh is a key for us. We have to have her scoring if we're going to beat good teams."
 
Afunugo ended with 17 points and 15 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season while Greer got 11 points and 11 boards for her seventh double-double. Castillo ended with 15 points.
 
The Flying Queens shot 48 percent (38-of-80) from the field and were 5-of-15 (33 percent) from 3-point range while hitting 20-of-29 foul shots. They committed 14 turnovers.
 
 "All of our players did a nice job today. The twins (Shayla and Shawna Monreal) came out and were shooting really well. We're trying to get them in the game quite a bit. I feel like they are two of our top three shooters, so if we can get them going more that would be really good."
 
The sisters ended with five points apiece, and Shawna recorded nine rebounds and the Queens held a commanding 66-43 edge on the boards.
 
"I didn't feel like we rebounded very well on Thursday (in a 78-64 loss to No. 7 Oklahoma Baptist), so we concentrated on defense and blocking out on Friday," Robertson said. "They did a nice job."
 
MACU got 16 points from Ashlee Ferguson, 12 from Cheyenne Been and 11 from Lauren McKinney. The Lady Evangels shot 30 percent (23-of-77) from the field, including 10-of-37 from 3-point range, and 8-of-17 from the free-throw line. MACU had 19 turnovers.
 
Wayland is now 13-2 all-time against MACU, having won six in a row against the Lady Evangels.
 
The Flying Queens play their next three games on the road – Thursday at Texas Wesleyan, Saturday at USAO and a makeup game Jan. 20 at St. Gregory's – before returning to the Hutch on Jan. 23 against Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
 
"We played well today, but we can get better," Robertson said. "The last thing I told the team today is we can't walk out of the locker room being complacent. We have to keep working every day, getting better and better. We have to go into every game thinking (the opponent) is going to beat us."