Box Score The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens made a big statement in their home-opener Saturday afternoon, dismantling University of the Southwest, 110-49, in the second meeting between the two teams this season.
In the Queens' season-opener on Nov. 4 in Hobbs, N.M., Wayland defeated the Mustangs, 90-57, but the halftime score was just 37-32. On Saturday, the Mustangs scored 32 points in the first half again, but the Queens put up 52 in the opening stanza to go into halftime with a comfortable 20-point lead.
For the first four minutes of the game, the Mustangs would not allow the Queens to pull away, but a 3-pointer by
Honesty Sullivan five minutes in started a 19-5 run, giving Wayland a 27-12 lead midway through the first half.
After Wayland ended the first half on a 12-6 run to go up by 20 points, the Queens really started to put it on the Mustangs. In the second half, not only did the Queens continue their solid offensive production, but the defense came up with stop after stop.
Wayland opened the second half with a 20-2 run, but more impressively, the Queens held the Mustangs to just 17 points in the entire half. Wayland's defense came up with 11 of its 15 steals and three of its five blocks in the second half.
The Queens stellar defense led the way for WBU to work on its offense, which head coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said was a focus point Saturday.
"Today was a good day for us because it allowed us to work on our transition offense," Robertson-Ellis said. "That's something that we need to be more confident with because we're a better team when good in transition."
All nine players for Wayland scored on Saturday, and seven of them were in double figures.
Iesha Greer had a game-high 18 points, while
Stephanie Afunugo,
Regan Hestand and
Jada Riley all had 15 points. Sullivan (13),
LaTericka Anderson (11) and
Gabby Gonzales (11) also scored 10-plus points Saturday.
"We were able to get our second group in today, and they did a nice job," Robertson-Ellis said. "They got a lot of experience and did some good things today."
Two of Wayland's reserves, Hestand and
Nina Sato, led the Queens in two major statistical categories, assists and rebounds. Hestand passed out a game-high seven assists, while Sato grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
"Regan had a set back with her eye, but she's on her way to being a great player," Robertson-Ellis. "She's very skilled from the outside, can see the floor well, makes great passes, and she can also but the ball in the whole.
"Nina is also on her way to being a great player for us. Â She's only played (basketball) for three years, so the more experience we can get her, the better. She's fun to coach because she works hard, improves every day and wants to continue to do that. She's so athletic that I feel like we can do a lot with her. If we can teach her to make the easy play then she'll turn out to be a great player."
The Flying Queens needed a tune up Saturday to break up their tough preconference schedule. The Queens have suffered losses to No. 16 MidAmerica Nazarene and NCAA Division-I Abilene Christian, but they have one final test before opening up conference play against top-ranked Oklahoma City on Dec. 6. Wayland travels to San Antonio to take on No. 11 Our Lady of the Lake (2-1) on Nov. 29.
"Our Lady of the Lake is good, but if we can compete with them then we can compete with anyone," Robertson-Ellis said. "They're going to be a tough matchup for us because they're so big, but today was good because we gained some confidence in our shots and some other areas of our game. It's good to have that confidence going in because next Saturday is going to be a tough game."
After Saturday's game against the Saints, the Queens open up Sooner Athletic Conference play against Southwestern Christian (3-4) on Dec. 4, but Wayland still has three tough, nonconference games left on the schedule. The Queens play UT-Permian Basin, who knocked off No. 1 West Texas A&M (NCAA D-II), Texas Woman's University and McMurry.
Robertson-Ellis knows that she put together a tough schedule, but she thinks that it will pay off in the long run.
"We have a tough preconference schedule, but that's good for us," she said. "We'll know what we'll have to do for conference after playing such a tough schedule.
It's a hard way to go because you're going to have to steal some games, but I think a tough schedule will weigh heavier on who goes to nationals."
The Queens take on Our Lady of the Lake at 4 p.m. Nov. 29 in what will be the start of a month-long road trip. Wayland's next home game is Jan. 8 when the Queens and Pioneers host Texas Wesleyan at 6 and 8 p.m. in Hutcherson Center.
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