Box Score BETHANY, Okla. – Five Flying Queens scored double digits Thursday night to help lead Wayland to a 76-61 win over Southwestern Christian in their first Sooner Athletic Conference game of the season.
"Tonight was a good start to conference" head coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said. "We didn't play like we knew how in the first half, but we bounced back and played well in the second half to get a win."
The Queens (4-3, 1-0) traded leads with Southwestern Christian (4-6, 0-1) 11 times in the first half before the Lady Eagles caught fire, scoring 15 unanswered points over a four-minute span.
Nina Sato broke the scoring drought with just two minutes left in the first half, but SWC went to the locker room with 41-34 halftime lead.
"They have a couple players that are really good and we had a hard time matching up with them," Robertson-Ellis said. "We switched to a 2-3 zone and that helped us out a bunch.
"On the offensive end, we had a lot of unforced turnovers that we don't usually make, but overall, we just had a hard time getting going."
Wayland got it going in the second half, opening the half with a 14-4 run in the first seven minutes, scoring 12 of its 14 points inside the lane.
Grace Hadley brought the Lady Eagles within a point, 48-47, with a three-pointer, but the Queens went on another run to regain their cushion over Southwestern Christian.
Southwestern Christian kept battling never letting Wayland's lead surpass 10 points until
Stephanie Afunugo put the Queens up, 70-59, after sinking two free throws with two minutes left.
Wayland's largest lead of the night was 15 points after a
LaTericka Anderson free throw with just over a minute remaining, and a layup from Anderson 20 seconds later to give the Queen's a 76-51 lead, which stood as the final.
Robertson-Ellis said that her squad finally started clicking in the second half and she saw the team that she expected to show up.
"Our girls bounced back from a rough first half and played much better in the second half," the coach said. "We cut our turnovers down and played much smarter basketball.
"We also got Stephanie (Afunugo) back in the second half. She got into some foul trouble and had to sit out, but when she was in we had a much bigger and better presence."
The Queens cut their turnovers down from 16 to 10 in the second half and held the Lady Eagles to a miniscule 17.6 shooting percentage after SWC shot just under 50-percent in the first half. '
Afunugo led the Queens with 17 points, while Anderson recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Laura Castillo (11),
Shawna Monreal (10) and
Iesha Greer (10) also scored double digits for Wayland. Monreal had six assists and five steals, both team highs.
At the heels of a 91-84 loss to No. 11 Our Lady of the Lake (San Antonio), Thursday's win gives Wayland some momentum heading into another game against a ranked opponent, No. 1 Oklahoma City. The Queens take on the Stars at 1 p.m. Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena.
"We're excited about the game on Saturday and I think this game gave our girls a lot of confidence going in," Robertson-Ellis said, "but we will have to play a lot better against Oklahoma City."
