Box Score ABILENE – In their first game of the new year, the Flying Queens took on McMurry University in Kimbrell Arena on Saturday evening. The Queens up-tempo offensive proved to be too much for the War Hawks as Wayland went on to win its first game of 2015, 83-61, ending a three-game skid in the process.
"I kind of had an irky feeling coming into tonight's game since we've had a weird week dealing with the weather, but we came in and played hard tonight," head coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said. "We were due for a win tonight. It feels good to get one and we got better in a lot of areas tonight at the same time."
Wayland (5-6), playing in its first game since Dec. 20, showed no signs of rust and jumped out to an early 3-2 lead, but the War Hawks scrapped with the Queens throughout the night, especially in the first five minutes where the two teams traded leads five times.
"McMurry is a lot like us," Robertson-Ellis said. "They can win games because they play hard and they can contain teams that they probably shouldn't because they hustle. I knew going in that tonight was going to be a hard game because of their style of play."
McMurry's last lead of the game came three minutes 17 seconds into the game, but the War Hawks (1-15) stayed within five points of Wayland for the majority of the first half.
Nearly seven minutes into the game, McMurry came within two points of Wayland, but the Queens turned on the after burners and went on a 17-4 run, doubling McMurry's point total in just four minutes.
With eight minutes remaining in the half, the War Hawks went on a small run of their own, hitting a jumper, a pair of free throws and a three pointer to cut Wayland's lead back
down to single digits.
Up 31-22 with just over five minutes left in the first half,
Stephanie Afunugo started an 11-0 run by scoring four unanswered points. Gabby Gonzalez made a three pointer and
Laura Castillo and
Shawna Monreal scored two points apiece before McMurry found the basket again. The Queens ended the final five minutes of a big first half with a 15-6 run to give themselves a 46-28 halftime lead.
The War Hawks opened up the second half by forcing two turnovers, scoring five unanswered points. After a layup from
Iesha Greer, McMurry went on another 5-0 run, cutting the Queens' lead down to 10 again.
After seeing its comfortable halftime lead shrink, Wayland flipped the switch back on, and went up, 54-38, with 14:36 left to play by scoring six unanswered points.
To McMurry's credit, the War Hawks never went away, cutting the Queens' lead down to 10 on two more occasions, but in the end Wayland's fast-paced play prevailed. After Taylor Russell cut the lead to 70-60, the Queens buried the War Hawks by outscoring McMurry 13-1 in the final four and a half minutes of the game, earning an 83-61 win.
Much of Wayland's success Saturday was owed to solid defensive play Robertson-Ellis said. The Queens garnered eight steals and scored 21 points off turnovers.
"We played hard on defense tonight," Robertson-Ellis said. "Defense is all hard work and if you're willing to make the effort to play it, then you're going to win a lot of games that you shouldn't. I was really impressed with Shawna's defense in particular tonight. We've been pretty hard on her lately and she stepped up her game and played very well tonight.
"We've been preaching to our kids that we have to show up in every position if we want to win big games, and everyone did their job tonight."
One of the major differences in Saturday's win and Wayland's three losses in its three previous games was the bench. The Queens' bench scored 20 points Saturday compared to 10, 13 and two points in losses to Oklahoma City, UT-Permian Basin and Texas Woman's University.
"Our bench got a lot of playing time for us and their confidence is a lot better after tonight which helps us a lot," Robertson-Ellis said. "A lot of their struggles are due to the fact that they haven't gotten a lot of playing time, but tonight we were able to get them in there. It wasn't an easy game but they came in and played like they knew how and did what it took to win the game. That's the best that I've seen that group play. They proved that they can play tonight."
The Queens had four players score in double figures, led by Castillo who had a game-high 18 points.
LaTericka Anderson was second on the team with 14 points, while Afunugo and Monreal added 12 and 11 points.
Castillo also led all players with five assists and added six rebounds to round out a stellar performance. Anderson led the Queens with eight rebounds, while
Nina Sato was second with seven.
Wayland returns to action Jan. 8 in its first home game since Nov. 4. The Queens host Texas Wesleyan (9-4) at 6 p.m. in Hutcherson Center in a Sooner Athletic Conference showdown.
"We're absolutely ready to play at home," Robertson-Ellis said. "We feel a whole lot better going into conference with a win tonight, but the biggest thing for us will be playing in front of our own crowd finally."
