Box Score FORT WORTH – The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens threw a wet towel on Texas Wesleyan's first Top 25 ranking in almost 30 years, rallying from a 14-point deficit to post a 73-69 Sooner Athletic Conference victory over the No. 25 Lady Rams in Sid Richardson Center here Thursday night.
"We needed that one," Wayland coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said.
Wayland (13-8, 8-3 SAC), the equivalent of 27
th in the polls, trailed 45-31 with three minutes left in the first half, but the Flying Queens ramped up their defense in the second half to secure the comeback win behind solid performances from all five starters.
"I'm proud that they won the game," Robertson-Ellis said of her team. "I feel like it was one of our biggest games to date."
Texas Wesleyan (15-8, 6-5) on Tuesday entered the NAIA Top 25 rankings for the first time since 1986, the only other season the Lady Rams have ever been ranked.
"Wesleyan should be in the top 25. They have some key players that are hard to stop and they're well-coached," Robertson-Ellis said. "It was a big game for us and a big game for them. They needed a win, and we did, too."
Five Flying Queens posted double-digit numbers.
LaTericka Anderson paved the way on offense, getting 22 points while
Stephanie Afunugo added 17,
Shawna Monreal 15 and
Laura Castillo 13.
Iesha Greer was limited to two points, but she pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds as Wayland dominated the boards, 42-27. The Flying Queens got 19 offensive rebounds compared to just six for Wesleyan.
Robertson-Ellis said the key to dominating the rebounding battle was blocking out.
"It was just all hustle," she said.
After trailing by 14 late in the first half, the Queens cut it to nine, 47-38, at intermission. Then in the first five minutes of the second period Wayland went on a 10-3 run to trim the margin to just two, 50-48.
"This team does a good job of that," said Robertson-Ellis, adding that at halftime she stressed winning the first five minutes of the second half, then the second five, and so on. "We broke it down like that and it helped us chip away at that lead.
"We came out and had the poise we've been looking for. They were in control today."
Back-to-back three-point possessions – a traditional one by Anderson and a 3-pointer by Monreal – put Wayland up 62-60 with 8:20 left. It was the Flying Queens' first lead since being up 26-25 with 11:10 left in the first half, after which the Lady Rams scored 10 unanswered points to grab the early momentum.
Robertson-Ellis said the Flying Queens haven't always been able to follow through on their comebacks, getting to within a point or two and then throwing it all away. She said they were beginning that direction again after an unforced turnover, but she called timeout to ease her players' nerves.
"We got a little anxious, so I wanted to calm them down and make sure we didn't beat ourselves. We started doing that, but you can't have one turnover have that domino effect.
"They understood and focused really hard on the defensive end as well as continuing to be patient on offense. That's the thing we've been stressing for a long time."
Once the Flying Queens were in control, Robertson-Ellis said it was important to finish off the comeback.
"I told them we needed to pull away right now."
It was 66-all when Afunugo put WBU ahead for good, hitting a free throw with 5:00 left. Following a lengthy scoring drought for both teams, Anderson made it a three-point game, after which Greer drew a critical charge with 1:36 to go.
Anderson then came up with a huge play when she missed the front end of a one-and-one but got her own rebound and went back up for the bucket, making it 71-66 with just 25 ticks to go.
Texas Wesleyan still had a chance after a three-point play made it a two-point game with nine seconds left, but Afunugo nailed a pair of foul shots with six seconds to go to seal it.
Wayland hit five more free throws than Wesleyan, going 13-of-17 compared to 8-of-13 for the Lady Rams. Both teams had 27 field goals (WBU 27-of-65, TWU 27-of-52), and the Lady Rams hit seven 3-pointers, one more than Wayland. Castillo and Monreal had three 3s each for the Flying Queens.
"We did a much better job of looking for the open shot today," Robertson-Ellis said. "They played hard and they did what it took."
Castillo also dished out eight assists while Monreal had five helpers and seven rebounds. Anderson added eight boards. Both Anderson and Castillo were credited with playing all 40 minutes.
Wesleyan got 19 points from senior guard Amy Easley and 17 from sophomore forward Katelynn Threats.
The win was tougher to come by than when the Flying Queens rolled over the Lady Rams in Plainview earlier this season, 79-58.
"I feel like they played well today," Robertson-Ellis said.
WBU will be in Waxahachie on Saturday to take on Southwestern Assemblies of God University (11-12, 2-9) at 1 p.m.
"This is another one of those scary games," Robertson-Ellis said. "They have what it takes to beat us if we don't do what we're supposed to, especially coming off a big win like this. We can celebrate this tonight but need to come back mentally prepared and get back down to business (Friday) and switch our mind-set to SAGU and making sure we do what it takes to beat them."
SAGU knocked off Southwestern Christian on Thursday, 68-65. The Flying Queens topped the Lady Lions on Jan. 10 in Plainview, 71-60.
