Box Score Box Score ESPANOLA, N.M. – Wayland Baptist put together a late 13-1 run to survive a non-conference scare from Northern New Mexico as the Flying Queens, with five players scoring in double figures, prevailed here Monday night, 83-78.
"Good teams find a way to win, and I feel like we did that today," Wayland coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said. "The girls kept their composure and kept their heads on their shoulders and kept fighting until the end."
Wayland (9-2), ranked the equivalent of 27
th in the NAIA, had beaten the Lady Eagles (5-7) earlier this season in Plainview, 78-51. But the Flying Queens trailed by six points midway through the fourth quarter and were down 71-68 with just over four minutes left.
"They're a scrappy team and they were shooting the ball well when it counted. They were making big shots in critical moments," Robertson-Ellis said. "It seemed like they had shooters in every spot for a time, but finally they started cooling off."
And that's when the Flying Queens took matters into their own hands, scoring the next eight straight points on a 3-pointer by
Maci Merket, a bucket by
Shayla Monreal, and a 3-point play by
Jade Jones.
After a free throw by the Lady Eagles, Wayland scored five unanswered points – a 3-pointer by Monreal and a 2 by twin Shawna – to complete the 13-1 run and put Wayland firmly in control, 81-72 with 1:20 left.
"We switched our lineup at the end to four guards and one post, and that kind of gave us a different look," Robertson-Ellis said. "I felt like we had the winning mentality, while (NNMC) was playing not to lose. We were the more aggressive team, and we had some players step up and hit some big shots for us."
Merket drained a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to finish the scoring.
"We had some important things go our way at the end," Robertson-Ellis said. "It was a crazy, crazy game."
Merket, who did not play in the Flying Queens' win Saturday over Sul Ross State, finished with 16 points, one off her season-high. Jones ended with 15 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, while the Monreals added 13 points apiece and
Deborah VanDijk a dozen. VanDijk added eight rebounds and
Shayla Monreal seven.
Morgan Bennett dished out six assists.
Both teams shot 45 percent from the field, but the Flying Queens won it by hitting 19-of-25 free throws (76 percent) compared to NNMC's 57 percent (12-of-21). VanDijk was 6-of-8 from the foul stripe and Merket 5-of-6.
Wayland led 18-12 after the first quarter but NNMC outscored the Flying Queens in the second period, 23-14, to lead at the half, 35-32.
Robertson-Ellis said part of WBU's issue was not playing smart.
"We made a couple of bad fouls, like running through a screen at the 3-point line. They made the 3 and then got the ball back."
WBU fell behind by as many as eight on a couple of occasions in the third, the last time at 42-34. But the Flying Queens scored eight straight, capped by a 3-pointer from
Kendrick Clark, to tie it at 42-all.
It was tied at 55 going into the fourth quarter, but back-to-back 3-pointers kicked off an 8-0 run by the Lady Eagles that put them up 66-60 with 6:14 to go, prior to Wayland's late push.
"They are super scrappy, and if you don't do the small things right against teams like that then you lose," Robertson-Ellis said. "The second half we played more like a team. Every player was very involved."
The Flying Queens get another non-conference rematch Thursday in Alpine against a Sul Ross State team which Wayland defeated on Saturday in Hutcherson Center, 77-58.
"It's going to be the same thing with Sul Ross that it was tonight," Robertson-Ellis said. "I don't think they shot the ball the last time like they're capable, so we have to make sure we're executing on both ends of the floor."
After Thursday, the Queens then travel to Las Vegas for a pair of games Dec. 19 and 21 that will round out their 2016 schedule.
