Box Score
"I think that's the best game we've played," Wayland Baptist coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said after her Flying Queens throttled No. 18 John Brown in Sooner Athletic Conference play Saturday afternoon in Hutcherson Center, 100-72.
Without a doubt it was senior
Jade Jones' best game.
Jones scored 46 points – just three short of matching the program record – in leading the Flying Queens (12-2, 3-1) to their season-high seventh straight victory.
After sitting out Thursday night's 89-72 victory over Bacone with an injured foot (she's still wearing a protective boot off the basketball court), Jones was unstoppable against the Golden Eagles (10-5, 2-2).
Jones, of Georgetown by way of Howard College and Tyler College, scored 14 points in the first quarter, when Wayland surged to a 26-18 lead, and had 23 at halftime, when Wayland was in command, 43-28.
She kept it rolling in the second half, netting 11 points in the third quarter when Wayland assumed a 74-47 advantage.
Jones had 43 points when she came out of the game with 5½ minutes to play. Upon learning that Sharla Harrison's program record of 49 points (set against Schreiner in 1988; Harrison is the Flying Queens' all-time scoring leader with 2,461 points) was within reach, Robertson-Ellis reinserted Jones with 2:15 showing to give her a shot at breaking it.
She missed her next field goal but then converted a conventional 3-point play – her third of the contest – to give her 46 points with a minute to play. That was the last shot Jones attempted as she dribbled out the clock at the top of the key when the final buzzer sounded.
Jones, whose previous career-best was 27 points earlier this season against Sul Ross State, finished 21-of-29 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. She also had nine rebounds, five assists and a steal.
"Jade came out red-hot and had an amazing game, but a lot of that was because our perimeter was looking for her and getting her the ball.
Morgan Bennett did a really good job of that," Robertson-Ellis said.
A couple of other Flying Queens produced double-digit points.
Nina Sato threw in 18 for the second straight game and also had nine rebounds while
Maci Merket got 14 points.
Shayla Monreal put in nine points and had seven assists, tying her twin Shawna for team-high honors as Wayland ended with 31 helpers.
The Flying Queens reached 100 points for the first time this season.
"I think this is probably the most proud I've been of a team that I've had because they just really stepped up," Robertson-Ellis said. "They played for the team and not for themselves, and as a coach the best thing to see is your team working together. We did a great job of that."
Robertson-Ellis went on to say that her team played with a massive amount of effort, going after all the loose balls, rebounding, and constantly hustling, and those are the things that made the difference in the game.
The Flying Queens next head to Oklahoma City to play Mid-America Christian (12-3, 3-1), an 89-61 winner over St. Gregory's on Saturday. The game will be at 6 p.m. Thursday before Wayland returns home to host league-leader Oklahoma City (13-1, 4-0), ranked eighth, on Saturday afternoon. OCU blew out Wayland in early December, 100-65.
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