Box Score
The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens achieved their 20
th win of the season Thursday night in Hutcherson Center, taking out Mid-America Christian after an impressive fourth quarter, 91-55.
No. 16 Wayland (20-3, 11-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) didn't come out very strong in the first half. MACU (16-8, 7-6) stuck with the Flying Queens and went into halftime down by just eight points, 34-26.
"I think we started off slow but the second half we came back and played a solid half. We kept executing our plays and we finally found our shots," Flying Queen head coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis said.
"I don't ever enjoy playing them," she said of the Lady Evangels. "They are very scrappy and have some good guards that I really wanted us to focus on, and I felt like we did a good job of that. I was also really proud of our girls for stepping up and executing on the offensive end."
In the third quarter the Flying Queens really started to find their footing and went up by as many as 21 points after a 3-pointer from freshmen guard
Morgan Bennett.
"Morgan came out strong and that helped set the tone for the rest of the team," Robertson-Ellis said.
Bennett ended with 15 points, two behind the team's top scorer
Shawna Monreal.
The fourth quarter was a strong continuation of the third as the Queens continued to lengthen their lead until the final buzzer.
"The good thing about this team, and it's been like this all year, is that when one is down others step up. We have a lot of depth," said Robertson-Ellis, who has led the Flying Queens to 20-win seasons in three of our four years at the helm. (They had 19 wins the other season).
Monreal went down with an injury in the team's last game but came out Thursday night and had a great game. In addition to her 17 points (on 7-of-8 shooting from the field), she also pulled down seven rebounds and had three assists and three steals.
Robertson-Ellis mentioned
Maci Merket and
Nina Sato, both of whom had strong games coming off the bench. Both wound up in double figures, Merket with 15 points and Sato with 10.
Also finishing in double figures was senior
Jade Jones with 12.
While Wayland had five reach double-figure scoring, MACU had just one: Sarai Rodriguez with 23.
"Overall I'm proud of them for finishing. It's important to protect our home floor," Robertson-Ellis said of her team that has now won 21 in a row at home, including 9-0 this season.
The Flying Queens hope to make it 22 straight Saturday when they host St. Gregory's at 1 p.m.
"Their record isn't that good (2-18, 0-13), but they have potential," Robertson-Ellis said of the Cavaliers, whom Wayland defeated 104-62 Jan. 26 in Shawnee, Okla. The Cavaliers fell to Bacone on Thursday at home, 87-77.
Â
