Wayland Baptist head women's basketball coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis wants to see multiple things from her team when they take the court Thursday morning in Billings, Mont., for their opener at the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championships.
Among them are aggressiveness and sharp execution. More than anything, though, Robertson-Ellis wants to see stubbornness.
"I want us to be stubborn that we're going to win that first game," she said.
That's something the Flying Queens haven't done the last three seasons. While Robertson-Ellis has turned the program around in getting Wayland to nationals all three of her seasons, the Flying Queens have yet to break through and taste victory at the highest level.
"I'm so tired of losing at nationals," she said. "I'm so tired of that, and I hope the girls are, too. The (Monreal) twins have been at it as long as I have."
The Flying Queens have dropped their last five first-round game at nationals, with the program's most recent victory coming 14 years ago.
"We have a lot of young players, but we have older ones, too, and they should be getting tired of not winning that first game," Robertson-Ellis said.
The 15
th-ranked Flying Queens (25-6) will try to change their luck when they meet 18
th-ranked Bethel University, Tenn. (23-10) at 11:45 a.m. Thursday. The game can be heard locally on 1090-AM and at
www.network1sports.com/station/kvop. Links for live stats and pay-per-view video streaming are available at
www.wbuathletics.com.
Wayland got into the tournament as the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament runner-up behind fifth-ranked Oklahoma City, while Bethel earned an at-large bid after finishing second in the Southern States Athletic Conference, where the Wildcats forged a 17-3 record.
"They've played a tough schedule," Robertson-Ellis said. "They went overtime with Freed-Hardeman," which is unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the NAIA. Freed-Hardemann, Tenn. (33-0) defeated Bethel twice way back in November, 56-50 in OT and, 10 days later, 66-45.
It's Bethel's fifth straight year to qualify for nationals, where it advanced to the third round in 2014 and 2015 before bowing out in the first round last season.
"It will be a good matchup for us," Robertson-Ellis said. "I think we have a good shot at beating them."
The Wayland coach said the Wildcats are "very quick" and "like to push the ball.
"They execute really well on both sides."
Bethel averages just over 68 points a game, while Wayland's 81 ppg ranks fifth in the NAIA. The Wildcats allow opponents an average of just 57 ppg, while Wayland's defense gives up about 10 points more an outing.
"We have to be smart on offense," Robertson-Ellis said. "There's no room for error at nationals. We have to make sure we're doing the small things on the offensive end. We can't settle for 3-point shots. Hopefully we're hitting, but if not we have to find ways to get the ball inside and get ourselves to the free-throw line."
Wayland ranks sixth in the NAIA in free-throw percentage, 76 percent.
On defense, Robertson-Ellis is concerned about against the 3-point shot. On the season Bethel has made 254 3-pointers, three more than Wayland, to ranked 10
th in the NAIA.
"When you get to nationals almost every team has shooters in every position," she said. "We have to make sure we cover out on their shooters and do our assignments on the defensive end."
Much like Wayland, which has five players average in double figures ranging from 10-14 points, Bethel is well-rounded on offense. The Wildcats' leading scorer is 5-foot-6 junior guard Shamon Pearson at 13.7 ppg, followed by 6-foot-2 sophomore center Brandi Goodman at 12.9 and 5-7 freshman guard Morgan Martin and 11.5.
Robertson-Ellis said the Flying Queens – with five freshmen on the roster, including two starters opposite three seniors – must remain poised.
"That's the thing I'm most concerned about. We're going to face adversity, just because every team at nationals is good. We're going to have our ups and downs. What's going to make the difference is how we handle adversity, and that's the bottom line. We can lose our heads or we can step up and fix it."
The Wayland-Bethel winner advances to play at 6:15 p.m. Friday against either Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (31-1) or William Penn (Iowa) (18-13). Lewis-Clark State is seeded first in the quadrant and ranked No. 2 in the NAIA.
Robertson-Ellis, who is not with the team at nationals because she is expecting her first child early next month, said the Flying Queens are trying to keep things as close to normal as possible.
"We want to stay consistent with what we've done all year. In the past we've worked out in bigger arenas (to get a feel for nationals), but we're not doing that.
"I just hope we go and play our best, that's the main thing."
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