Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University made 11-of-13 3-pointers, many of them during the third quarter when the Stars broke open a close game by outscoring Wayland Baptist 25-11, and sixth-ranked OCU went on to defeat the No. 17 Flying Queens in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship here Saturday afternoon, 85-65.
While the win automatically qualifies the Stars (29-2) for the NAIA National Tournament, the Flying Queens (25-6) must wait to see if they receive an at-large bid back to that event, set for March 15-21 in Billings, Mont. Official qualifiers and the bracket will be announced during a selection show at 7 p.m. Wednesday on
www.NAIAnetwork.com.
Wayland has qualified for nationals all three seasons under coach
Alesha Robertson-Ellis, and it's believed the Flying Queens will get there again.
Still, WBU was hoping to repeat as SAC Tournament champions by beating OCU Saturday. The Flying Queens were within two points, 18-16, after the first quarter and trailed by just four, 32-28, at the half.
But the Stars came out for the second half on fire.
It was still a four-point game when OCU's Daniela Galindo nailed back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to suddenly take the Stars' advantage to 13 points.
WBU never got closer than 10 after that.
Galindo finished with 31 points, hitting 7-of-8 3-pointers, to lead the Stars, who also got 24 points from Daniela Wallen.
OCU hit 67 percent (31-of-46) of its field goals, but that paled in comparison to the Stars' 85 percent effort from beyond the arc where the home team missed just twice in 13 tries.
Wayland, meanwhile, shot 18 percent from long range as the Flying Queens launched 33 bombs, hitting six. They were 23-of-76 (30 percent) overall from the field and 13-of-15 (87 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Queens were led in scoring by
Shawna Monreal with 15 points, followed by
Morgan Bennett with 13 and
Deborah VanDijk with 10.
WBU ended with 38 rebounds, including 24 on the offensive end.
Shawna Monreal and
Jade Jones, who ended with six points and six rebounds, were named to the all-tournament team.
