Box Score
OKLAHOMA CITY –
Maci Merket scored 16 points and
Morgan Bennett 13 as No. 8 Wayland Baptist handed fifth-ranked, defending national champion Oklahoma City its first Sooner Athletic Conference loss of the season Thursday night at Abe Lemons Arena, 66-57.
Wayland (13-3, 7-2 SAC) led by as many as 11, 60-49, early in the fourth quarter. The Flying Queens then endured a six-minute scoring drought, allowing the Stars (15-3, 8-1) to pull to within five, 60-55, with 1:15 to go.
But the Flying Queens, behind a tremendous effort by Bennett, regrouped and outscored OCU 6-2 the rest of the way. Bennett nailed a 3-pointer then came up with a steal, leading to a free throw.
Deborah VanDijk rebounded the missed free throw which led to another foul shot by Bennett and a 10-point WBU advantage.
The loss for OCU snapped a nine-game win streak for the defending conference champions.
Wayland forced OCU into a telling 31 turnovers, a dozen more than the Flying Queens committed. WBU ended with 17 steals, a game-high four by
Jada Riley, who also had eight points and four assists.
The Stars outscored Wayland by nine at the foul line (19-of-23 to 10-of-14), but the Flying Queens made up for that by hitting 8-of-25 3-pointers compared to OCU's 2-of-6.
WBU also held a big edge in bench points, 21-10.
Kendrick Clark and
Kambrey Blakey led the way there with seven each.
Except for the first 2½ minutes of the game and a brief time in the third quarter, Wayland led the entire way.
The Flying Queens were up 17-14 after the first period and 38-33 at the half. OCU assumed a one-point lead on a couple of occasions in the third, but Wayland never got rattled and – beginning with a 3 by Merket – scored the last seven points of the third to take a 53-47 edge into the final 10 minutes.
Wayland, which has won three in a row after dropping three of four, now heads to McPherson, Kan., to take on league newcomer Central Christian College at 1 p.m. Saturday. After taking on first-place OCU, the Flying Queens draw the last-place Tigers (1-15, 0-8).
NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll – No. 3 (Jan. 16)
| RANK |
WEEK |
SCHOOL [FIRST PLACE VOTES] |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
2 |
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) [9] |
16-2 |
219 |
| 2 |
1 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
12-1 |
210 |
| 3 |
3 |
Campbellsville (Ky.) |
17-2 |
207 |
| 4 |
4 |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
16-3 |
198 |
| 5 |
8 |
Oklahoma City |
14-2 |
190 |
| 6 |
6 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
14-2 |
185 |
| 7 |
9 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
15-2 |
176 |
| 8 |
12 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
14-3 |
165 |
| 8 |
5 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
11-3 |
165 |
| 10 |
24 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
13-4 |
160 |
| 11 |
18 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
13-5 |
134 |
| 12 |
14 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
10-5 |
130 |
| 13 |
11 |
Baker (Kan.) |
14-4 |
128 |
| 14 |
NR |
Providence (Mont.) |
14-3 |
127 |
| 15 |
17 |
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) |
13-5 |
115 |
| 15 |
NR |
Menlo (Calif.) |
15-3 |
115 |
| 17 |
13 |
Lyon (Ark.) |
14-3 |
103 |
| 18 |
NR |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
14-2 |
95 |
| 19 |
24 |
LSU Shreveport (La.) |
18-0 |
88 |
| 20 |
19 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
12-6 |
87 |
| 21 |
16 |
Dillard (La.) |
14-3 |
83 |
| 22 |
23 |
Martin Methodist (Tenn.) |
15-4 |
72 |
| 23 |
7 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
12-5 |
71 |
| 24 |
NR |
Arizona Christian |
13-3 |
66 |
| 25 |
21 |
Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.) |
12-4 |
64 |
|
Dropped from the rankings: No. 19 John Brown (Ark.), No. 15 The Master's (Calif.) and No. 10 Montana Western
Others receiving votes: John Brown 54, The Master's 40, Montana Western 25, Science & Arts (Okla.) 18, Loyola (La.) 16, Central Methodist (Mo.) 15
