OKLAHOMA CITY –
Deborah VanDijk scored 17 points to lead seven Flying Queens in double figures – including four off the bench and three with double-doubles – as sixth-ranked Wayland Baptist pulled away from No. 15 Our Lady of the Lake University in the Oklahoma City University Classic here Friday night, 101-77.
Playing for the first time in almost two weeks, Wayland (2-0) opened a 20-point lead in the second quarter only to see OLLU (2-1) close to within eight, 70-62, late in the third.
The Flying Queens took a 75-64 lead into the fourth quarter, which they dominated. WBU scored the first 13 points of the period, starting with a traditional 3-point play by
Kaylee Edgemon, followed by a 3-pointer and back-to-back layups by
Kambrey Blakey. After
Morgan Bennett tacked on a trey, the Flying Queens once again were in command, up by 24 points.
WBU went on to lead by as many as 30, 97-67, before settling for the 24-point victory.
Besides VanDijk, others scoring in double-figures for Wayland were Edgemon with 15, freshman
Payton Brown with 14, Blakey and
Maci Merket with 12,
Margaret Gaydon with 11 and Bennett with 10.
Blakey, Brown and Edgemon all ended with double-doubles as they had 12, 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively. VanDijk was two rebounds shy and Merket three assists short of their own double-doubles.
Wayland dominated the boards, 64-41. Twenty-four of WBU's boards were on the offensive end as the Flying Queens got 19 second-chance points compared to four for the Saints.
Wayland launched 86 shots, hitting 36 (42 percent). The Flying Queens were 9-of-34 from 3-point range with seven different players connecting.
It was the most points scored by the Flying Queens since a 111-65 win over USAO late in the 2016-17 season.
Mikki Flores paced the Saints with 16 points, followed by Lena Wilson with 15.
It was Wayland's first game in 13 days since opening the season with an 81-38 blowout victory over the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.M., Nov. 3.
The Flying Queens return to Abe Lemons Arena to take on Philander Smith College (Little Rock, Ark.) at noon Saturday. The Panthers took a 5-1 record into Friday night's game against 10
th-ranked host OCU.
Wayland plays its home-opener at 5 p.m. Wednesday against Northern New Mexico in the second half of a doubleheader with the Pioneers, who host Central Baptist College (Ark.) at 3..
