Box Score
GOODWELL, Okla. – Riding the high of Saturday's win over fourth-ranked, defending national champion Oklahoma City, the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens were brought back down to earth here Monday night where Oklahoma-Panhandle State upset No. 6 WBU, 64-55.
Wayland trailed by as many as 10 but rallied to take only its second lead of the game, 54-53, with 2½ minutes to play. From there, though, the Flying Queens were outscored 11-1 the rest of the way, as Wayland suffered its first-ever loss to the Lady Aggies in 14 meetings.
The loss ended a 10-game win streak for the Flying Queens (20-4, 13-3) and cost them their place atop the Sooner Athletic Conference standings. Wayland is now tied for second with OCU (20-5, 13-3), a half-game behind USAO (22-4, 14-3). OPSU (14-10, 6-10) stands in seventh place.
It was a tough start for a week that will see the Flying Queens – who still are off to their best since going 31-1 in 1986-87 – play twice more on the road, on Thursday in Oklahoma City against fourth-place Mid-America Christian (17-8, 11-6) then Saturday afternoon in Chickasha, Okla., against league-leading USAO. Both those teams are receiving Top 25 votes.
The Flying Queens had no trouble with OPSU when they met a month ago in Plainview, winning 65-39. But in the rematch against an inspired Lady Aggies team, nothing came easy.
It started in the first period when Wayland made just 1-of-16 field goals and fell behind 13-4. The Flying Queens made up ground in the second and third periods, but only by a total of three points and still trailed by six, 45-39, going into the fourth.
That's when things started coming together for Wayland, at least for a while. A bucket by
Jada Riley tied it at 51-all with 4:16 to go, then a free throw by Riley put the Flying Queens up 54-53 with 2:34 left.
OPSU regained the lead, then
Maci Merket scored Wayland's final points to tie it at 55 with 2:22 on the clock.
The Flying Queens missed three field goals and turned it over twice down the stretch, when the Lady Aggies were icing it at the free throw line. OPSU hit 15-of-20 foul shots in the final 10 minutes.
For the game, the Lady Aggies hit 23-of-31 (74 percent) from the stripe, almost twice as many as Wayland's 12-of-19 (63 percent) performance. The Flying Queens finished just 29 percent (19-of-65) from the field, including 3-of-13 (23 percent) from 3-point range.
The teams combined for 39 turnovers, 20 for OPSU and 19 by Wayland.
Leading OPSU was Madison Dearmin, who hit 10-of-15 field goals and 8-of-9 free throws for her season-high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds, her ninth double-double of the season. Addison Munsch added 15 points and Naomi Rodriguez 10.
Merket, who earlier in the day was named SAC Player of the Week for the second time this season, ended with 18 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double and third in four games.
Riley finished with 14 points, two off her season-best.
Deborah VanDijk put in eight points while
Morgan Bennett had six points, eight rebounds and six assists.
