Flying Queens roll over SAGU, 93-45

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After concluding their regular-season with a much-needed victory only three days earlier, the Wayland Flying Queens turned around and entered Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament play with a lopsided 93-45 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Tuesday night in Hutcherson Center.
 
"I'm really pleased about this game. I thought our girls played one of their best games tonight," Wayland coach Alesha Ellis said following the blowout quarterfinal win.
 
The Queens (24-5), who fell from No. 5 to No. 13 in the NAIA Top 25 released earlier in the day, had already beaten SAGU (14-15) twice this season by an average of 23 points, so they went into the third meeting with confidence. It showed as Wayland got off to a great start and finished the first quarter with a 23-8 lead.
 
Wayland outscored the Lady Lions 24-11 in the second which ended with a 3-pointer by Kambrey Blakey, assisted by freshman Jade Nails, that put the Queens up comfortably, 47-19, going into halftime.
 
WBU kept pouring it on in the second half, outscoring the Lady Lions, 27-9 in the third. Wayland's largest lead was 55 points.
 
The Flying Queens' post players contributed significantly to the Queens' offense against the Lady Lions. Sophomore Kelea Pool led the Queens in scoring with a career-high 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and Deborah VanDijk, also a sophomore, followed closely with 13.
 
"Our post players played very well tonight and that's really what we need to do in order to win big games," Ellis said.
 
Also in double figures were Gabby Gonzales with 11 and Kendrick Clark with 10. Maci Merket finished with nine points, a team-high eight rebounds and five assists, while Morgan Bennett dished out 10 assists to maintain her spot atop the NAIA in that category.
 
The Queens shot 48 percent (34-of-71) overall, 39 percent (10-of-26) from 3-point range, and 94 percent (15-of-16) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, the Lady Lions shot just 29 percent (18-of-62) overall and 28 percent (5-of-18) from 3-point range.
 
"We definitely needed some confidence with our shooting. I feel like we had that tonight," Ellis said. "We moved the ball well and I thought our defense was right on. It's a good time to be peaking."
 
The Queens, who committed only nine turnovers, achieved a whopping 28 points from fast breaks, while SAGU managed only two. Wayland also bested the Lady Lions in bench points, 50-13.
 
The Lady Lions, with only one senior on their roster, were led by Lexi Rich's 15 points.
 
The win puts third-seeded Wayland into a semifinal game against fifth-ranked, second-seeded Oklahoma City (26-5), an 82-48 winner over Bacone, at 1 p.m. Friday in Siloam Springs, Ark., where the semis and finals will be played on the campus of John Brown University this weekend.
 
"We should have a lot of confidence going into these next games," Ellis said. "I think we'll stick with our game plan against OCU because it's been working for us. I feel like if we keep to our rules on the defensive end and execute on the offensive end, we should be able to go in and compete, especially at a neutral site."
 
The Flying Queens swept the Stars in conference play, winning 66-57 in Oklahoma City and most recently 73-66 on Feb. 10 in Plainview.
 
The WBU-OCU winner will get either 14^th-ranked, top-seeded Science & Arts of Oklahoma (27-4), a 66-56 winner over Southwestern Christian, or fifth-seeded John Brown (19-11), which went on the road to knock off fourth-seeded Mid-America Christian, 83-69. The championship is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
 
"Hopefully we just go out and play like we did tonight and have fun," Ellis said. "That's our main focus, to have fun and play the way we know how."