Box Score
BILLINGS, Mont. – Behind a dominant 16-3 second quarter, the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens blew out No. 7 Vanguard, Calif., in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball quarterfinals here Saturday night, 68-44.
The win sends the No. 15 Flying Queens (27-6) into the semifinals at 9 p.m. CDT Monday against another California team, fourth-ranked Westmont (24-6). The Warriors defeated MidAmerica Nazarene, Kan., in their semifinal, 65-51.
It will be the fourth trip to the final four in the rich history of the Flying Queens, who finished third in 1985 and runner-up in 1986 and 1992.
"We're so excited. I'm not sure if it's sunk in yet," Wayland coach
Alesha Ellis said.
A win Monday would push Wayland to the championship game at 8 p.m. Tuesday against either No. 14 Montana-Western, a 74-61 winner over 23
rd-ranked Menlo, Calif., or No. 2 Freed-Hardemann, Tenn., which topped eighth-ranked Central Methodist, Mo., in overtime, 82-74.
Against Vanguard (24-6), Wayland – 24 hours after knocking off top-ranked Shawnee State, Ohio, 79-69 – got 16 points from
Kendrick Clark, 15 from
Maci Merket, and 12 from
Morgan Bennett.
Nina Sato and
Kambrey Blakey chipped in nine apiece.
Clark, who also pulled down six rebounds, missed only one shot all evening as she was 5-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-3 3-pointers, and 3-of-3 at the free-throw line.
"Going into the tournament I felt like (Clark) was a key for us," Ellis said. "In all three games she's put down some key shots we had to have. It's nice to have someone coming off the bench who's capable of that."
Merket tallied seven rebounds and five assists, Sato had 10 rebounds as she just missed a double-double, and Morgan finished with five assists.
"If you're going to make it I feel like you have to be deep, and we've got a great bench," Ellis said.
Wayland trailed the entire first quarter, by as many as six. It was 15-10 going into the second period, then it was all Flying Queens.
"We had some jitters at the very beginning, but once we locked in and got some confidence that we could hang with them we took off," Ellis said.
Did they ever!
Merket kicked the second stanza off with a 3-pointer, then after a Vanguard free throw Wayland scored the next nine, capped by a 3 by Bennett.
The Lions notched their lone field goal of the period (they were 1-of-12) before Wayland closed the half with four free throws to own a 26-18 lead at the break.
Ellis said she can't remember one of her teams – especially in such a big game – dominating a quarter like they did the second.
"I don't know if Vanguard shot as well as they usually do, but we played great defense," Ellis said. "At this level every position can shoot the ball, but we were there when they caught it and in the passing lanes."
When Wayland opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run, it was all but over. Clark notched a 3,
Deborah VanDijk finished an and-one, and Sato put in a couple of baskets as the Flying Queens remarkably doubled up Vanguard, 36-18.
WBU stretched the lead to as many as 29, 59-30, on a 3-pointer by Clark with 4:43 left in the game.
Wayland outscored Vanguard by 18 from the 3-point arc, hitting 9-of-28 (32 percent) compared to the Lions' 3-of-19 (16 percent). Overall, Vanguard shot just 25 percent from the floor, versus 41 percent for the Flying Queens.
Wayland held a 45-37 rebounding edge.
"I felt like we rebounded well," Ellis said.
Victoria Chea led the Lions with 19 points, followed by Amber Alexander with 13. No one else had more than six.
"They played hard today. Our defense was right on," Ellis said. "That's how we're going to have to ride this out, continue to be aggressive on the defensive end."
The 44 points were the second-fewest scored by Vanguard all season, behind the 38 allowed by Wayland's next opponent, Westmont, in a 73-38 final. Vanguard and Westmont met two other times and split those contests, with Vanguard winning, 44-40, and Westmont prevailing, 48-46.
