Hard work has gotten Flying Queens to national semifinals vs. No. 4 Westmont

Bracket

BILLINGS, Mont. – It's something she did throughout her playing career, and now Alesha Ellis has her team doing the same thing she always did: Play hard.
  "All their hard work is paying off. That's what means so much to me. Win or lose, they go out and play hard," Ellis said after her Wayland Baptist Flying Queens advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championships.
 
After wins over 18^th-ranked Lyon College, Ark., top-ranked Shawnee State, Ohio, and on Saturday over No. 7 Vanguard, Calif., the 15^th-ranked Flying Queens (27-6) are in the NAIA's Fab Four for the fourth time in school history, and first time in 26 years.
 
"This whole year I knew this team was capable. They've decided to play their little hearts out," Ellis said. "It's been so much fun as a coach to watch that."
 
Next up for Wayland are the fourth-ranked Warriors of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Warriors (25-6), the No. 1 seed in their quadrant of the 32-team bracket, have advanced with wins over Cumberland, Tenn., 57-51, 20^th-ranked Loyola. La., 77-65, and 12^th-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene, Kan., 65-54.
 
"Just like every other team here, Westmont is tough," Ellis said.
 
Tip-off from Rimrock Arena is 9 p.m. (CDT) Monday. A free watch party for all fans will be held in Pete's Place in McClung University Center. Streaming is available for a fee at www.NAIANetwork.com, with a link for free live stats at www.wbuathletics.com.
 
Westmont's Warriors – who won the NAIA national championship in 2013 – hang their hat on defense, allowing opponents an average of just over 50 points a game, which ranks second in the NAIA. Wayland averages 77 points on offense, 11^th in the NAIA.
 
"Defense has been the foundation of this program for a really long time," said Kirsten Moore, Westmont's coach for the past 13 seasons. "I said from the beginning that this could be the best defensive team I've ever coached, which is saying a lot because we've led the nation in scoring defense a number of different years. I think we've played into that and the team has really owned that and wanted to do that."
 
Offensively, Westmont averages 63 points and has two players averaging in double-figures. Lauren McCoy, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, gets 14.5 points a game, along with 8.1 rebounds. McCoy on Saturday became Westmont's career leading scorer with 1,503 points.
 
(Coincidentally, WBU junior Maci Merket on Saturday became the 48^th member of the Flying Queens' 1,000-point club, reaching 1,000 exactly.)
 
The Warriors' other double-digit scorer is 6-foot-3 senior center Morgan Haskin, who gets 10.3 ppg. Haskin also has 62 blocks on the season, an average of 2.0 a game, leading to Westmont being the NAIA's top blocking team with an average of 5½ a contest.
 
"Their post player is tough," Ellis said. "She's not real big but she's smart, a lot like our post players, so it will be a good matchup."
 
Westmont's top rebounder is also its top assist provider in 5-foot-9 sophomore guard/forward Joy Krupa, who gets 8.7 boards and 4.1 assists, along with 7.6 ppg.
 
Ellis said playing solid defense will be crucial against Westmont.
 
"Like we did (Saturday), we just have to lock it in on the defensive end," Ellis said. "They have very good shooters and are very creative.
 
"The hardest-playing team will have the edge. That's what we're focused on right now, giving it everything we've got."
 
This is the first time the Warriors have reached the semifinals since 2015 when their current seniors were freshmen. That season, Westmont played two Sooner Athletic Conference teams at nationals, defeating Oklahoma Baptist in the quarterfinals before losing to Oklahoma City in the semis.
 
Meanwhile, Wayland and Westmont have played one time previously, on Dec. 17, 2013, when the Flying Queens visited California. Defending national champion Westmont won, 77-54.
 
This season, the Flying Queens and Warriors have played two common teams, which were their quarterfinal opponents on Saturday. At an early-season tournament in Siloam Springs, Ark., Wayland also beat MidAmerica Nazarene, the 2016 national champion, 78-55. Westmont, meanwhile, won two of its three meetings against fellow Golden State Athletic Conference member Vanguard, winning 73-38 and 48-46, and losing 44-40.
 
Both Wayland and Westmont got off to strong starts in their quarterfinal victories. The Flying Queens used a dominant 16-3 second quarter in their 24-point win over Vanguard, while the Warriors led MidAmerica Nazarene after the first quarter, 23-10.
 
A win Monday would push Wayland to the championship game at 8 p.m. CDT Tuesday against either No. 14 Montana-Western (27-8) or No. 2 Freed-Hardemann, Tenn. (32-4), who play in the semifinal before Wayland and Westmont.