OKLAHOMA CITY – The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens could have used a few of the program-record 17 3-pointers they made last weekend on Thursday night.
Wayland struggled from long-range, hitting just 4-of-32 3s, plus committed 21 turnovers as the fifth-ranked Flying Queens suffered their first Sooner Athletic Conference loss to Mid-America Christian, 85-66.
Wayland (17-3, 11-1 SAC) never led in the game in which its seven-game win streak was snapped. The Lady Evangels (13-4, 7-4) scored the game's first seven points and went up by 14 points in the second period.
The Flying Queens scored the first six points of the second half to cut it to four, but that's as close as they got.
Wayland's shots never fell with any consistency, and the Flying Queens wound up going down by 19 points, the same margin by which they beat MACU in Plainview on Dec. 1, 101-82.
Maci Merket paced Wayland with 12 points and 11 rebounds, her third double-double of the season.
Kambrey Blakey and
Payton Brown added 10 points apiece.
The Flying Queens shot 33 percent from the field (25-of-75), including just 13 percent (4-of-32) from 3-point range. MACU finished 50 percent (31-of-62) overall, 36 percent (4-of-11) from beyond the arc. The Lady Evangels prevailed despite 24 turnovers, three more than Wayland, and outrebounded the Pioneers, 48-37. The Flying Queens' 21 giveaways were the second-most in any game this season.
MACU got 21 points from Shaylan Coleman, 18 from Alexis Shannon, 17 from Nevada Denton, and 13 from Jessica Fairley. Darby Price tacked on eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.
It was WBU's first loss to MACU after eight straight wins over the Lady Evangels. The Queens now lead the all-time series, 20-4.
WBU will look to get back on the winning track at 2 p.m. Saturday in Chickasha, Okla., against USAO (11-8, 6-5), which took a four-game win streak into its game Thursday at home against Oklahoma-Panhandle State. The Queens edged USAO in their conference-opener Nov. 29 in Plainview, 71-65.
