FAYETTE, Mo. – Wayland Baptist fell behind early and ran out of time before they were able to catch all the way up as the fifth-ranked Flying Queens dropped their season-opener to No. 12 Central Methodist, Mo., here Friday afternoon, 98-91.
The Flying Queens led only once in the game, 7-6. The Eagles (2-0) scored the next eight points and never trailed again.
Wayland trailed by 16, 30-16, in the second quarter. The Queens cut it to six before the Eagles hit a 3-pointer right before the halftime horn to make it 45-36 at the break.
Central Methodist went up by as many as 17, 64-47, before Wayland trimmed it to six with a 3-pointer by
Jenna Cooper with 24 seconds left in the third. But the Eagles got five points in the final seconds on a 3-pointer and another bucket after a Wayland turnover to make it an 11-point game going into the fourth.
Wayland was down 13, 81-68, but scored six straight to make it a game again with six minutes still left. A 3-pointer by
Morgan Bennett got the Queens to within six with just over three minutes to go, then a 3 by
Payton Brown made it 94-91 with 18 seconds left.
But Mercedes Jefflo – a 5-11 senior guard who led all scorers with 34 points plus got 10 assists, six rebounds and five steals – hit a pair of free throws with eight ticks to go to seal it. After WBU misfired on a 3, the Eagles added two more free throws with under a second to play.
Kaylee Edgemon paced Wayland with 22 points, followed by Bennett and Cooper with 15 each and
Kambrey Blakey with 14. The Queens shot 44 percent (28-of-64) from the field, 42 percent (10-of-24) from 3-point range, and an amazing 89 percent (25-of-28) from the free-throw line. The Eagles shot well from everywhere: 53 percent (36-of-68) overall, 56 percent (10-of-18) from beyond the arc, and 78 percent (18-of-23) from the foul stripe.
In her quest to join the Flying Queens' 1,000-Point Club,
Deborah VanDijk scored six points to boost her career total to 992.
Wayland committed 20 turnovers, two more than Central Methodist. Wayland got 33 rebounds, including 15 on the offensive end, compared to 27 for the Eagles.
It was the second game of the season for Central Methodist, which after trailing by 21 points late in the third quarter survived their season-opener Wednesday with an 81-80 win over Haskell Indian Nations thanks to a bucket at the buzzer.
The Flying Queens make their home debut at 5 p.m. Tuesday against Sul Ross State, which will be making its season debut.
