FORT WORTH –
Deborah VanDijk scored a season-high 22 points, and sixth-ranked Wayland Baptist pulled away late from Texas Wesleyan for a 73-64 Sooner Athletic Conference win here Thursday night.
"I didn't feel like we came out with our best, but after halftime the girls responded well and played harder and we got on some runs," Wayland coach
Alesha Ellis said. "Our shots weren't going in, but our girls found a way to win."
After trailing almost the entire first half, once by seven, a bucket by freshman
Cailyn Breckel gave the Flying Queens (
25-4, 19-2 SAC) their first lead, 37-36, just before halftime.
After the Lady Rams (13-16, 11-10) regained the lead by scoring the first points of the second half, Wayland went on a 12-2 run to begin to take control.
Payton Brown and
Maci Merket hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the pull-away spurt.
"(Texas Wesleyan) is a tough team, especially at home," Ellis said. "They have some shooters and can play inside, too.
The Lady Rams rallied and got as close as one, 55-54, early in the fourth quarter, and it was a two-point game midway through the period when Wayland put up 10 unanswered points, starting with a rare 3-pointer by VanDijk, who later converted an old-fashioned 3-point play.
Another bucket by VanDijk gave Wayland a 12-point lead with 2:15 to play.
"Deborah had a good game and a big fourth quarter. That really helped us," Ellis said.
VanDijk finished 10-of-12 from the field toward her 22 points, two better than her previous season-high and one off her career-best.
Kaylee Edgemon tacked on 14 points off the bench while Merket finished with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds plus four assists, two steals and a block.
Texas Wesleyan got 17 points from Nicole Gleason, 12 from Lexi Burns and 10 from Chrystal Ngawuchu.
The Flying Queens, who defeated Texas Wesleyan in Plainview, 80-53, struggled shooting the 3, hitting 7-of-32 (22 percent) while shooting 42 percent overall (29-of-69). They were 8-of-10 at the free-throw line.
The Lady Rams made seven (of 18) 3s and seven (of 12) free throws.
Wayland held a 32-26 edge on the boards and turned it over five fewer times (14-to-19).
The Flying Queens wrap up the regular-season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Southwestern Assemblies of God (19-9, 13-7), which faced Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday. A win would give Wayland at least a share of the SAC title with Oklahoma City (26-3, 16-2), which defeated USAO on Thursday, 65-53, and plays at Mid-America Christian on Saturday.
Ellis said the Flying Queens "have to stay at home. What I mean by that is each one of our girls has to continue to do what they do best – nothing less and nothing extra. We saw glimpses of doing that in the second half tonight.
"If we can focus on that we can compete in the post-season and go a long way."
WBU will host a first-round game in the conference tournament at 6 p.m. Tuesday against an undetermined opponent. The semifinals and finals of the SAC Tourney will be played at OCU next weekend.
