Three double-doubles help send Flying Queens past Wesleyan in SAC Tourney opener

With a big boost from double-doubles by Morgan Bennett, Maci Merket, and Kaylee Edgemon, the eighth-ranked Wayland Baptist Flying Queens secured an 83-58 victory over Texas Wesleyan in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday night in Hutcherson Center.
 
 "I was proud of the girls today," Queens coach Alesha Ellis said. "They played the way that they know how to and came out with a lot of energy, which is what we needed."
 
The win sends the secod-seeded Flying Queens (26-5) to Oklahoma City for the remainder of the SAC Tournament, starting with a 1 p.m. semifinal game Friday against Science & Arts of Oklahoma (21-10), a 70-43 winner at home over John Brown. Wayland and USAO, ranked the equivalent of 28^th in the NAIA, split their regular-season games, with the Flying Queens winning on Nov. 29 at home, 71-65, before the Drovers prevailed in Chickasha, Okla., on Jan. 26, 77-70.
 
In Friday's other semifinal, top-seeded, ninth-ranked Oklahoma City (28-3) defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 78-45, and fourth-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God (21-10) knocked out Mid-America Christian, 73-70.
 
Friday's semifinal winners advance to the championship at 1 p.m. Saturday.
 
In Wayland's final home game of the season against Texas Wesleyan (14-17) on Tuesday, the Flying Queens were looking to forget about Saturday's stinging loss 67-62 loss to SAGU in the regular-season finale. It didn't take them long to do it, ending the quarter with an 11-point lead, 22-11.
 
The Queens were up 39-26 at the half, but the Lady Rams didn't go away after intermission. After Wayland went up by as many as 20, Texas Wesleyan scored 11 straight points to pull to within nine, 48-39. From there, the Flying Queens went on a 13-1 run to extend the margin to 21.
 
Wayland continued pouring it on in the fourth quarter, taking as much as a 29-point lead.

Kambrey Blakey led the Queens with 18 points, and right behind her was Kaylee Edgemon with 17 and 10 rebounds, her third double-double of the season. Deborah VanDijk chipped in 14 points, while also posting double-doubles were Morgan Bennett, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Maci Merket, who finished with 12 points and led the Queens with 15 rebounds, a season-high for the senior in her final game in the Hutch. It was Merket's fifth double-double of 2018-19 and Bennett's fourth.
 
Freshman Payton Brown failed to score but provided nine of Wayland's 22 assists.
 
"I felt like the girls that needed to step up tonight did," Ellis said. "We had three with double-doubles and I'm really proud of them for that. Each night is different on who's going to step up on our team."
 
The Queens suffered 15 turnovers while the Lady Rams had 12. Wayland went 35-of-76 (46 percent) from the field and 9-of-29 (31 percent) from behind the arch. Texas Wesleyan shot 20-of-68 (29 percent) in field goals and 9-of-23 (39 percent) from the three.
 
The Lady Rams placed only one player in double figures, Nicole Gleason with 16.
 
Ellis commented on upcoming tournament play, "We have to have a killer instinct and be hungry for every single win. We can't underestimate anybody.
 
"If we keep our heads on straight and everyone does what they do best, that is what's going to give us our best shot."
 
NAIA Div. I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 (2-26-19)
 

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [FIRST PLACE VOTES]	RECORD	POINTS
1	2	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) [7]	28-2	218
2	3	Campbellsville (Ky.) [2]	28-2	212
3	1	Columbia (Mo.)	27-3	204
4	4	Montana Western	22-3	197
5	5	The Master's (Calif.)	25-5	192
6	7	MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)	24-4	184
7	8	Carroll (Mont.)	21-7	174
8	6	Wayland Baptist (Texas)	25-5	172
9	10	Oklahoma City	27-3	161
10	15	Westmont (Calif.)	22-7	153
11	14	William Penn (Iowa)	27-2	150
12	9	Vanguard (Calif.)	21-8	140
13	NR	Talladega (Ala.)	25-4	134
14	15	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	23-6	130
15	13	Bethel (Tenn.)	26-4	125
16	12	Shawnee State (Ohio)	22-8	118
17	22	Menlo (Calif.)	20-8	102
18	19	Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	21-9	101
19	17	Lyon (Ark.)	23-6	93
20	24	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	19-11	85
21	21	Arizona Christian	20-10	75
22	NR	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	19-10	73
23	NR	Xavier (La.)	22-6	60
24	25	Loyola (La.)	23-6	59
25	NR	Pikeville (Ky.)	20-10	48

Receiving Votes: LSU Alexandria (La.) 40, William Jessup (Calif.) 32, Science & Arts (Okla.) 29, Providence (Mont.) 25, Central Methodist (Mo.) 10, Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 5, William Woods (Mo.) 5, Clarke (Iowa) 4