SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – It came down to the last possession, and the seventh-ranked Wayland Baptist Flying Queens' defense was able to deny John Brown and secure WBU's first win over the Golden Eagles in Arkansas in four years on Thursday night, 71-68.
"We played well enough," Wayland coach
Alesha Ellis said. "I thought we faced adversity and got through those hard times. I felt like we grew as a team tonight."
Wayland (20-4, 14-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) was pulling away from the Golden Eagles, leading by 13, 68-55, with under six minutes to play. But JBU (14-10, 10-7) scored 10 unanswered points to get within 70-68 with 1:50 to go. The Golden Eagles had a couple of chances to tie it or take the lead, but missed a shot in the paint then turned it over on a travel call.
Wayland's
Morgan Bennett was fouled and hit the second of two free throws with 15 seconds to go to make it a 3-point game. JBU then called back-to-back timeouts to set up one last play, but excellent defense by the Flying Queens forced the Golden Eagles to throw a bad pass from under the basket, and it was stolen away by Wayland's
Deborah VanDijk just before time expired.
"Our game plan was to run them off the 3-point line. The girls did a good job of that," Ellis said.
It was Wayland's first win over JBU at Bill George Arena since Feb. 19. 2015. The Flying Queens defeated the Golden Eagles the past three years in Hutcherson Center, usually by a wide margin, but couldn't get it done on the road until Thursday.
"This is a super tough place to play," said Ellis, now 2-4 against JBU in Siloam Springs. "I thought the girls executed the game plan really well today. There were a few tweaks we had to put in and they adjusted well, and they also adjusted to the refs. They called it pretty evenly, but there were a lot of fouls."
Wayland, which defeated John Brown last month in Plainview, 90-49, was led by
Kambrey Blakey and
Payton Brown with 12 points each.
Kelea Pool, who saw ample playing time due to VanDijk being in foul trouble, contributed 11 points, while Bennett got 10.
"Kelea came in and hit some really timely 3s. That helped us get over the jump," Ellis said. All six of Pool's shots were behind the 3-point line; she made three.
VanDijk contributed a team-best seven rebounds, while Brown and Bennett logged four assists apiece.
JBU was led by Baily Cameron's 25 points and 10 rebounds. Preslea Lawson added 18 points, and no other Golden Eagle scored more than six.
"John Brown did a good job getting the ball inside, so we felt if we pressed them in a 1-2-2 it would disrupt some of that, and it did," Ellis said.
WBU, which led at halftime 40-37, put up 36 3-pointers, hitting 10 (28 percent), and shot 38 percent (26-of-68) overall while making 9-of-11 (82 percent) from the foul line. The Queens held a 38-32 rebounding edge – including 14 on the offensive end while giving up just four – and turned it over five fewer times, 21-16.
The Flying Queens next play at 1 p.m. (instead of 2) Saturday in Muskogee, Okla., against Bacone (0-19, 0-16). Wayland defeated Bacone earlier this season, 113-26.
