After absorbing Oklahoma-Panhandle State's best punch in the first half, Wayland Baptist scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and went on to an 80-59 victory over the Aggies in Sooner Athletic Conference play Tuesday evening in Hutcherson Center.
"The past three games we've been pretty cold at the beginning, but after we started warming up things turned out OK," Wayland coach
Alesha Ellis said.
The game between the sixth-ranked Flying Queens (15-2, 8-1 SAC) and the conference's last-place Aggies (4-13, 0-9) was unexpected tight at halftime, with Wayland – just 2-of-13 from 3-point range – holding just a 38-32 lead. OPSU was actually ahead, 32-31, until Wayland scored the final seven points of the first half.
"Our energy was good, we just couldn't hit the basket," Ellis said. "And we might have been a little sluggish on the defensive end."
The Flying Queens' 10 unanswered points after intermission completed a 17-0 run, and the Aggies never got closer than 11 after that.
"It seems to take us a quarter or so to get our shots going," Ellis said. "The one thing we do is tell them to keep shooting it and they'll start falling."
Wayland was up by 20, 58-38, after the third; its largest lead was 31.
OPSU shot just 12 percent (2-of-17) from the field in the third period, when Wayland outscored the Aggies, 20-6.
Kaylee Edgemon scored 20 points to lead the Flying Queens, who took advantage of their size advantage
"We felt like we had a lot of mismatches out there, and the team did a good job of getting (Kaylee) the ball," Ellis said.
Also in double figures were
Morgan Bennett with 13,
Cailyn Breckel with 12 and
Jenna Cooper with 11. Cooper pulled down a matching 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season and third in the last five games.
Wayland won despite hitting a season-low three 3-pointers (3-of-18, 17 percent). Besides 3s, the Flying Queens shot just under 50 percent (29-of-60) from the field.
It was the 12
th win in a row for Wayland, which next faces John Brown (5-12, 1-7) at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Golden Eagles last loss to No. 2 Oklahoma City on Saturday in Arkansas, 76-61.
JBU will enter the game fourth in the NAIA in 3-pointers made per game, 9.6; Wayland is 13
th at 8.4.
"There's going to be a lot of girls out there who can shoot the 3," Ellis said.
Thursday's game will conclude the first half of conference play.
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