Queens take it to the Golden Eagles, 89-59

After a tight first quarter battling the John Brown Golden Eagles, the sixth-ranked Wayland Baptist Flying Queens on Thursday soared ahead on their home court to secure their 13^th consecutive win, 89-59.
 
Wayland (16-2, 9-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) came alive in the second quarter, outscoring John Brown, 26-13, to push its lead to 19 at halftime.
 
"I feel like we got off to a better start than we have the past few games, so that always makes a huge difference," Wayland coach Alesha Ellis said. "Tonight, we executed our game plan, and we were mentally and physically ready for this game.
 
"We weren't knocking down every shot, but we finally got things rolling again and hit shots faster than we have in games before."
 
Wayland opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Jenna Cooper and Morgan Bennett to kick start a successful third quarter when the Queens went 10-of-19 from the field and outscored the Golden Eagles, 24-14.
 
Bennett led the Queens with 15 points and five assists, while Payton Brown followed closely behind her with 13 points (on 6-of-9 shooting) and four dimes. Also in double digits for the Queens were Kambrey Blakey with 12 (along with four steals) and Kelea Pool and Kaylee Edgemon, both with 10. Jenna Cooper contributed eight points, nine rebounds and five assists, while Cailyn Breckel ended with nine points and six boards. Freshman Tayjanna McGhee-Pleasant pulled down seven rebounds.
 
Wayland prevailed on the strength of 35-of-77 (46 percent) shooting from the field, including 9-of-29 (31 percent) from behind the arc. The Queens also finished with 34 bench points, 13 steals, and only nine turnovers, while they helped force 24 giveaways by JBU.
 
"I am probably most proud of our defense tonight. John Brown is very good on offense and well coached, so if you aren't doing the small things on the defensive end, they'll get you with that," Ellis said. "They are also known for their 3-point shooting, and one of our goals was to run them off the 3-point line and keep them under 10 3-pointers, and we did that."
 
JBU, which got 15 points from Tarragona Stephens, went 24-of-57 (42 percent) from the field and 7-of-18 (39 percent) from the three.
 
The Queens will continue their five-game home stand at 2 p.m. Saturday when they take on Bacone College (Okla.) at 2 p.m. The Lady Warriors (2-13) are a former SAC team that left the conference prior to this season and are competing as an NAIA Division II independent. Bacone fell to Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 86-54.