Gallery: (10-29-2021) Women's Basketball vs. William Penn
DUBUQUE, Iowa – It wasn't easy and it wasn't always pretty, but the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens ushered in the
Jason Cooper coaching era with a win.
"It was a struggle," Cooper said after his No. 8 Flying Queens secured a 79-68 victory over William Penn (Iowa) in the first round of the Holiday Inn Express Tip-Off Classic here Friday night.
Wayland trailed only once the entire game, early in the first period. The Queens led by 15 just before halftime, but William Penn – also in its season-opener – battled back and pulled to within four, 50-46, by the end of the third.
Wayland's
Kaitlyn Edgemon strung together a pair of 3-point plays to start the fourth, kicking off a game-changing 15-2 run. A bucket by Fapoo Semebene, a first-year player from Los Angeles who played previously at Washington and St. John's, was followed by a 3-pointer by Edgemon, then buckets by
Angel Hayden and
Kaylee Edgemon completed the run.
The Queens got up by as many as 19 points. William Penn trimmed it to eight before a 3-pointer by
Ashlyn Shelley capped the scoring.
Jason Cooper said it took some time for his team – with eight new players – to get comfortable.
"We need to get everybody on the same page on offense…get everybody where they're supposed to be. The last five minutes we kind of got it going and did a lot of good things," he said. "Our defensive pressure was really good, especially our press. We forced them into 17 turnovers, which was good."
Kaitlyn Edgemon led Wayland in scoring with 18, rebounds with nine and steals with three, plus had three assists.
Jenna Cooper added 16 points and
Kaylee Edgemon 15, while Semebene put in 10. Hayden finished with nine points, eight boards and five assists in her first game as a Flying Queen.
Wayland shot 48 percent from the field (31-of-61), including 7-of-21 (33 percent) 3-pointers, and missed only one of 11 free throws.
William Penn put in 10 3-pointers, four by Zantasia White who finished with a game-high 22 points.
"We definitely have more to work on than what we can feel good about,"
Jason Cooper said.
The Queens next play at 1 p.m. Saturday against tourney host Clarke, ranked 19
th. Clarke won its opener Friday over No. 13 Dakota State (N.D.), 85-68.
"We'll have a good test (Saturday). It'll be a good one,"
Jason Cooper said.
