Gallery: (12-13-2021) Women's Basketball vs. St. Thomas
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Wayland Baptist scored the final seven points of the game, and the sixth-ranked Flying Queens fended off the upset attempt of St. Thomas University here Monday, 73-69.
After trailing by as many as eight in the third quarter, Wayland (12-1) found itself behind the Bobcats (7-5) 69-66 with a minute to play. Flying Queen
Kaitlyn Edgemon nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the score with 37 seconds left. Wayland's
Fapou Semebene then came up with a pivotal steal, which led to
Kaitlyn Edgemon feeding Semebene for a lay-up and a two-point WBU lead with 15 seconds to go.
STU missed a long 3-pointer, and Wayland was awarded possession when the rebound went out-of-bounds. Flying Queen
Jenna Cooper was fouled and calmly put the game on ice by sinking a pair of free throws with three seconds to play.
"We talked about what makes us special is that we are fundamental and we need to lean on that fundamental play in the fourth and the game would eventual come to us," WBU coach
Jason Cooper said.
Semebene and Cooper tied for high-point honors, hitting 19 points each. It's the second straight game for Semebene to notch a career-high, bettering the 15 she scored against Oklahoma-Panhandle State six days earlier. She also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds for a second straight double-double.
"What a huge game from Fatou. She was outstanding," Coach Cooper said. "What an amazing effort on the glass on both ends of the floor. The biggest thing, and it doesn't show up on the stat line, is her intimidation factor. She is a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end of the floor."
Jenna added eight boards and a team-leading six assists.
Kaylee Edgemon tacked on 17 points while sister Kaitlyn got 10.
Angel Hayden provided half of WBU's eight steals, and
Taryn Shultz got seven rebounds.
"We had several really solid performances. Kaitlyn got into some foul trouble but stayed locked in. Kaylee, as always, was solid all-around. Jenna and Angel did a great job facilitating the offense late," Coach Cooper said.
The Queens made 11-of-13 free throws (83 percent) compared to STU's 13-of-23 (57 percent). Wayland went 6-of-21 (29 percent) from 3-point range where the Bobcats were 8-of-26 (31 percent).
Wayland trailed after the first (19-18) and second quarters (34-30).
"I told them at halftime we are spending too much emotional energy worrying about (things we can't control). We needed to focus on us and what we aren't doing on the court," Coach Cooper said.
The Queens were down by seven midway through the second and by eight, 50-42, with under four minutes left in the third. But WBU got three straight three-point possessions – an and-one by Kaylee then back-to-back 3-pointers by Cooper – to erase the deficit and take a one-point lead.
The score was tied at 53 going into the final 10 minutes.
"I was proud of their turnaround late in the third. We went from down eight to tied and we felt good about that," Coach Cooper said.
The Flying Queens will stay in Florida for another game at 4 p.m. (CST) Wednesday in Hialeah against Florida National (2-7). That will be the team's last game of 2021, leading to a return to conference play at Oklahoma City on Jan. 1.
