Boosted by a dominant second quarter, the 10
th-ranked Wayland Baptist Flying Queens cruised to a 78-52 victory over LSU-Alexandria to cap the Queens Classic in the final tune-up before conference play Saturday afternoon at Hutcherson Center.
"I thought we came out in the second quarter and really put the hammer down," Wayland coach
Jason Cooper said of the stanza when the Queens outscored the Generals 26-4. "To hold a team to zero field goals is quite a feat! It showed our girls' commitment to defense and execution. That was very good to see."
Wayland (3-1) led just 15-11 after the first quarter, but scored the first 13 points of the second quarter. After the Generals (0-4) hit a free throw, WBU scored 10 more in a row before LSUA managed another foul shot with 46 seconds left and two more with four ticks left.
Ashlyn Shelley ended the first half with a long, buzzer-beating 3-pointer, giving the Queens a 26-point spread at halftime.
"It was so good to have Ashlyn back. She looked a little more in sync today than yesterday (in an 82-63 win over Our Lady of the Lake). That 3 at the buzzer in the first half was huge. I was disappointed, though, because she didn't call 'glass,' which is our team rule."
Wayland went on to lead by as many as 30 midway through the third period, but overall was outscored by one in that quarter before outscoring the Generals by one in the fourth.
Kaitlyn Edgemon led the Queens in scoring with 17 points, plus picked up six rebounds, five assists and five blocks.
"Kaitlyn really played an outstanding overall game. Blocks, steals, assists and points! She was a stat hog. She is starting to play the whole game and make a huge impact at multiple levels," Cooper said.
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Jenna Cooper-Jackson added 16 points along with 11 boards and seven assists. Jackson has recorded one triple-double and three double-doubles in WBU's four games so far.
"Jenna put in another double-double and has been consistently leading our offense as a scorer and facilitator. I was glad to see her put up big rebounding numbers today. When we have multiple players scoring, assisting and rebounding, we are going to be really hard to beat," Coach Cooper said.
Freshman
Taylor Houston provided 11 points and six rebounds, while Shelley ended with 10 points.
"Taylor bounced back from a couple of frustrating outings and played solid ball today. She is going to be a double-double machine very soon," Cooper said.
LSUA suffered 28 turnovers.
Wayland next opens Sooner Athletic Conference play, traveling to take o North Texas at Dallas on Thursday evening then Southwestern Assemblies of God on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm looking forward to getting conference started this week. We needed a good showing this week to get ready for a long, tough conference season," Cooper said. "I told them that we needed to establish an identity as a team. Who are the 22-23 Queens? What are we going to be known for? I think we started to create that identity this weekend.
"One thing is for certain: This group is going to play hard!"
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