Four consecutive 3-pointers around halftime spurred a 16-0 spurt that helped Wayland Baptist to a 72-60 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Thursday evening at Hutcherson Center.
"It was good to get a win. The girls are playing so hard these last two weeks. We needed it," Wayland coach
Jason Cooper said.
Coming off two road losses to ranked opponents, Wayland (11-7, 7-5 Sooner Athletic Conference) was tied with SAGU (5-14, 2-11) with a minute to go before intermission. That's when the Flying Queens began to pull away, starting with a fast-break bucket by
Taylor Houston before a 3-pointer by
Ashlyn Shelley that gave WBU a five-point halftime lead.
The second half opened with back-to-back bombs by
Taryn Shultz, then
Jenna Cooper-Jackson hit another trey. Cooper-Jackson capped the 16-0 spur with a pair of free throws, and what was a tie game suddenly was a big Wayland lead.
"Taryn got hot in the third quarter and that really got us going. It really helps us when she gets rolling," Cooper said.
SAGU, though, didn't go away. The Lady Lions went on their own run, 16-4, and pulled to within four, 48-44, late in the third. But that's as close as SAGU got as Houston and Shelley closed out the third with back-to-back field goals before Shelley kicked off the fourth with a 3 to make it an 11-point game.
SAGU answered with a 3, but when
Kaitlyn Edgemon scored right after that to make it a 10-point margin, the Lady Lions never got within a dozen points the rest of the way.
The Flying Queens were two points away from all five starters scoring in double figures as Edgemon had 19, Cooper-Jackson 17, Houston 15 for the third straight game, Shultz 11 (one off her season-high) and Shelley eight.
"Taylor got some big buckets again for us early on. She is really on a tear this semester," Cooper said. "It was also nice to see Ashlyn get a few points. I was very pleased with the balanced scoring in the starting lineup, and double figures makes it hard to guard."
WBU's only non-starter to score was
Emily Sigala, who put in a nifty baseline layup for her two points.
"I thought Emily gave us great minutes off the bench, and it may have been the most minutes (14) she's played in her career. She really has stepped up big for us," Cooper said.
That game saw just 16 turnovers, only six times by Wayland which matched the team's best effort this season which is half of any other game's total.
Cooper-Jackson flirted with a triple-double, ending with nine rebounds and seven assists. Shelley pulled down eight boards and Edgemon and Houston seven apiece.
"Jenna and Kaitlyn both had solid games as usual and led us on the court in the huddles and in everything that we're doing. They want to win more than anyone and they are doing everything they can to help our team be successful. There's not a stat category that they don't lead us in, but so much of what they do doesn't show up in the stats," Coach Cooper said.
Chanie Chambers came off the bench to lead SAGU with 15 points.
Wayland will look to avenge a 70-62 loss to the University of North Texas at Dallas when the Queens and Trailblazers battle at 2 p.m. Saturday. UNT Dallas (10-5, 8-5) defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Thursday, 75-70.
Edgemon, in what officially is her sophomore season, figures to join the Flying Queens' 1,000-point club Saturday. She will go into that contest with 996 points.
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