Plainview, Texas – The Wayland Baptist Queens basketball team earned a pair of victories this weekend as they hosted the Queens Classic inside the Hutcherson Center in Plainview, Texas. The Queens started the weekend with a 97-57 victory over Texas A7M-Texarkana and then turned around and earned a 78-74 win over Haskell Indian Nation.
On Friday evening, the Queens started off quickly as they scored the first seven points of the game to take an early lead and extended the advantage with another big run to take a 31-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Queens shot 57 percent from the field and 56 percent from beyond the arc as they hit five triples in the period. The Wayland Baptist offense continued to roll as they outscored the Eagles 28-16 in the second period to go into the halftime locker room with a 59-27 advantage. The Queens continued to stay hot from the field in the second half as they were able to come away with the victory.
The Queens ended the contest shooting 50 percent from the field and 53 percent from beyond the arc as they hit 16 triples on the evening.
Ellie Bruffey paced the Queens in scoring with 18 points while
Linda Brice added 17 points and four steals in the win.
Megan Nestor finished the night with eight of Wayland's 36 rebounds.
On Saturday afternoon, the Queens needed to rally in the second half to come away with a hard-fought victory. The Fighting Indians took control of the game in the first quarter as the Indians grabbed a 26-17 lead. The Queens were able to get the Haskell advantage closer in the second period as they trailed 43-36 at the break. The Queens battled in the third period and were able to draw even with the Indians at 48-48 on a basket by Nestor with 4:42 remaining in the period. Wayland then proceeded to go on an 8-2 run to end the third period ahead 61-54. The Queens got the lead out to double digits at the start of the final stanza as Brice hit a triple and a basket in the paint to push the Queens' advantage to 68-56, but the Indians went on a run of their own to cut the Wayland lead to four at 72-68 with 3:13 remaining in regulation. That is as close as Haskell could get as Bruffey buried a three-ball and Brice scored on a fast break to push the advantage out to 77-70.
The Queens continued to shoot well Saturday as they were 31-of-60 from the field for 52 percent while out rebounding the Indians 45-29. Brice finished the day with 21 points while
Taylor Houston earned a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.
The nationally ranked Queens will take on Arlington Baptist in an exhibition game on Tuesday, Nov. 14, starting at 7 p.m.
