Plainview – The 13
th ranked Wayland Baptist Flying Queens took care of business Thursday night by taking down the University of North Texas at Dallas Trailblazers in overwhelming fashion, 94-66.
Wayland Baptist (6-0, 3-0 SAC) fell behind 5-4 in the first two minutes of the opening quarter, but the offense quickly woke up as the Queens executed a 9-0 scoring run that featured an open three for senior
Emily Sigala followed by a bucket from junior
Megan Nestor to give the Queens a 13-5 lead. The Queens later pushed their lead to 20-11 after sophomore
Peyton North knocked down her first three of the night.
Nestor capped off a solid opening quarter offensively for the Queens with an offensive rebound, put-back layup to make it 26-13, WBU, at the end of the first.
The Trailblazers scored the first five points of the second quarter, but Sigala would get the Queens rolling in the second after converting an and-one through traffic to extend their lead to 29-18. Sigala would continue her strong offensive start by sinking another open three to give the Queens the 40-23 lead with just under three minutes until the halftime break.
Sigala continued to possess the hot-hand in the final minutes of the second quarter as she knocked down her third three-pointer of the night to push the Queens lead up to 45-25 with just over one minute left until halftime. Senior
Linda Brice and sophomore
Jadyn Trusler would cap off a strong close to the second quarter by the Queens with a three-pointer each to give Wayland Baptist a 51-25 lead heading into the halftime break.
Head Coach
Jason Cooper talked about Sigala's outstanding offensive output saying, "Emily had one of her best all-around offensive showings of her career. She has beat me to the gym a couple times this week. Her hard work is really paying off."
The Queens pushed extended their lead to 30-points after sophomore
Bobbie Fouquet knocked down an open jumper off the feed from
Kaitlyn Jerden to make it 59-29. Fouqet would later return the favor and set up Jerden for an open three-pointer to give the Queens an overwhelming 67-34 lead with just under two minutes left in the third.
The Trailblazers were able to convert a few free throw attempts down the stretch, which gave the Queens a 69-45 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
Nestor made her presence felt at the beginning of the fourth as she converted a tough and-one to put the Queens up 73-49 late in the game. A couple of minutes of game clock later, Jerden would finish through contact for a tough and-one of her own, putting the Queens up 78-53 midway through the fourth.
Sigala put the Queens back up by 30-points after sinking her fourth three-pointer of the night, making the score 83-53. The Queens dismantled the Trailblazers, 94-66, to remain undefeated on the young 24-25 season.
"We had three really good practices going into tonight's game. We've talked a lot about getting off to good starts in games. We had a goal of 25 points in the first quarter to set the tone. I was pleased with our pace of play tonight," said Coach Cooper talking about the win.
Nestor recorded her fifth double-double of the season in the win over UNTD – finishing with 24 points, 9-4 shooting from the floor, 13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Sigala posted a season-high 15 points on 5-6 shooting including 4-5 from 3-point range, while also dishing three assists. Jerden added 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, four steals, and two blocks. Popovic finished with eight points, four rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
Coach Cooper spoke about some key performances saying, "Bobbie had a solid game and got involved in a lot of different ways. Teo gave us great minutes off the bench again. Meg was tremendous again with another double-double. She had 24 and 13 and we think she's just playing average basketball. That's something we're taking for granted a little bit."
The Queens will host the Lions of Nelson University for another Sooner Athletic Conference game on Saturday, November 23
rd at 2:00 PM.
