Gallery: (11-6-2024) Women's Basketball vs OLLU
Plainview – The 18
th ranked Flying Queens opened the 2024 Flying Queens Classic with a dominant 53-point win over Our Lady of the Lake University behind 48 combined points from
Megan Nestor and
Kaitlyn Jerden.
The Flying Queens got off to a quick start tonight against the Saints as they opened the game with a 7-0 scoring run that featured two layups from Nestor and an and-one from Jerden. Jerden would later make her presence felt on the defensive side by picking off a Saint's cross-court pass and taking it coast-to-coast for an easy layup to extend the Queens lead to 13-2 after less than three minutes of play.
The Queens would continue their offensive onslaught in the first quarter after sophomore
Peyton North drained an open three pointer off the feed from senior point guard,
Emily Sigala, to give WBU the 23-6 lead with just over three minutes left in the opening stanza. The Queens closed the opening quarter strong and carried a 29-10 lead into the second.
After gradually building their lead to open the second quarter, sophomore
Bobbie Fouquet would extend the Queens lead to 42-16 after nailing a three from the wing thanks to another assist from Sigala. The Queens closed the half with senior
Kinga Stachowska finishing a layup after a nice cut, followed by a
Jadyn Trusler draining a three-pointer with just a few second left on the clock to hold a 51-30 lead over the Saints at the halftime break.
The Queens would open the second half with a quick bucket from Nestor, but then it was time for Jerden to go on another scoring run as she would score the next eight points for the Flying Queens to give them a 59-32 lead. The lead would grow to 32 points after Fouquet nailed her second three-pointer of the night to push the Queens lead to 64-32 halfway through the third quarter. The Queens carried a 78-44 lead over Our Lady of the Lake into the final quarter.
Senior guard,
Linda Brice, sparked the Queens at the start of the fourth quarter by going on a personal 7-0 scoring run to extend their lead to 85-44. Junior
Teodora Popovic gave the Queens their largest lead of the game, 53-points, after sinking a three off the feed from North to make it 104-51 with just over two minutes remaining in the game. The Queens went on to win 112-59 over Our Lady of the Lake.
As a team, the Queens shot an outstanding 61.4% from the floor, while sinking 44% of their three-point attempts. The Queens finished with 50 points in the paint compared to 50 points in the paint for the Saints.
Defensively, the Queens played with great energy and utilized their zone press wisely by forcing the Saints into 20 turnovers and 40.4% shooting from the floor.
Head Coach
Jason Cooper talked about his team's performance tonight saying, "I thought we showed a lot of improvement tonight. I thought we played with great intensity. That is something we have been talking about a lot these past few weeks."
Nestor recorded her second double-double to begin the 24-25 season – finishing with 26 points, 13 rebounds including eight on the offensive glass, while shooting 11-14 from the floor. Jerden had a near double-double performance herself – finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, while shooting 10-13 from the floor.
Coach Cooper praised Jerden and Nestor for their efforts tonight, "It was good to see Kaitlyn get going. We saw a glimpse of the All-American she is. Meg really ran the floor well. I thought we did a great job hitting her in stride."
Brice added 12 points, three rebounds, two steals, while shooting 44% from the field. Popovic was solid in 23 minutes off the bench, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Sigala and Fouquet did a great job facilitating tonight, and it showed as the two starters combined for 13 assists.
"The best thing I saw was the amount of assists we had tonight. I love that we were sharing and moving the ball so well," said Coach Cooper when referencing his teams' willingness to share the ball and accumulate assists.
Day 2 of the 2024 Flying Queens Classic will take feature two matchups including:
Northern New Mexico College vs. Texas A&M-San Antonio at 2:00 PM
Our Lady of the Lake University vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State University at 4:00 PM
The Flying Queens will cap off the 2024 Queens Classic on Friday, November 8
th when they take on the Jaguars of Texas A&M-San Antonio. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
