Chickasha, Okla. – The 12
th ranked Flying Queens picked up their third straight road win after taking down the Drovers of Science and Arts (Okla.), 71-60, behind 19 points and five threes from sophomore
Peyton North.
The Flying Queens received a massive spark from North to begin this afternoon's game against the Drover as she scored the teams' first ten points, including two threes to put the Queens ahead 10-5 midway through the first quarter. Senior
Emily Sigala put the Queens up 18-12 after sinking her first two threes of the game, and the Queens fourth three-pointer in the opening frame.
The Drovers trimmed their deficit to three after knocking down an open corner three-pointer, but neither team would score over the remaining 2:20 of the first quarter, giving the Queens an 18-15 lead heading into the second quarter.
North continued her strong start by sinking back-to-back threes - her third and fourth of the game – to put the Queens ahead 31-22 at the midway point of the second quarter. The Queens got two jumpers to fall from Brice and
Bobbie Fouquet to push their lead up to 38-25 with just over one minute left until the halftime break.
The Drovers closed the final minute of the half strong and scored the final eight points of the quarter to trail the Queens, 38-33, at the intermission.
The third quarter began with the Drovers scoring the first four points to trim their deficit to just one point, but graduate
Kaitlyn Jerden answered back for the Queens with five straight points to make it 43-39, WBU. A few minutes later, Sigala continued her strong shooting performance by draining her third three-pointer of the game to put the Queens ahead, 50-43.
Jerden would later knock down her second three of the quarter to put the Queens in front, 53-46, which is what the score would be at the end of the frame due to the neither being able to score over the final 3:45.
The Drovers opened the fourth quarter by sinking an open three to make it a four-point game, but freshman
Brooklyn Hurtado asserted her dominance in the paint by scoring 8 of the next 10 points for the Queens to give them a 63-54 lead with just over five minutes left in regulation. Sigala would follow Hurtado's run by hitting her fourth three-pointer of the game to give WBU a 66-54 lead.
Head Coach
Jason Cooper recapped today's win saying, "I thought we had a solid showing today. We took the lead right away and never trailed. We showed some toughness and fought off their run in the second quarter."
Coach Cooper continued, "We played solid defense this week. Two solid defensive efforts and two big road wins."
Wayland Baptist went on to defeat the Drovers, 71-60, to pick their third consecutive win to move to 11-1 on the season and 8-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
North led the Flying Queens with 19 points including 5-10 from three-point range, five assists, and four rebounds. Sigala added 12 points on 4-5 shooting from three, two assists, a rebound, and three steals. Jerden went for 11 points including 3-5 from three, five rebounds, and two assists. Hurtado totaled 11 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor, while also grabbing four rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench. Brice added nine points, six rebounds, and three assists.
"Our guards did a much better job today handling pressure," said Coach Cooper. "We had limited turnovers and 18 assists. That makes things a lot smoother. Peyton was unconscious in the first half. She was hitting everything. Brooklyn had a great second half. Emily and Kait did a great job handling the ball against the press and they were killing it from deep."
The Queens will enter the Christmas break with an 11-1 overall record, including 8-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. The Queens will return the floor on Thursday, January 2
nd against the College of the Ozarks Bobcats. Tip-off is set for 6:00 PM at The Hutcherson Center.
