Seward, Nebraska – The Flying Queens defeated the 6-seeded Columbia College (Mo.) Cougars 66-62 to advance to the Round of the 32 where they will face off with the host school, Concordia (Neb.)
11-seeded Wayland Baptist opened the scoring in this National Tournament First Round Matchup as
Megan Nestor cleaned up the offensive boards for a putback layup to make it an early 2-0 lead. After five minutes of scoreless action, Nestor was able to finish through contact for the and-one to make it 5-0. The Cougars didn't convert their first successful field goal until just under the four-minute mark in the opening frame.
Bobbie Fouquet and
Linda Brice each scored buckets in the paint to put the Queens up 11-7, and Nestor knocked down a jumper to make it 13-7 with just under a minute until the end of the first. The Cougars scored a layup in the last twenty second to make it a 13-11 Queens lead at the end of the first.
After a back and forth battle throughout this matchup, the Queens were able to take a 45-44 lead into the final quarter. With the Queens holding a 53-52 lead with just over five minutes left in regulation, Fouquet sunk a three off the feed from
Emily Sigala to go up 56-52. Brice followed that up with a steal and a layup to make it a 58-53 game. With just under four minutes left in the game, Sigala drained a 3-pointer off the dish from Brice to make it a 63-59 Wayland Baptist lead. Nestor drained two free throws at the end, and the Flying Queens came away victorious to advance to the Second Round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Nestor finished with 19 points, 18 rebounds, 2 block, and 2 steals. Brice added 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Fouquet tallied 9 points, 6 rebounds, and an assist. Sigala added 8 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Head Coach
Jason Cooper said, "What a great team effort. I was proud of our defense holding them scoreless for the first 7 minutes of the game. What great effort. We spent a lot of time talking and working on attacking and running in transition. We executed transition so well and really stepped up and knocked down our free throws."
Coach Cooper added, "It was a balanced effort scoring too. We had four of our starters all reach their scoring average give or take a point."
The Flying Queens will take on 3-Seeded Concordia (Neb.) in the Round of 32 at the Friedrich Arena in Seward, Nebraska on Saturday at 4:00 PM CT. The winner of this matchup will advance to the NAIA National Championships in Sioux City, Iowa.
