The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens went into Monday night’s game against Oklahoma City University with a score to settle.
Consider it settled…for now, at least.
Six weeks after suffering their worst loss of the season to OCU, the Flying Queens came back with a vengeance to tag the eighth-ranked Stars with a 78-72 Sooner Athletic Conference loss.
Sophomore Maci Merket scored a career-high 21 points, Shawna Monreal got 16, and Shayla Monreal and Jade Jones added 10 each as Wayland – ranked the equivalent of 27th in the NAIA, posted its ninth win in a row while ending OCU’s 13-game win streak.
The Flying Queens and Stars are now tied atop the SAC standings with identical 14-2, 5-1 records.
On Dec. 3 in Oklahoma City, Wayland went down to the Stars by a very lopsided, 100-65. They haven’t loss since, and no win has been sweeter during the run that Monday’s.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, Wayland began to take control in the second. The Flying Queens scored eight straight points – the final five by Merket – to take a 38-28 lead.
WBU grew its lead to as many as 13, 68-55 with 7½ minutes left in the contest, only to have the Stars score seven unanswered to pull to within six at 68-62. OCU kept coming, eventually cutting it to 70-68 with under three minutes to go.
But the Flying Queens never blinked, especially Merket, who immediately drilled a 3-pointer then nailed a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left that kept it a five-game spread.
OCU’s Alexis Hill again made it a one-possession game with two foul shots with nine seconds left.
Wayland then turned to Shayla Monreal to put it away at the free throw line. She did, hitting 3-of-4 in the final nine ticks. Monreal finished 7-of-8 from the foul line while her twin Shawna was 6-of-7. As a team Wayland was 21-of-24 (88 percent).
The Stars, meanwhile, drilled 30-of-33 free throws (91 percent), including 13-of-13 by senior Venezuelan Daniela Wallen, but OCU struggled from 3-point range, going 0-for-11.
Wallen, a forward, scored 33 points (she had 31 vs. WBU in December), but the Stars’ next high-scorer was Daniela Galindo with just 10. Galindo had 24 the first time the teams met.
Merket’s 21 points, which featured 4-of-6 from the 3-point line, bettered her previous career-high of 19 as a freshman and her previous season-best of 17 way back in the season-opener.
The Flying Queens will be back in Hutcherson Center Thursday at 6 p.m. to play Texas Wesleyan (11-5, 4-2) for the first time this season. The Lady Rams are coming off a 62-58 home loss to No. 18 John Brown on Saturday.
(Courtesy Wayland Baptist Athletics)