Seward, Nebraska – The Flying Queens fell just short to Concordia University (Neb.) 80-62 in the Second Round of the 2024 NAIA Women’s National Tournament to cap off their 2023-24 season.
Wayland Baptist opened the scoring in the Second Round matchup with Emily Sigala knocking down a three off the pass from Bobbie Fouquet. Peyton North knocked down her first three of the contest to give the Queens a 6-4 lead after just over three minutes of play. The Bulldogs answered with a 6-0 run to take a 12-4 lead with just over five minutes until the end of the period. After the Bulldogs drained a couple of threes to go up 23-10, Linda Brice was able to attack the paint for the bucket to make it a 23-12 score going into the second quarter.
The Bulldogs scored a layup just before the seven-minute mark of the second, but the Queens answered with a 9-0 run that featured two Taylor Houston jumpers, an Ellie Bruffey 3-pointer, and a Maria Ghaleb layup to make it a 29-25 game with just under three minutes until halftime. Fouquet finished the Queen’s half by driving the paint for a layup to trim the Queens lead to just four points at the halftime break, 36-32.
The Queens fell behind by 9-points to start the second half after the Bulldogs came out draining 3 threes to make it a 45-36 game. With jut over five minutes until the end of the third, Houston knocked down another jumper to trim the Queen’s deficit to just six points. North drained another three with just under three minutes left in the quarter to make it a 51-44 Bulldog lead. The Queens then cut their deficit to just 5 points after back-to-back layups by Megan Nestor and Ghaleb. However, the Bulldogs finished the quarter with a quick 6-0 burst to push their lead to 59-48 heading into the final quarter.
The Queens got back-to-back layups from Brice and North to make it a 7-point game with nine minutes left in regulation. The Bulldogs pushed their lead back to 10 points, but Brice added another layup to make it 64-56 with just over six minutes to go. The Bulldog offense got scorching hot to end the game, finished the contest on a 16-6 run to advance to the Sweet 16 over the Queens by a score of 80-62.
These group of young players put together a great run. These girls are 1 of just 4 NAIA teams in the past 21 years to make it to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. I’m just so grateful for their hard work, dedication and commitment to this program. I am very proud and excited to know that we can have them all back for the 24/25 season!”
Flying Queens Coach Jason Cooper
Brice finished with 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. Peyton North went for 15 points, 3 rebounds, and she shot 3-7 from 3-point range in 23 minutes off the bench. Fouquet added 11 points and 5 rebounds to finish off her freshman season. Megan Nestor’s dominant season ended with her getting 4 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 blocks while also facing foul trouble.
Head Coach Jason Cooper had this to say about his team’s season and their success, “When you look at the stats, we achieved so many of our game goals. We had one of the lowest turnover outputs of the season. We outrebounded them. Made our free throws, we just couldn’t find the basket in the end. They are a very experienced team and took the game to another level late in the fourth quarter.”
He continued, “Once the pain of the loss today subsides and we look back at this season, I hope they realize what they accomplished. I am so proud of this group. They really overachieved. I think about how devastating the early loss of Kaitlyn Jerden in October was and realizing we had zero seniors and zero big game experience out there on the court, I would never have imagined we would be in the hunt for the SAC title going into the final 3 weeks of the season.”
“These group of young players put together a great run. These girls are 1 of just 4 NAIA teams in the past 21 years to make it to the second round of the NAIA National Tournament. I’m just so grateful for their hard work, dedication and commitment to this program. I am very proud and excited to know that we can have them all back for the 24/25 season!”
“I am also so grateful for Coach Chelsea Hunter. That woman is a rockstar! She does so much for our team and me. I could not ask for a better assistant. We are blessed to have her at WBU. I also want to shout out our trainer, Michael Arellano. He did amazing work keeping our team healthy. After Kaitlyn, we did not have a single girl miss a game with any type of injury.”
The Wayland Baptist Flying Queens concluded their season with a 23-9 overall record and a 16-6 record during Sooner Athletic Conference play.
source: wbuathletics.com