A monster game by Saint Lucia’s Megan Nestor propelled the Wayland Baptist University Flying Queens women’s basketball team into the second round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships. The seventh-seeded Queens eased past 10-seed Carroll Saints 72-63, to advance to the Round of 32.
Nestor, who hails from the fishing village of Canaries, belied her relative lack of experience in the game, as she tallied a career-high 35 points, missing just three of her 20 shots on goal. She scored three of her team’s first seven points, and never looked back. But going into the final period, the Saints were marching on, carrying a seven-point lead.
With the game on the line and the Queens needing a push to open the fourth in order to keep their season alive, Nestor showed why she was named Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year. She rattled off an 8-0 scoring run by herself to put Wayland Baptist ahead, 59-58. Nestor’s eight straight points ignited a 14-0 scoring run by the Flying Queens that jolted them ahead 65-58 with just over four minutes remaining.
In addition to her 35 points, Nestor added 15 rebounds, taking her to 417 for the year in 31 games. That number is noteworthy as it exactly matched her output from last year, when she set the school record for rebounds in a season. As the team moves on in the tournament, that record is certain to fall in the next round.
“I was proud of Meg tonight,” said WBU head coach Jason Cooper. “She totally took over the game. Kaitlyn really stepped up and played well in the second half… Our guards did a tremendous job in the fourth quarter especially of shutting down their guards. We finally got some pressure on them.”
The Flying Queens will challenge the Ashland, Oregon Region host, two-seed Southern Oregon University, on Saturday, with a berth to the Sweet 16 on the line.
