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Wayland Women
Queens big, athletic, deep after 33-4 run
By KEVIN LEWIS
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Bigger, more athletic and deeper. Those are three key areas where Wayland Baptist women’s basketball coach Jason Cooper thinks his Flying Queens have improved over last season. As a result, Cooper believes the 2022-23 Flying Queens have a chance to be even better than they were last year.
“My vision was to make this year’s team bigger, more athletic and deeper than we were a year ago. I believe we have done that,” Cooper said on the eve of his sophomore season with the Flying Queens.
Cooper’s first campaign as the Queens’ coach went rather well. The team finished 33-4 – the program’s most wins in more than 40 years – won both the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships for the third straight year and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament round of 16 sporting a No. 8 national ranking. Wayland is picked to again win the SAC and is ranked 10th in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Top 25 despite graduation last spring claiming a couple of key weapons in point guard Angel Hayden and two-time SAC Player of the Year and four-time NAIA All-American Kaylee Edgemon. They’ll certainly be missed, especially Hayden’s defensive and rebounding prowess (she averaged a team-best 8.0 boards per game) and Edgemon’s team-leading 19.6 points per game.
Team has nine newcomers
But in addition to the Queens returning two-time all-American Jenna Cooper (now Cooper-Jackson after marrying WBU baseballer Ty Jackson), all-conference third-teamer Kaitlyn Edgemon and 30-game starter Ashlyn Shelley, plus emerging players Canton Moreno, Taryn Shultz from Bushland and Emily Sigala from Plainview, the Queens added nine newcomers – a mix of first-year freshmen and transfers.
Wayland Baptist Flying Queens Roster Name, Ht., Pos., Class, Hometown
Taryn Shultz, 5-8, G, Soph., Bushland, Texas Emily Sigala, 5-2, G, Soph., Plainview, Texas Canton Moreno, 5-8, G, Jr., Amarillo, Texas Manuella Donmeza, 5-11. F, Jr., Douala, Cameroon, Africa Maria Ghaleb, 6-0, F, Soph., Zgharta, Lebanon Megan Nestor, 6-3, P, Fr., Canaries, St. Lucia Kaitlyn Edgemon, 5-11, F, Soph., Littlefield, Texas Maddye Sumners, 5-7, G, Soph., O’Donnell, Texas Hadlee Gomez, 5-6, G, Fr., Wellington, Texas Kynnan Sheilds, 6-2, F, Soph., Shamrock, Texas Cassandra Onwugbufor, 5-7, G, Soph., Maize, Kansas Ashlyn Shelley, 5-7, G, Jr., Idalou, Texas Taylor Houston, 6-2, F, Fr., Idalou, Texas Marchelle Bowden, 5-11, F, Soph., Milwaukee, Wisconsin Jenna Cooper-Jackson, 6-0, F, Sr., Claude, Texas
Coach: Jason Cooper Asst. Coach: Chelsea Hunter 2021-2022 record: 33-4, 20-2 96 College
Two-time All-American Jenna Cooper-Jackson, daughter of Coach Jason Cooper, is starting her fourth year as a Flying Queens starter. The 6-0 forward from Claude was NAIA second-team All-America a year ago, when she led the NAIA in total assists with 207 and averaged 18 points and 6.9 rebounds. (Photo by WBU Sports Information)
“The goal through the recruiting process was to add depth and experience to our solid six returning players. We did that with the addition of two very talented high school players as well as some solid JUCO players,” Cooper said. “I am excited about our overall size, with eight girls standing 5-11 to 6-3, and all being mobile and able to fit our style of play. We have added depth at all five spots, but most importantly the 4 and 5 positions.”
The leader of the Queens will be Coach Cooper’s daughter, Jenna, a fourth-year starting forward from Claude who was NAIA second Team All-America a year ago when she led the NAIA in total assists (207) and averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
“Jenna has had her best summer of preparation that I have seen. She is driven and focused on her final season of collegiate hoops. I look for her to have a great year,” Coach Cooper said.
Another dominant scoring and rebounding threat is Kaitlyn Edgemon, entering her third year at Wayland and first without sister Kaylee also on the roster. The Littlefield native averaged 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds last season plus led the SAC in blocks (1.3). Shelley, a guard from Idalou, will be playing her fourth season at Wayland, having started the previous two. Shelley was good for 5.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists an outing last season.
“Kaitlyn and Ashlyn have been instrumental components in the three previous seasons of Flying Queen basketball,” Coach Cooper said. “Those two and Jenna have an incredible depth of experience to bring to our team. All will be at least third-year starters, while this will be Jenna’s fourth as a starter.”
Moreno, a junior from Randall, joined the Queens last season
(Continued from previous page) and was the team’s sixth player, averaging 4.9 points while shooting 36 percent from 3-point range. “Canton was a huge spark off the bench and can defend as well as shoot the 3,” Cooper said.
From Idalou to Milwaukee to Cameroon
Highlighting the Queens’ nine newcomers are junior Manuella Donmeza, sophomores Marchelle Bowden and Cassandra Onwugbufor and freshman Taylor Houston.
A 5-11 junior from Cameroon, Africa, Donmeza transferred from Frank Phillips College, where she averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds. Cooper called her “a very athletic guard/forward who can really score in transition. She’s a tough perimeter defender and can get to the rack.”
Like Shelley, Houston hails from Idalou, where last season the 6-1 forward/post earned district MVP and all-state honors while leading her team to the state tournament, averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds. “Taylor is an athletic, hard-nosed player with a knack for getting the ball,” Cooper said.
The 5-11 Bowden, a power forward from Milwaukee, arrives from Odessa College and gives the Queens “another athletic player who is tough and strong. She battles hard for rebounds and finishes strong around the basket,” Cooper said. Onwugbufor figures to step in for Hayden at point guard. A 5-7 transfer from Maize, Kansas, she averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists at Pratt Community College in Kansas. “Cassandra brings a ton of JUCO experience at the point and wing positions. She has excellent ball-handling and distributing skills,” Cooper said. Other newcomers for the Queens are sophomores Maria Ghaleb of Lebanon (Western Texas College), Maddye Sumners of O’Donnell (Hardin-Simmons) and Kynnan Shields of Shamrock (Seward County College) and freshmen Megan Nestor of St. Lucia and Hadlee Gomez of Wellington. At 6-3, Nestor is the tallest player on the roster.
WBU opens the season Oct. 27 at home against University of the Southwest. Then, after a road game at Hardin-Simmons, the Queens take on the University of Texas in an exhibition game in Austin on Nov. 4. They’ll once again host the Queens Classic Nov. 11-12, meeting Our Lady of the Lake and LSU-Alexandria, before opening conference play Nov. 17 at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
Coach Jason Cooper
WAYLAND BAPTIST FLYING QUEENS SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time
Oct. 27 University of the Southwest New Mexico 7 p.m. Nov. 1 Hardin-Simmons University TBA Nov. 4 University of Texas @ Austin TBA Nov. 11 Our Lady of the Lake University 8 p.m. Nov. 12 Louisiana State University Alexandria 12 p.m. Nov. 17 University of North Texas @ Dallas 6 p.m. Nov. 19 Southwestern Assemblies of God University @ 2 p.m. Waxahachie Nov. 25 Colorado State University @ Pueblo, Colorado TBA Nov. 26 University of Colorado at Colorado Springs @ TBA Pueblo, Colorado Dec. 1 Southwestern Christian University 6 p.m. Dec. 3 Mid-America Christian University 2 p.m. Dec. 10 Central Christian College @ McPherson, KS 6 p.m. Dec. 12 @ Langston, Oklahoma 2 p.m. Dec. 15 Oklahoma Panhandle State University @ 6 p.m. Goodwell, Oklahoma Jan. 5 John Brown University Arkansas 6 p.m. Jan. 7 Oklahoma City University 2 p.m. Jan. 12 Texas Wesleyan University @ Fort Worth 6 p.m. Jan. 14 University of Science and Arts @ Chickasha, OK 2 p.m. Jan. 19 Southwestern Assemblies of God University 6 p.m. Jan. 21 University of North Texas at Dallas2 p.m. Jan. 26 Mid-America Christian University @ Oklahoma 6 p.m. City, Oklahoma Jan. 28 Southwestern Christian University @ Bethany, OK 2 p.m. Jan. 31 Oklahoma Panhandle State University 6 p.m. Feb. 2 Central Christian College Kansas 6 p.m. Feb. 4 Langston 2 p.m. Feb. 9 @ Oklahoma City University 6 p.m. Feb. 11 John Brown University @ Siloam Springs, AR 2 p.m. Feb. 16 University of Science and Arts Oklahoma 6 p.m. Feb. 18 Texas Wesleyan University 2 p.m.
Kaitlyn Edgemon from Littlefield, a 5-11 sophomore is starting her third year at Wayland. She averaged 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds last season and led the SAC in blocks, averaging 1.3 a game. (Photo by WBU Sports Information)
Jenna Cooper-Jackson
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