Bethany, Okla. --- The 2009-10 basketball season came to an end for the Flying Queens in the opening game of the Sooner Athletic Conference this morning as the WBU women fell in a close game to Lubbock Christian, 68-64. The Queens finish the season with a record of 17-13. The Lady Chaps (19-10) advance to the next round against the winner of the Oklahoma City/Southern Nazarene game later this afternoon.

In the two previous meetings between the two schools this season, the Queens had the lead at half, and that is the way the game Thursday morning shaped up. LCU went up by five on a steal and a layup by Brittany Hampton seven minutes into the contest. WBU grabbed the advantage on Jessica Walker's steal and layup six minutes later and held it until Rachel Gray's three-pointer with just over 11 minutes left in the second period made it 48-47, LCU.

There were seven ties and four lead changes from that point in the contest. Neither team went up by more than two until Hampton hit one out of two free throws to make it 57-54 with 6:24 on the clock. The Queens came back to tie it three more times, but never regained the advantage.

Hampton's pull-up jumper in the lane with 54 seconds left made it 65-61. After a Flying Queen turnover, Hampton hit another shot from the charity stripe to make it a five-point game, but Walker went down and hit a traditional three-point play with 23 seconds remaining to bring WBU to within two, 66-64.

Severyn Smith sank her only two free shots on LCU's next possession to seal the deal for the Lady Chaps.

Walker scored a career high 22 points in the game. The senior point guard also had six steals, playing just under 40 minutes. The only other Queen to score in double figures was Alex Williams with 12. Shamon Doss wrapped up her WBU career with nine points and a game-high nine boards.

Wayland shot 41 percent from the field, while LCU put in 45 percent. Both teams struggled from long distance with LCU 3-of-14 for the game and WBU 4-14, but the difference came down to trips to the charity stripe. The Lady Chaps, one of the NAIA's top free throw shooting teams, had 28 chances from the line, putting in 24 (85.7%). The Queens were 13 of 18 (72.2%).