Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Women's Basketball Game Notes
1/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2001
Game #15
Wake Forest (8-7, 1-4) vs. Florida State (11-3, 3-1)
Sunday, Jan. 14, 2001 * 3:00 pm * Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (14,407) * Winston-Salem, NC
Broadcast: The voice of Wake Forest basketball, Tom Hart, will call the action on WTRU-830 AM. He is joined by color analyst Roper Halverson. The game will also be broadcast on the internet at www.WakeForestSports.com.
Records: WFU is 8-7 overall, 1-4 in the ACC after falling to Clemson on the road Thursday night. Florida State is 11-3, 3-1 in the league, with its most recent win coming over Maryland, 69-38, on Wednesday.
The Series: Wake Forest and Florida State have a relatively young rivalry, having met just 20 times on the hardwood since FSU joined the ACC in 1991. Wake Forest leads the series 12-8. More series information is on page two.
The Coaches: Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis is in her fourth season with the Deacs, with a 27-71 record at the school. She has a 189-221 career record in her 15th season as a head coach. Florida State coach Sue Semrau is 39-58 in her fourth season as a head coach, all of which have been with the Seminoles.
Up Next: The Deacs travel to Maryland this week for a Thursday, Jan. 18 matchup with the Terrapins.
Wake Forest Returns Home to Host Seminoles... Wake Forest, 8-7 overall and 1-4 in the ACC, return to Joel Coliseum to host the Florida State Seminoles (11-3, 3-1, ACC) on Sunday, Jan. 14 at 3:00 pm.
The Demon Deacons have just completed a grueling stretch of their schedule, as six of the last seven games have been on the road and four of those contests have come against ranked opponents. WFU posted a 2-5 record in that stretch, with wins at Quinnipiac and versus North Carolina.
It doesn't get any easier, however, as the Deacs are facing a red-hot Seminole squad which is off to its best start in 10 seasons and is one of the teams currently atop the league standings with just one ACC loss.
The 2000-01 season marks the 30th anniversary of Wake Forest women's basketball. The Deacon program began in the 1971-72 season. WFU's first game was a 30-28 win over Elon College. Since then, Deacon women's basketball has compiled a 313-427 overall record.
A Quick Look at the Deacs...
Wake Forest boasts an experienced nucleus in the 2000-01 campaign, with 10 letterwinners, including four starters, returning from a year ago. The team's top returning scorer and leading rebounder from a year ago, 6-0 senior Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, has been hovering around the double-digit scoring average all season, and is currently scoring 9.3 points a game, and averaging a team-high 9.8 points in ACC contests only. She also continues to lead the squad with 5.8 rebounds a contest and also in steals (23). The team's starter at power forward, Kirkpatrick leads a senior class which includes 6-1 forward Olivia Dardy and 5-10 guard Kristen Shaffer. Dardy spent much of last year on the injured list but has returned with a vengeance this season, averaging 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds off the bench. Dardy currently owns WFU's best scoring performance this season with a 24-point outing at Quinnipiac on Dec. 19. Shaffer, the starting shooting guard, has scored in double-digits in five of the last eight games to take over the team scoring lead (10.1 ppg).
The junior class is comprised of two point guards and a center. The Deacs' returning starter at point guard is 5-4 Val Klopfer. Twelve of Klopfer's 13 field goals this season have been beyond the arc, and she's shooting 43 percent from three-point range (12-of-28). She is backed up by classmate Adell Harris, a flashy athlete who has seen her playing time increase over the course of the season. Junior starting center LaChina Robinson, who stands 6-4, is a continuously improving inside player who is currently averaging 4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds a game.
Robinson is challenged in the middle by sophomore Johanna Bj?rklund, Wake's tallest player ever at 6-5. Bj?rklund provides a strong presence in the post, notching four steals and six blocks this season, and has shown she can score outside the paint as well. Two other sophomores, 6-1 Tiffani Listenbee and 6-4 LaTisha Pearson, add aggressiveness and depth in the post with their rebounding and shot-blocking abilities. Listenbee recently set a career-high with 10 points at Arizona State, and is third on the team in blocks (7). Rounding out the sophomore class is 5-10 forward Heather Miller, who was bothered by early signs of a stress fracture in her foot in the beginning of the season, but has gradually increased her playing time. Miller displayed her sharpshooting skills with nine points in four minutes of action at Richmond and scored a team-high 12 at Clemson.
The Wake Forest freshman class has already played a key role in the team winning eight games in the early goings of the season. Tracy Alston, a 5-10 forward, has proven to be a tenacious defender, often drawing the top defensive assignment, and is averaging 2.7 rebounds a game and has grabbed seven steals. Tonia Brown, a 5-10 guard, is a scoring threat, averaging 6.5 ppg and netting a team-high 17 three-pointers. Bianca Brown, at 5-8, gives the Deacs depth at the point guard spot along with tough defensive skills - including a team second-best 19 steals. Starting small forward Eafton Hill, who has been the team's leading scorer for most of the season, is currently averaging 9.8 ppg, and is the second-leading rebounder (5.3 rpg). She also has a team-high 14 blocked shots.
As a team, the Deacs had been averaging over 70 points a game through the first eight games of the season before dipping just below that level following the UConn loss. WFU is currently scoring 63.7 ppg. WFU is outperforming its opponents in field-goal percentage (.414 to .396), assists (14.3 to 14.1), and blocks (3.6 to 2.5).
Head Coach Charlene Curtis... Head coach Charlene Curtis (Radford `76) is in her fourth season at the helm of the Demon Deacon women's basketball team, bringing a wealth of experience, a commitment to excellence, and a contagious enthusiasm to the program. Before coming to Wake, Curtis was an assistant coach at national powerhouse Connecticut for two seasons, helping guide the Huskies to a 67-5 record, two BIG EAST titles and a Final Four appearance. Curtis was also head coach at Temple (1991-95), where she compiled a 41-97 record and coached four Atlantic-10 All-Rookie players, and her alma mater, Radford, (1985-90), where she was Big South Coach of the Year twice and posted a 121-53 record. Curtis has also served as an assistant with Georgetown (1984), Virginia (1982-83) and USA Basketball, and was a floor coach for the Olympic Trials.
As a player at Radford, Curtis was the school's first 1,000-point scorer and was inducted as a charter member of RU's Hall of Fame in 1995. She earned a master's degree from UVa in 1982.
Curtis has compiled a 27-71 record at Wake Forest and is 189-221 overall.
Scouting the Seminoles...
Florida State, who is currently receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today polls, is 11-3 on the season, with a 3-1 ledger against ACC opponents. FSU's losses have come against ranked opponents Florida (79-65) and Duke (73-60) in addition to Chattanooga (72-67), while the `Noles have upset NC State (74-70) and also defeated Georgia Tech (66-65) and Maryland (68-39) in league play.
Senior forward Brooke Wyckoff leads FSU in scoring with 15.2 points per game, while senior center Levys Torres is averaging a double-double with 10.4 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting a team-high 59.6 percent.
In the ACC statistics as of Jan. 12, the Seminoles do not lead the league in any statistical areas, but they rank second in nine categories - scoring defense (57.8), scoring margin (+15.1), free throw percentage (.720), field goal percentage (.456), field goal percentage defense (.367), three-point field goal percentage defense (.273), rebounding defense (34.3), rebounding margin (+6.1) and defensive rebounds (26.93). The FSU starting lineup has remained pretty consistent throughout the season, as Wyckoff, Torres, sophomore center Katelyn Vujas and junior guard Lakesha Springle have started all 14 games, while junior guard April Traylor has 13 starts this season. The `Noles enjoy a size advantage over most of their opponents, as their starting lieup averages nearly six feet, with the three, four and five positions listed at 6-1, 6-3, and 6-4.
The Series with Florida State...
Wake Forest and Florida State have met 20 times, with all of those meetings taking place since FSU joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 1991-92 season. Wake Forest leads the series, 12-8, but the Seminoles have won four of the last six contests. The Deacons lead the series in Winston-Salem, 6-3.
The first six games of the series (1991-94) were hotly-contested affairs, as all six were decided by six points or less. The teams evenly split those six games. Since then, the victories have been a little more lopsided, as WFU's next nine victories have been by an average of 9.1 points and FSU's next five wins have been by a 13.6-point victory margin. The longest streak in the series is six wins, posted by Wake Forest from 1995 to 1997.
A Look Back: WFU, FSU Split 1999-2000 Meetings...
Winston-Salem, NC/Jan. 3, 2000 - Sophomore center LaChina Robinson scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds as Wake Forest rallied to defeat Florida State, 64-59, at LJVM Coliseum.
Both teams struggled in the first half, as each recorded more turnovers than field goals. Wake Forest held a tenuous 20-18 lead at intermission, but Florida State opened the second half with a 15-4 run to take a nine-point lead. The Seminoles held the lead until the 2:00 mark, when a Kristen Shaffer layup capped an 8-0 Wake Forest run to give the Deacs a 56-55 advantage. Lauren Bradley`s jumper at 1:38 put FSU back ahead briefly, but Robinson responded with two free throws that put the Deacs ahead for good.
Wake Forest shot just 29 percent from the floor in the first half but buried 52 percent of its field goals after intermission. The Seminoles outrebounded WFU, 47-36.
Senior guard Alisha Mosley added 11 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Shaffer chipped in 11 points. Junior forward Olivia Dardy was a key player down the stretch for WFU, contributing five points, six rebounds and three assists in 15 minutes of play.
Tallahassee, FL/Feb. 3, 2000 - Florida State defeated Wake Forest, 76-47, avenging its earlier loss to the Demon Deacons. Latavia Coleman and April Traylor led the Tribe with 17 points apiece in the 29 point victory while Levys Torres led all players in rebounding with a season-high 10 boards for the Noles. Kristen Shaffer led the Demon Deacons with 14 points.
Traylor opened the scoring for the Noles and there was no turning back. With 15:54 remaining in the first half, the Tribe jumped ahead 9-2. The Seminoles continued to build on their lead, but Wake responded three times to close the gap to seven. The home team rallied - from the 11:04 mark to the 5:49 mark, the Tribe went on a 10-1 run to earn its largest lead of the half at 27-11.
The second half was more of the same for the dominating Tribe. The Deacs opened the half by closing the Seminole lead to nine at 33-24, but that was the closest they would come. FSU outscored Wake Forest 43-25 during the half and led by as many as 30 at 74-44 with 1:52 remaining. The Deacons shot only 29.8 percent on 17 of 57. The Tribe outrebounded Wake by 21 with a season-high 55 rebounds.
Last Time Out: Clemson Defense Leads to a 67-45 Win Over Wake...
A full-court pressure defense kept the Deacons off their mark, as 16th-ranked Clemson posted a 67-45 victory over Wake Forest at Littlejohn Coliseum.
The Lady Tigers forced 25 turnovers, 16 off Clemson steals. Wake Forest connected on just 32 percent of its field goals, including just 2-11 three-point goals. Clemson jumped out to a 15-3 lead in the first five minutes of the game thanks to a stiff defense. Wake Forest committed turnovers on its first five possessions and got just two shots in the first five minutes of play.
Clemson held a 28-11 lead when Wake Forest went on an 8-2 run to close the half. The Deacs closed the gap to seven, as Clemson led by just 36-29 at the 17-minute mark of the second half. But then the Tiger defense took over the again, holding Wake Forest to but two points over the next 7:14. Clemson's 13-2 run brought the lead to a 49-31. Clemson's largest lead was the final margin of 22.
A bright spot for Wake Forest was the performance of sophomore forward Heather Miller, who scored a season-high 12 points and grabbed a career-best eight rebounds off the bench. Deacon senior Olivia Dardy also scored 12 points in a reserve role.
From the Line...
Wake Forest has traditionally been a team that has done well from the charity stripe, and this season it has a chance to break the school record for free throw percentage. The record is 71.9 percent, set in the 1993-94 season (323-of-449). Although their worst performances from the stripe this year have occurred in recent outings, the Deacs started to get back on track with a 68 percent showing at Clemson (15-22).
Currently the Deacs are shooting 69.1 percent (188-of-272) from the stripe. Wake's best performance of the season thus far came against Coppin State, when it shot 21-of-25 for an .840 percentage.
Three players are averaging over 80 percent from the line - senior Kristen Shaffer (20-of-24, .833), senior Olivia Dardy (30-of-35, .8757) and freshman Bianca Brown (18-of-22, .818) - although none of them have made enough trips to the line to qualify for the ACC rankings. Shaffer owned a team-best streak of 14 straight makes before missing one at Arizona State on Dec. 30.
A Shake-Up in the Line-Up...
Coach Curtis used the same starting lineup in Wake's first 14 games of the season, but made a change for the Clemson game, starting sophomore forward Tiffani Listenbee in place of LaChina Robinson. It was Listenbee first collegiate start, and she finished the game with two points and two rebounds as WFU's starters combined for just 14 points. The usual starting lineup of Robinson, forwards Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick and Eafton Hill, and guards Val Klopfer and Kristen Shaffer currently account for 57 percent of the Deacons' scoring output (541 of 955 points) and over 46 percent of rebounding (262 of 565). The starting five is also responsible for 53 percent of WFU's three-pointers (27 of 51) and 48 percent (26 of 54) of the team's blocked shots.
Kirkpatrick an All-Around Player...
Through the first half of the season, senior forward Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick has, at one point or another, led the Deacs in scoring, offensive rebounding, total rebounding, steals, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and minutes played. One of four Deacons to have started every game this season, "Mocky" currently leads the squad in five of those areas - average minutes (27.9), offensive rebounds (41), total boards (87, 5.8 pg), and steals (23). She also leads the Deacs in three-point percentage (6-of-12, .500), although she's taken significantly fewer shots than some of Wake's perimeter players.
Kirkpatrick currently ranks 13th all-time at Wake Forest with 481 career rebounds, and needs just 19 more to crack the 500-rebound mark. Only 10 players in Wake Forest history have reached that level.
Statistical Bits `n' Pieces...
All seven of sophomore LaTisha Pearson's field goals have taken place on the road (App State, UConn, Arizona State, Duke and NC State), as she netted a career-high four points at both Duke and NC State... three Deacons have assist-to-turnover ratios of 1.0 or better - Val Klopfer (35-26, 1.35), Tonia Brown (24-24, 1.0) and Eafton Hill (22-20, 1.1) ... Tiffani Listenbee (20-of-33) is currently scoring on 60 .6 percent of her shots , a team-high ... although Wake's leading scorer for much of the season, Eafton Hill, was held scoreless for the first time all year at Arizona State, it gave her the chance to tie a team-high with three assists ... through 15 games, five different players have been the scoring leader, seven have been the rebounding leader and seven have led the squad in assists at least once ... Eafton Hill, Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick and Kristen Shaffer are the only three players who have led the team in all three categories ... although she has not gone to the line against an ACC opponent yet this season, junior Val Klopfer is still perfect from the stripe against league teams over her first two seasons (15-of-15).
Deacs Throw a Block Party...
Wake Forest set a new school record on Dec. 5 against Liberty when it blocked 11 shots. The previous record was 10 blocks versus South Carolina State on November 29, 1989. Five different Deacons were responsible for breaking the record, led by centers LaChina Robinson and Johanna Bj?rklund with three apiece. Forwards Eafton Hill and Tiffani Listenbee each had two, while guard Tonia Brown recorded one.
The 11-block performance was not only the best by an ACC team so far this season, but better than any ACC performance last season as well. The ACC record for blocked shots in a game is 15, set on two different occasions.
At its current pace (3.6 bpg), Wake Forest is on target to break the school record for blocks in a season. The previous record is 93, set in the 1987-88 campaign. Through 15 games this season, Wake has 54 blocked shots.
The zero-block performance against Clemson was the first time all season the Deacs did not record a block, while they've held five opponents to zero-block outings.
Among the ACC Leaders...
In the ACC statistics released on Friday, Jan. 9, Wake senior Kristen Shaffer ranks 24th in the league in scoring (10.1 ppg), while freshman Eafton Hill is 25th (9.8). Senior Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick ranks 12th in rebounding (5.8) and eighth in offensive rebounds (2.7). Hill is also 17th in rebounding (5.3 rpg). Freshman Tonia Brown ranks 10th in three-pointers per game (1.13). Val Klopfer's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.35 ranks eighth.
As a team, the Deacs rank in the top half of the league in three categories - three-pointers made (5th), blocked shots (4th), and offensive rebounds (4th).
Climbing the Career Charts...
An update on several current Demon Deacons who are leaving their marks in the WFU record book:
- Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick currently ranks 13th all-time at Wake with 481 career rebounds
- Val Klopfer is eighth with 57 career three-pointers, while her 172 three-point attempts is also eighth all-time
- LaChina Robinson owns sole possession of seventh place in career blocked shots with 49
- Olivia Dardy is eighth all-time with nine career double-doubles and is 20th with 419 career rebounds.
On the Air...
Deacon women's basketball will be on the radio at least 12 times during the season on WTRU 830 AM in Winston-Salem. The voice of the Winston-Salem Warthogs baseball team, Tom Hart, returns this season to call all the action for Wake women's basketball, and will be joined by a variety of guest hosts, including former Deacon assistant coach Roper Halverson, to provide color commentary.
All games broadcast on WTRU will also be simulcast on the World Wide Web at Wake Forest athletics' official website - www.WakeForestSports.com.
