Wake Forest University
Radford
Women's Basketball Rolls Over Radford, 79-65
11/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2001
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's basketball team posted its second victory in three days, rolling to a 79-65 win over Radford at Joel Coliseum on Wednesday night. The Demon Deacons improve to 2-0, marking the first time since 1993-94 that the team has opened the season with consecutive victories. Radford drops to 0-3 with the loss.
The teams played it close for the first 10 minutes of the game as Wake held a slim 12-10 lead at the 12:45 mark of the first half. Radford again cut it to two, 19-17, at the 9:16 mark, but that was the closest the Highlanders got the rest of the evening as Wake then went on a 9-0 scoring run and never looked back, taking a 43-23 lead by the half.
Senior center LaChina Robinson (Alexandria, Va.) paced the Deacon effort in the first half, setting a new career high by grabbing 11 rebounds by the 4:16 mark. She finished the night with 20 rebounds, becoming just the fourth player in school history - and first since 1995 - to post a 20-rebound game. She also tallied 15 points to record her first career double-double.
"LaChina just played a tremendous game," said Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis, a 1976 graduate of Radford who was coaching against her alma mater for the first time in her career. "She had a career high in rebounds in the first half, and for her to come out and sustain that level of intensity in the second half, my hat is off to her."
Wake continued to hang on to its lead in the second half. Radford, despite shooting 7-of-14 from three-point range in the second stanza, could get no closer than 14 points to the Deacons.
Wake Forest finished the night with three players scoring in double digits. In addition to Robinson's 15, sophomore guard Tonia Brown (Roanoke, Va.) scored 13 and junior forward Tiffani Listenbee (Clinton Township, Mich.) added 12. Brown and freshman Jennifer Johnson (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) both had a game-high three steals.
Radford's Jesse Brunjak tied with Wake's Robinson for a game-high 15 points. Lindsay Ferguson also contributed 12 points, including 2-of-2 from three-point range, for the Highlanders.
After getting outrebounded by Appalachian State in the season opener, Wake Forest came back strong on the boards, grabbing 51 rebounds to Radford's 35. The Deacs also posted double-figures in steals for the second straight game, recording 14 thefts.
Wake Forest hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Birmingham, Ala. to take on UAB on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 7:00 p.m. The Deacons next play at home on Monday, Nov. 26, hosting top-ranked Connecticut in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.
