Women's Basketball Hosts Top-Ranked Connecticut
11/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2001
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WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game #4
Mon., Nov. 26, 2001
Wake Forest (2-1) vs. #1 Connecticut (5-0)
Joel Coliseum (14,665)/Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tipoff: 7:00 pm
Broadcast: Televised live on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV). Bob Picozzi will call the action, with Meghan Pattyson providing color analysis.
Radio: Broadcast live on the flagship station of WFU athletics, WBRF 98.1 FM. Stan Cotten provides play-by-play with Roper Halverson doing color commentary. Also simulcast on the internet at: www.WakeForestSports.com.
Records: Wake Forest is 2-1 after opening the season with two wins at home, then falling on the road at UAB over the weekend. Connecticut is 5-0 after winning the Preseason WNIT and defeating Rhode Island over the weekend.
The Series: Monday's game is the second meeting between WFU and UConn. The Huskies won the first matchup last season in Storrs, 107-52.
The Coaches: WFU head coach Charlene Curtis is in her fifth season with the Deacons, and owns a 194-232 career mark. Huskie head coach Geno Auriemma is 430-98 in his 17th season as a head coach, all at UConn.
Noteworthy: Curtis served as an assistant coach under Auriemma at UConn from 1995-97, just prior to coming to Wake Forest.
Up Next: Wake Forest travels to Cullowhee, N.C. to play Western Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7:00 pm.
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Wake Forest Returns Home to Host Top-Ranked Connecticut
After dropping its first game of the 2001-02 season, the Wake Forest women's basketball team returns home to face a tough challenge - top-ranked Connecticut, which visits Joel Coliseum on Monday night at 7:00 pm (CPTV/WBRF).
The Demon Deacons are 2-1 on the season. After opening with consecutive wins at home last week (over Appalachian State and Radford), WFU fell to UAB on the road, 80-61, on Saturday night. The UConn game will mark the fourth game in eight days for the Deacs.
Monday's game will also mark just the second time in school history Wake Forest has hosted the top-ranked team in the country, and sixth time overall it has faced the nation's No. 1 team.
Connecticut, the preseason favorite in the polls, has proven the prognosticators right so far by posting a 5-0 mark to this point. The Huskies won the preseason WNIT, defeating No. 3 Vanderbilt in the finals.
WFU and UConn met for the first time last season in Storrs, Conn. with the then-No. 1 ranked Huskies winning, 107-52.
The 2001-02 campaign marks the 31st season of Wake Forest women's basketball. The Demon Deacons' all-time record is 317-438.
Demon Deacon Details
Wake Forest returns 11 letterwinners and three starters from last year's squad which produced an 11-17 record, its best in four seasons. The team's top returning scorer a year ago, 6-0 forward Eafton Hill, returns for her sophomore campaign after earning ACC All-Freshman honors. Hill, from Boone, N.C., is currently averaging a team-high 13.3 points and pulling down 3.7 rebounds a game. A strong shot-blocker, Hill has already swatted away seven shots in the first three games.
The senior class consists of two point guards and two centers. LaChina Robinson, who stands 6-4, is the most experienced Deacon in the middle with 89 appearances and 70 career starts. She reached a milestone in the Deacs' win over Radford, posting her first double-double with 15 points and 20 rebounds. Another 6-4 senior, LaTisha Pearson, has seen limited action in her career but has shown flashes of strong rebounding and defense. Val Klopfer, a 5-4 senior, is the team's most experienced point guard (2.4 apg last season), but classmate Adell Harris has presented a strong challenge for playing time at the point as well as the shooting guard position, currently averaging 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Junior Tiffani Listenbee has already stepped into a much larger role this season. A 6-1 forward, Listenbee was the team's Most Improved Player last season and already broke her career scoring record with 15 points in the season opener versus ASU. Junior Johanna Bj?rklund is the tallest player on the team (6-5) and will provide depth at center as she is gradually returning from an ankle sprain suffered in preseason. A third junior, 5-10 forward Heather Miller, is also sidelined in the early goings with a nagging back injury.
In addition to Hill, the sophomore class consists of three other players who saw significant action last year. Point guard Bianca Brown has gotten early starting nod, although she has been challenged by the two seniors. Brown has dished six assists and owns a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio through three games. Two guard Tonia Brown will be counted on for point production, and has already delivered with a career-best 19 points in the season opener. She is currently tied with Hill as the team's leading scorer (13.3 ppg). Forward Tracy Alston, a 5-10, is a smothering defender and strong rebounder at the small forward position who is currently averaging 3.0 points/3.0 rebounds per game.
This year's freshman class consists of 5-9 shooting guard Meredith Bell, 6-0 post player Erin Ferrell and 6-1 guard/forward Jennifer Johnson. All three have seen action this season and are making an impact.
Head Coach Charlene Curtis
Head coach Charlene Curtis (Radford '76) is in her fifth season at the helm of the Demon Deacon program and just six wins shy of reaching the 200 career victories plateau. Her career coaching record of 194-232 (32-82 at WFU) also includes stints at her alma mater, Radford, and Temple.
Curtis' head coaching career began at Radford, where she posted a 121-53 mark in six seasons and was twice named Big South Coach of the Year. She then spent four seasons at Temple, producing a 41-97 record and four Atlantic-10 All-Rookie players. Before coming to WFU, Curtis spent two seasons at the University of Connecticut, serving as an assistant coach under Geno Auriemma and helping guide the Huskies to two BIG EAST titles and an NCAA Final Four appearance.
Curtis' coaching career also includes stints as an assistant coach at Virginia (1981-83), Georgetown (1984) and USA Basketball (1989-92, '94).
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.
Starting Off Strong
The season opening win over App State improved the Deacons' record to 22-9 all-time in season lid-lifters. The victory over Radford marked the 11th time - and first since 1993-94 - that Wake Forest has opened a season 2-0. Wake's best start to a season occurred in 1987-88, when it opened the year 10-0.
Wake-UConn Connections
* Less than a week after coaching against her alma mater, Radford, Deacon head coach Charlene Curtis will go up against her former mentor, Geno Auriemma, when the Huskies come to town. Curtis worked with Auriemma as an assistant coach at UConn from 1995-97, just prior to coming to Wake Forest, and helped lead the Huskies to two BIG EAST titles and an NCAA Final Four appearance.
* Wake Forest sophomore Eafton Hill participated in the USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials this past summer, competing with UConn players Ashley Battle, Jessica Moore and Diana Taurasi. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma served as the court coach of those trials.
Scouting the Huskies
The UConn Huskies take their first road trip of the 2001-02 campaign, as the first five games of the season took place at home. UConn won the preseason WNIT, defeating Fairfield, Florida International and North Carolina (all by an average of 36 points) en route to a No. 1 vs. No. 3 matchup in the final against Vanderbilt. The Huskies then defeated the Commodores, 69-50, for the WNIT crown. In one final game before hitting the road, UConn played Rhode Island on Saturday, Nov. 24, smothering the Rams 84-38.
Five Huskies are averaging double-figures in scoring, as senior forward Swin Cash leads the way with 16.6 points as well as a team-best 9.4 rebounds. Senior point guard Sue Bird is scoring 15.0 points per game as well as dishing 6.6 assists an outing with a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio. Sophomore Diana Taurasi is scoring 14.4 points per game with a team-best 13 three-pointers. A pair of seniors, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams, are also averaging double-figures, with 10.2 and 10.0 points respectively.
UConn is outscoring its opponents by an average of 34.4 points, and is also outrebounding them by 23.6 boards.
The Last Meeting ... UConn 107, WFU 52 (Dec. 22, 2000)
Svetlana Abrosimova scored 16 points and Tamika Williams had a game-high four steals as No. 1 Connecticut cruised to a 107-52 victory over Wake Forest.
The Huskies harassed the Demon Deacons from the opening tip, forcing the visitors into 16 first-half turnovers. UConn, meanwhile, played surehanded ball for most of the period and didn't commit a turnover in the first nine minutes.
Eight players contributed to UConn's opening 27-7 run in the first eight minutes. The overmatched Deacs stumbled into foul trouble early and UConn was shooting bonus free throws with just six minutes gone. The Huskies had a 49-25 lead at halftime.
UConn shifted into offensive high gear in the second period, shooting 76 percent. By the time reserve Christine Rigby banked in a shot to give UConn a 91-43 lead at 6:09, the Huskies had made 14 of their first 17 shots and finished out the period 19-for-25.
Defensively, all but three Huskies had steals as UConn scored 41 points off 28 Wake Forest turnovers. Sue Bird and Shea Ralph each had three of UConn's 19 steals.
The Huskies got another big boost from the bench. Freshman reserve Diana Taurasi had 13 points and a team-high five rebounds. Kennitra Johnson had 12 points and two steals in just 13 minutes.
It was the first meeting of the teams and a homecoming for Wake coach Charlene Curtis, a former UConn assistant from 1995-97.
The game also marked the return of UConn center Kelly Schumacher, who sat out six games with a stress fracture in her right leg. The 6-foot-5 Schumacher had NCAA-best nine blocks in last season's title game against Tennessee. In 15 minutes against WFU she scored eight points, had three rebounds and one block.
Eafton Hill led Wake Forest with 11 points and Kristen Shaffer added 11. Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick led the Demon Deacons with six rebounds.
The SWAT Team
Wake Forest ranked third in the ACC last season in the blocked shot category, averaging 3.71 rejections a game. Through three games this year, the Deacons have blocked 17 total shots, an average of 5.7 a contest. In contrast, Wake's opponents have blocked just three shots the entire season (1.0 bpg).
Sophomore forward Eafton Hill has led the Deacon "swat" team, having blocked a squad-best 35 shots a year ago and seven so far this season.
In fact, with just one full season plus three games of her collegiate career complete, Hill already ranks eighth on Wake's career blocks list (41). Senior LaChina Robinson, also appears on that list, in seventh place with 54.
Robinson "Posts" the Big Numbers
Center LaChina Robinson had a career-best night in a Deacon uniform last Wednesday versus Radford. The 6-4 senior notched her first career double-double with a 15-point, 20-rebound performance against the Highlanders. Robinson surpassed her previous rebounding high of 10 boards with over four minutes remaining in the first half, and tacked on another nine in the second half. And while it was not her career high in scoring, it was the most points she has posted since scoring a career-best 22 against Georgia Tech in the 1998-99 season.
Robinson followed that up with a 11-point, eight rebound performance against UAB. For the season she is currently averaging a double-double with 10.7 points and 11.0 rebounds.
With her 20-rebound performance against Radford, Robinson became just the fourth player in WFU history - and first since 1995 - to pull down at least 20 rebounds in a single game. The school record is 22, set by Tracy Connor in 1993. Listed below are Wake's top rebounding games:
20-Rebound Games
22 * Tracy Connor vs. NC State (Jan. 21, 1993)
21 * Barbara Durham vs. Duke (Nov. 24, 1979)
20 * RaeAnna Mulholland vs. Georgia Tech (Jan. 12, 1995)
20 * LaChina Robinson vs. Radford (Nov. 21, 2001)
Strictly by the Numbers
Although Wake Forest lost three of its top four scorers and two of its top three rebounders to graduation after last season, here is what the Deacons return in terms of production in 2001-02:
* 51 percent of its scoring (909 of 1,777 points)
* 64 percent of its rebounding (697 of 1,085)
* 62 percent of its three-pointers (61 of 98)
* 63 percent of its assists (255 of 404)
* 76 percent of its shot-blocking (79 of 104)
* 61 percent of its steals (148 of 243)
* 63 percent of its minutes (3,648 of 5,760)
Tough Schedule
Wake Forest faces a tough schedule in 2001-02. Four opponents on this year's slate are currently ranked among the top teams in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll. For the second straight year, WFU will face No. 1 UConn. ACC opponents Duke (No. 9/7) , NC State (No. 10/10) and Maryland (No. 22/24) also appear in the poll.
Playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference presents a monumental task in itself as every other team in the league - North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia - are among those currently receiving votes in the poll.
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest travels west to Cullowhee, N.C. to take on Western Carolina in a 7:00 pm tip on Thursday, Nov. 29. The two teams have played each other 17 previous times, but Thursday's contest marks the first meeting in 10 seasons. WCU leads the overall series 10-7.