Women's Basketball Hosts UNC Wilmington in Deacon Doubleheader
12/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2001
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WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game #7
Fri., Dec. 7, 2001
Wake Forest (2-4) vs. UNC Wilmington (3-2)
Joel Coliseum (14,665)/Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tipoff: 5:00 pm
Broadcast: No broadcast
Records: Wake Forest is 2-4 and has dropped four straight after opening the season with two wins. UNCW is 3-2, and has won its last two outings.
The Series: Friday's game marks just the fifth meeting between the two teams and first in 10 years. Wake is 4-0 against the Seahawks.
The Coaches: WFU head coach Charlene Curtis is 32-85 in her fifth season with the Deacons, and owns a 194-235 career mark in her 16th season as a head coach. The Seahawks' Ann Hancock is 12-21 in her second overall season at UNCW and as a head coach.
Noteworthy: In addition to its three ACC opponents in North Carolina - Duke, UNC and NC State - Wake Forest is also playing five other teams from its home state this season.
Up Next: Wake Forest breaks for final exams and will return to the court on Sunday, Dec. 16 when it travels to High Point University to take on the Panthers. Tipoff at the Millis Center is set for 2:00 pm.
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Probable Deacon Lineup vs. UNCW
Pos. # Player Ht. Cl. GP/GS PPG RPG Noteworthy
F 43 Erin Ferrell 6-0 Fr. 6/1 6.3 3.0 Scored team-high 16 points at WCU
C 34 LaChina Robinson*** 6-4 Sr. 6/6 8.0 8.5 Ranks fifth in ACC in rebound average
G 30 Tonia Brown* 5-10 So. 6/6 12.7 2.8 Team's top scorer/playmaker (2.5 apg)
G 3 Bianca Brown* 5-8 So. 6/6 3.0 1.5 Had career best five steals in opener
G 23 Adell Harris*** 5-8 Sr. 6/1 4.5 2.0 Got first career start at North Carolina
Wake Forest Hosts UNC Wilmington in Deacon Doubleheader
The Wake Forest women's basketball team searches for a victory as it returns home to host UNC Wilmington in the first game of a Deacon doubleheader on Friday night at Joel Coliseum. The Deacon women take on the Seahawks at 5:00 pm, with the WFU men's team hosting South Carolina State immediately following.
WFU looks to halt a four-game losing skid with a win over UNCW. After opening the season with two victories, the Deacs have since dropped four straight, including its ACC opener at North Carolina on Wednesday evening.
The Seahawks are 3-2 on the season, posting wins over Norfolk State (in overtime), Coastal Carolina and High Point while dropping games at Campbell and Wofford.
Friday's game renews a relatively brief series that has not been played in 10 seasons. Wake Forest is undefeated in four games against UNCW.
The 2001-02 campaign marks the 31st season of Wake Forest women's basketball. The Demon Deacons' all-time record is 317-441.
Injury Update
* The team's leading scorer, Eafton Hill, will miss at least one more game with a broken bone in her right foot. Hill, who played with pain, and possibly a fracture, in her foot against UAB and UConn, will be re-evaluated in mid-December.
* Junior forward Heather Miller remains out of action with a nagging back injury. She will also be re-evaluated later this month.
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. Although she is currently sidelined with a broken foot, Hill is the team's second-leading scorer (12.5 ppg). A strong shot-blocker, Hill was averaging an ACC-high 2.0 blocks per game before not having enough games to qualify for the rankings.
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 92 appearances and 73 career starts. She reached a milestone in the Deacs' win over Radford, posting her first double-double with 15 points and 20 rebounds. She leads the team and ranks fifth in the ACC in rebounding (8.5 rpg). 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 4.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and a team-high 2.3 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 returning from an ankle sprain suffered in preseason. A third junior, 5-10 forward Heather Miller, is 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. Shooting guard Tonia Brown is counted on heavily for point production, and has already delivered with a career-best 19 points in the season opener. She is currently the team's leading scorer (12.7 ppg) with double-figures in four of six outings this season. She is also averaging a team-best 2.5 assists. Forward Tracy Alston, a 5-10, is a smothering defender and strong rebounder at the small forward position who got her first starting nod in place of Hill at Western Carolina. Alston had a career-best night against UConn, pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds and dishing five assists.
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 significant action already this season and are making an impact. Ferrell was the team's top scorer with a 16-point effort at WCU and is shooting a team-best 59 percent from the field (16-27). Johnson is contributing 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds an outing, and had her best game of the season thus far with 16 points at North Carolina.
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 194-235 (32-85 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.
Scouting the Seahawks
UNC Wilmington, under second-year head coach Ann Hancock (a former North Carolina assistant), has posted a 3-2 record so far this season after going 9-19 a year ago. The Seahawks are playing their second game in three days in the Triad, after posting a 66-53 win over High Point on Wednesday night.
Wake's performance against UNCW may be an indicator of how they match up in some upcoming games, as the Seahawks have already faced Norfolk State (winning 77-73 in overtime) and High Point (winning 66-53). The Deacs face the Panthers in the next outing on Dec. 16 and will host Norfolk State on Feb. 20.
Seahawk sophomore guard Jennifer Kapper is the team's leading scorer, averaging 16.8 points an outing. She also leads the squad with 3.2 assists per game. Senior forward Vickey Harper owns a team-best 9.0 rebounds a contest.
UNCW, like Wake Forest , has struggled with its shooting this season, as the Seahawks are connecting on just over 39 percent of its shots (34 percent from beyond the arc) and scoring just 61.2 points per game.
The Series with UNC Wilmington
Wake Forest and UNC Wilmington have met just four previous times on the hardwood ... the Deacons have won all four meetings, two at home and two in Wilmington ... this series has been spaced out over a 20-year span, as the first meeting took place in 1980-81 ... the last game occurred just over 10 years ago, on Dec. 3, 1991 ... the last meeting was also the closest in the series, as the Deacs' brought home an 11-point victory ... Wake's average margin of victory in the series is 23 points.
T. Brown Stepping Up in Starting Role
Sophomore Tonia Brown has certainly made an impact in the early goings of the 2001-02 campaign. After serving as a backup to senior starter Kristen Shaffer last season, Brown has stepped into the starting shooting guard position this year and is currently the team's leading scorer with 12.7 points per game. She's been the team's top scorer in three of six outings and has posted four double-figure games, including a career-best 19 points in the season-opening win over Appalachian State. Brown has also drained a team-high eight three-pointers and owns a team-best 12 steals.
Brown, who has natural point guard abilities as well, has also dished a team-high 15 assists so far this season.
Youth Movement
Even with four seniors on the rosters, the overall makeup of the WFU women's basketball team is still quite young. Wake's most experienced starting lineup so far this season has consisted of one senior, one junior and three sophomores, while a pair of sophomores - Eafton Hill and Tonia Brown - lead the Deacs in scoring.
In fact, 26 of Wake's 38 points scored against top-ranked UConn were posted by either sophomores or freshmen. Also, a freshman or sophomore has led the Deacs in both scoring and assists in five of six games this season. Rookie Erin Ferrell came on strong off the bench in the previous two games before earning a starting nod at UNC, as she totaled five points and six rebounds against UConn, then followed it up with a team-high 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, three assists and three steals at WCU. Another freshman, Jennifer Johnson, scored 16 points off the bench against the Tar Heels.
Last year's freshman class of Hill, Brown, Tracy Alston and Bianca Brown is proving that the experience they gained last season is paying dividends this year, as all four have started at least one game this season and have each led the Deacs in either scoring, rebounding or assists at least once so far this year.
A Little Shake-Up in the Lineup
After using the same starting lineup for the first four games of this season, Coach Curtis went with a different look at North Carolina, starting three guards - Bianca Brown, Tonia Brown and Adell Harris - in addition to freshman Erin Ferrell at forward and LaChina Robinson at center.
It was the first career start for both Harris, a senior, and Ferrell.
Speaking of experience in the starting lineup, Robinson owns the most career starts with 73 to her credit. Bianca Brown has the most consecutive starts going, with 10, dating back to the last four games of last season.
Among the League Leaders
* LaChina Robinson ranks fifth in the league in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and ranks second in offensive boards (3.5) and seventh in defensive rebounds (5.0).
* Tiffani Listenbee is 16th among league rebounders with 5.2 boards per game and is tied for eighth in the offensive rebounding category (2.5).
* Tonia Brown ranks 14th among the top scoring leaders with 12.7 points per game. She also ranks eighth in three-pointers per game (1.33).
* As a team, Wake Forest ranks second in offensive rebounds (16.5 rpg).
Coming Up Next
Following the UNCW game, Wake Forest breaks for final exams. The team returns to the court on Sunday, Dec. 16, when it travels to High Point to take on the Panthers. Tipoff is set for 2:00 pm.