Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Takes On No. 4 Duke
2/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2001
WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game #28
Wake Forest (11-16, 3-13) vs. #4 Duke (13-3, 25-3)
ACC Tournament First Round
Friday, March 2, 2001
8:00 pm
Greensboro Coliseum
Greensboro, NC
Broadcast:
The voice of Wake Forest basketball, Tom Hart, will call the action on WTRU-830 AM in Winston-Salem. He is joined by color analyst Roper Halverson. The game will also be broadcast on the internet at www.WakeForestSports.com.
Records:
WFU is 11-16 overall, and finished the regular season with a 3-13 mark in the conference. The Deacs are riding an eight-game losing streak, after falling in the regular season finale, 79-63, at Georgia Tech on Sunday. Duke is 13-3 in the ACC, 25-3 overall after wrapping up the regular season with a 72-67 win over North Carolina.
The Series:
Friday's game marks the 54th meeting between Wake Forest and Duke, with the Blue Devils owning the series, 35-18. Duke is riding a series-long 17-game winning streak, dating back to 1993. In ACC Tournament play, the series is tied, 2-2. More series information is on page four.
The Coaches:
Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis is in her fourth season with the Deacs, with a 30-80 record at the school. She has a 192-230 career record in her 15th season as a head coach. Duke coach Gail Goestenkors is 201-77 in her ninth season as a head coach, all with Duke.
Up Next:
A win over top-seeded Duke will vault the Deacons into Sunday's ACC semifinals, where they would face the winner of the No. 4 FSU/No. 5 Virginia game, which takes place at 2:00 pm Saturday.
Wake Forest Competes in 24th Annual ACC Tournament...
The Wake Forest women's basketball team finished the regular season with an 11-16 overall record and a 3-13 mark in the ACC. It now travels just down the road to Greensboro, NC, to compete in the 24th annual ACC Tournament. Seeded ninth in the bracket, the Demon Deacons will face top-seeded and defending ACC champions Duke in a first round game on Friday, Mach 2 at 8:00 p.m.
Wake Forest's tournament debut on Friday is the second game of the night. Seventh-seeded North Carolina and eighth-seeded Georgia Tech tip off the action with a 6:00 p.m. matchup. The WFU-Duke contest is slated to start at the conclusion of that game, but no sooner than 8:00 p.m.
The winner of the Wake Forest-Duke game will enjoy a day off before advancing to the semifinals on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., where it will face the winner of the #4 Florida State-#5 Virginia matchup.
WFU Searching for ACC Tourney Win To Halt Losing Skid...
Wake Forest put together a rather impressive 11-8 overall record through the first round of ACC competition (including a 3-5 league mark). But the Deacon women hit a skid in which they dropped all of their conference matchups in the second round, and enter the tournament on an eight-game losing streak. The Deacs' last win of the season came over Georgia Tech on January 25.
A Quick Look at the Deacon Personnel...
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 All-ACC honorable mention selection Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, is currently scoring 10.1 points a game. She is also first on the squad in rebounding (6.1 rpg) and second in steals (33). 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 in her final season, averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, mainly off the bench (although she has started the last three contests). Shaffer, the starting shooting guard, has scored in double-digits 14 times this season to rank second on the squad in scoring (10.4 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. Seventeen of Klopfer's 21 field goals this season have been beyond the arc, and she's shooting 34 percent from three-point range (17-of-50). She is backed up by classmate Adell Harris, a flashy athlete who has seen her playing time and statistics increase over the course of the season. Junior center LaChina Robinson, who stands 6-4, is a continuously improving inside player who is currently averaging 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds a game.
Also challenging for playing time in the middle is sophomore Johanna Bj?rklund, Wake's tallest player ever at 6-5. Bj?rklund, who provides a strong presence in the post, 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, who moved into the starting center spot in midseason, set new career-highs this year with 10 points and 12 rebounds. She is also fourth on the team in blocks (10). Rounding out the sophomore class is 5-10 forward Heather Miller, a sharpshooter who has also shown flashes of strong rebounding and defensive skills this season.
Wake Forest's freshmen have played a key role in the team's 11 wins this season. Tracy Alston, a 5-10 forward, is a tenacious defender, often drawing the top defensive assignment, and averaging 2.3 rebounds and has grabbed 13 steals. Tonia Brown, a 5-10 guard, has netted a team-high 20 three-pointers. Bianca Brown, at 5-8, has started at point guard the last three games, and is an extremely quick player with tough defensive skills including a team third-best 26 steals. Starting small forward Eafton Hill, one of the team's top scorers all season long, currently leads WFU with 11.4 ppg and is second with 5.9 rpg. An ACC All-Freshman candidate, Hill is also one of the league's top shot-blockers with 35 on the season.
TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
Pulling Off the Upset...
If ninth-seed Wake Forest defeats No. 1 seed Duke in Friday's first-round game, it will be a first for the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament. The top-seeded team has never lost to the lowest seeded team in the bracket. In fact, the lowest-ranked team to ever defeat the No. 1 seed has been the fifth seed. This has occurred three times, and none prior to the semifinal round.
The biggest upset in ACC Tournament history actually occurred in a #2 vs. #7 quarterfinal contest. In 1992, seventh-seeded Georgia Tech stunned second-seeded Maryland, 68-67.
Looking one step further, the #6 seed has upset the #3 seed four times three times in the last four years. The first to do this was Wake Forest, and coincidentally, the Deacs upset third-seeded Duke, 72-71, in the 1986 ACC Tournament. The win was also WFU's first-ever ACC Tournament victory.
Tackling the Top Seed...
Wake Forest has faced the No. 1 seed eight previous times in tournament action. Twice in those eight instances, the No. 1 seed has gone on to win the ACC crown. Overall, the No. 1 seed has captured the ACC Tournament title just seven times in 23 years.
Facing the Eventual Champ, and Challenging the Defending One...
Wake Forest has been a victim of the team that went on to win the ACC title just five times Maryland (1988), NC State (1991), Virginia (1993), and North Carolina (1995, 97).
Friday's game pits Wake Forest against the defending ACC champion, Duke. WFU has faced the defending champion on seven previous occasions, posting an 0-7 record in those matchups.
WFU Women's Basketball Celebrates 30 Years in 2001...
While the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament will be celebrating its 25th year of existence in 2002, 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 316-436 overall record.
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 30-80 record at Wake Forest and is 192-230 overall.
Scouting the Blue Devils...
Duke, the defending ACC champions and currently the fourth-ranked team in the country, owns a 25-3 overall record and a 13-3 ACC mark heading into this weekend's tournament. The Blue Devils' three losses have all come against ACC opponents, as they dropped games at Clemson (93-75), at home against Florida State (71-69), and on the road at NC State (69-55). Duke is currently on a two-game winning streak after closing out the regular season with wins over Virginia (76-53) and UNC (72-67).
Duke boasts two players on the three 2001 All-ACC teams, including first-teamer Georgia Schweitzer and Alana Beard, and third-teamer Sheana Mosch. As she has all season long, Beard, a freshman guard, remains Duke's leading scorer at 16.8 points per game. She also leads the Blue Devils with 87 steals. Last year's ACC Player of the Year, Schweitzer, a senior guard, is second in scoring (13.5 ppg) and has netted 52 three-pointers while shooting nearly 45 percent from beyond the arc. Mosch, a sophomore guard, is the third-leading scorer with 11.4 points per game and a team-high .811 free throw percentage.
Duke coach Gail Goestenkors' most recent starting lineup consists of the trio of guards mentioned above, plus senior forward Rochelle Parent and sophomore forward Michelle Matyasovsky, who scored a season-high 13 points in her last outing versus North Carolina.
As a team, Duke leads the ACC (overall games) in scoring margin (+14.4 ppg), field goal percentage (.458), field goal percentage defense (.371), blocked shots (5.0 bpg) and steals (12.1 spg). Schweitzer ranks second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio and three-point shooting while Beard tops the ACC in steals.
The Series with Duke...
Duke is Wake Forest's second-oldest rivalry (behind North Carolina) as Friday's game marks the 54th meeting between the two schools. (Wake and UNC have met 56 times). Duke leads the series 35-18, and has won 17 consecutive contests, dating back to a 70-69 Wake win in the 1993 ACC Tournament.
The first meetings between the two schools took place in the 1974-75 season, a year before Duke's women's program became an official varsity sport. The two teams have had some close battles over the years, as 14 games have been decided by five points or less. None, however, have gone into overtime.
Wake and Duke have faced each other four times in the ACC Tournament, and the series is currently tied at two apiece. Duke has been the higher seed three times, and Wake pulled off one of the tournament's biggest upsets when it defeated the third-seeded Devils as a No. 6 seed in their first tournament meeting in 1986. The win was also Wake's first ACC Tournament victory. The two teams have also met twice in the infamous play-in games as the lowest seeds in the bracket (1992, 93). Their last meeting came in 1996, when second-seeded Duke pulled out a six-point win over No. 7 WFU, 67-61.
Wake-Duke in the ACC Tourney
1986 : (6) WFU 72, (3) Duke 71
1992 : (8) Duke 61, (9) WFU 52
1993: (8) WFU 70, (9) Duke 69
1996: (2) Duke 67, (7) WFU 61
The Season's Previous Meetings:
Duke Sweeps, But Wake Closes the Gap in Second Meeting...
Durham, NC/Jan. 2, 2001 - Fifth-ranked Duke's defense overcame the Deacons as the Blue Devils ran away with a 81-56 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke took advantage of 23 Wake Forest turnovers in the first half and took a 39-20 lead by halftime. The Blue Devils' smothering defense held Wake Forest without a field goal for a span of 10:02 midway through the first half.
Eafton Hill led the way for the Deacs, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick led the squad in rebounding for the fifth straight game, pulling down five boards. LaChina Robinson added eight points and four rebounds, while sophomore center Johanna Bjorklund provided a second-half spark off the bench with six points, a block and a steal.
Winston-Salem, NC/Feb. 1, 2001
Three Duke players scored in double figures, led by Sheana Mosch's game-high 22, as No. 4 Duke held off WFU, 66-58, at Joel Coliseum.
After the two teams tied it up early in the game at 14 points apiece, Duke went on a 16-6 run to take a 10-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the half. The Deacons chipped away at the deficit, cutting it to three, 36-33, as Tiffani Listenbee scored an old-fashioned three-point play with two seconds left before the break.
The game was tight to start the second half, as WFU cut the Duke lead to 44-42 at the 14:09 mark. The Deacons then suffered over a five minute scoring drought as Duke scored eight straight to go up 52-42 before Eafton Hill hit a three-pointer at the 8:42 mark. The Blue Devils led by just five, 63-58, with 1:52 remaining, but the Deacs missed their final four shots of the game and Duke converted on 3-of-5 free throws to hang on for the 66-58 victory.
Hill scored 13 points and blocked three shots, while Listenbee contributed nine points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds. Olivia Dardy scored 11 points and grabbed eight boards.
Full boxscores can be found on pages 11 and 13 of this packet.
Last Time Out:
Deacs Close Out Regular Season with Loss at Tech...
Georgia Tech avenged an earlier season loss to Wake Forest, as it defeated the Deacs 79-63 in the final game of the regular season for both teams.
Georgia Tech shot 47 percent from the field while limiting the Demon Deacons to 35 percent shooting. The Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Deacs, 44-34.
Georgia Tech turned up the intensity on defense in the second half. After holding a 36-29 halftime advantage, the Yellow Jackets pulled away from Wake Forest early in the second stanza. The Demon Deacons scored just four points in the first 8:35 of the second period and were held scoreless for the first five minutes after intermission as Tech opened the half on a 16-4 run.
Tech senior Jaime Kruppa led three Yellow Jackets with 16 points on Senior Day. Alex Stewart also contributed a career-high 16 points, six rebounds and four assists and Milli Martinez recorded 16 points, six rebounds and two steals.
Wake Forest's Olivia Dardy scored a career-high 27 points and tallied nine rebounds and three steals in the losing effort. Freshman Eafton Hill added 16 points and three steals and senior Kristen Shaffer added 11 points, five rebounds and six assists for the Demon Deacons.
Playing with the Best...
The Deacons have faced a tough slate of opponents in 2000-01, as its game Friday against No. 4 Duke marks its 10th outing versus a ranked opponent this season, and its fourth contest against a team ranked in the top five. Wake Forest played Connecticut when it was ranked No. 1 in the country, and have faced the Blue Devils when they were ranked No. 5 (Jan. 2) and No. 4 (Feb. 1).
In the RPI ratings, Wake Forest's strength of schedule ranks 30th nationally, as the ACC rates as the nation's second-best league behind the Southeastern Conference.
Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick Racking Up Honors, Both On and Off the Court...
Fifth-year senior Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, a valued leader and contributor to the Wake Forest basketball program, has recently received two prestigious honors.
On Tuesday of this week, Kirkpatrick was named an honorable mention All-ACC selection, based on a vote by the members of ACSWA (Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association). Her selection marks the third straight season a Demon Deacon has earned honorable mention All-ACC honors. Current senior Olivia Dardy earned the honor as a sophomore in 1999, while former Deac Alisha Mosley was a honorable mention pick a season ago. Wake Forest's last All-ACC honoree was Tracy Connor, a first-team selection in 1996.
Kirkpatrick has seen action in every game of her collegiate career. Throughout the course of the season, she has, at one point or another, topped the Deacs' cumulative stats in scoring, offensive rebounding, total rebounding, steals, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and minutes played. One of three Deacons to have started every game this season, Mocky currently leads the team in four areas field goal percentage (.519), average minutes (30.4), offensive rebounds (70) and ranks second in steals (33), third in assists (48) and fourth in scoring with 10.1 points a contest.
Kirkpatrick has posted 14 double-figure scoring games this season, nine of which have come against ACC opponents. She set a new career-high with 22 points against North Carolina (Jan. 4) and tallied two doubles against conference opponents Virginia (Jan. 28) and Florida State (Feb. 15). She has led the Deacons in scoring five times and in rebounding eight times so far this season.
The 6-0 forward ranks 21st all-time in scoring at Wake Forest, while her career field goal percentage ranks fifth all-time. She is also listed on Wake's all-time top 10 rebounding chart, and this year became just the 11th Deacon ever to record 500 career rebounds.
Kirkpatrick's success in the classroom was honored as well when last week she was named to the Verizon Academic All-America District III Basketball Team, as announced by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).
Kirkpatrick was one of five women's basketball players selected from a district that covers Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. She was the only player from the ACC selected to the first team, and is the first Wake Forest player to earn the honor since Lindsay Seawright in 1995.
Criteria for selection to the Verizon Academic All-America team include being a starter or key reserve, sophomore athletic/academic standing and a 3.2 cumulative GPA. Kirkpatrick, along with the other District III first-team selections, will now advance to the national Academic All-America ballot.
Kirkpatrick is currently a graduate student in the Masters Teacher Fellow Program at Wake Forest, after earning undergraduate degrees in both history and sociology this past spring, compiling a 3.87 GPA. She has appeared on Wake Forest's Dean's List and the ACC Academic Honor Roll throughout her collegiate career. Kirkpatrick earned a 4.0 GPA this past fall in graduate school, and is spending the spring semester teaching in a local high school.
A Little Shake-Up in the Lineup...
Coach Curtis gave Wake's starting lineup a little different look against Florida State on Feb. 15, and stuck with that lineup for the next two outing versus Maryland and Georgia Tech. Freshman Bianca Brown was inserted at the point guard slot, while senior Olivia Dardy got the starting nod at center. The game in Tallahassee was the first start of the season for both players, and it was the first for Dardy in two seasons.
Throwing a Block Party Deacs Break Single Game and Season Swat Records in 2001...
Wake Forest has stepped up its performance in the rejection category this season, breaking the school records for both single-game and season blocked shots.
The team set a new WFU 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.
Versus Florida State on Feb. 15, Wake Forest set the new school season record for blocked shots, tallying its 94th rejection of the season against the Noles. The previous record was 93, set in the 1987-88 campaign. The Deacs have currently totaled 101 blocked shots on the season.
The zero-block performance against Clemson on Jan. 11 was the first time this season the Deacs did not record a block, while they've held five opponents to zero blocks.
Wake Forest currently ranks third in the ACC (all games included) in blocks per game, while the team's leading shot blocker, Eafton Hill, ranks fifth in the league (all games) with 1.29 a contest.
Keyword: Improvement ...
While the Deacs would obviously like to be above .500 in the win column, the buzzword surrounding the program this season has been improvement .
Wake Forest was very well prepared and they have made excellent improvement since last year, Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said on Feb. 1 after the Deacons fell to the fourth-ranked Blue Devils, 66-58.
The most obvious improvement, of course, is in the win column, where the Deacs have already posted four more victories (11) than all of last season. It is also the first time in four seasons that Wake Forest has recorded double-figures in victories.
Looking at the most current statistics, Wake Forest has already surpassed its season totals from a year ago in field goals, assists, steals, blocks and rebounds. The team has consistently been averaging above last years' totals in field goal percentage, three-point percentage and rebounding average as well.
Close Calls...
Nearly fifty percent thirteen of Wake Forest's 27 games this season have been decided by 10 points or less, and prior to a loss to NC State on Feb. 8, the Deacons' had a stretch of six straight ACC contests that were decided by 12 points or less. The Deacons have posted a 7-6 record in the season's 13 close outings, and went 2-4 over that aforementioned stretch of close ACC contests.
Comparing the average scoring output of Wake Forest and its opponents this season, the opponents are scoring 6.0 points more than Wake. While the Deacs would obviously like to be on the positive side of that statistic, that margin is the lowest in four seasons an end result of the number of close games this season. WFU has not outscored its opponents in the season totals since the 1995-96 campaign.
Statistical Bits n' Pieces...
Seniors Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick and Kristen Shaffer played their 100th game in a Wake Forest uniform on Jan. 18 at Maryland ... the duo has also played every game of their collegiate careers (110) ... red shirt sophomore LaTisha Pearson scored her first home bucket against Maryland on Feb. 19 all seven of her previous field goals have taken place on the road ... four Deacons have assist-to-turnover ratios of 1.0 or better Val Klopfer (65-42, 1.55), Tonia Brown (40-34, 1.18), Adell Harris (37-35, 1.06) and Kirkpatrick (48-48, 1.00) ... through 27 games, six different players have been the scoring leader, seven have been the rebounding leader and seven have led the squad in assists at least once ... Olivia Dardy, Eafton Hill, Kirkpatrick and Shaffer are the only players who have led the team in all three categories at one point or another.
Dean's List Deacs...
Six members of the women's basketball team were among the 101 WFU student-athletes named to the Fall 2000 Dean's List, including seniors Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, Kristen Shaffer and Janae Whiteside, junior Val Klopfer, and freshmen Bianca Brown and Eafton Hill.
Kirkpatrick, who is currently enrolled in graduate school at Wake Forest after earning two bachelor's degrees last spring, earned a perfect 4.0 for the semester.
Scheduling Notes...
The Deacons are currently riding a eight-game losing streak, its longest such streak of the season ... the longest win streak of the year is four games ... the Deacs have played three of their home games at alternative sites the Dec. 9 and Jan. 22 games vs. Virginia and Coastal Carolina took place at Reynolds Gym on campus, while the Jan. 25 contest with Georgia Tech was at the Coliseum Annex ... the Deacs posted a 3-1 (.750) record in November 2000, their best winning percentage in November since going 2-0 in the 1993-94 season, but went winless in February for the first time in four seasons.
