Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Hoops Tries To Continue Winning Ways at Maryland
1/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2002
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WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game #19
Thurs., Jan. 24, 2002
Wake Forest (9-9, 3-5 ACC) vs. Maryland (9-9, 2-5 ACC)
Cole Field House (14,500)/College Park, Md.
Tipoff: 7:30 pm
Radio: No local broadcast.
Records: Wake Forest and Maryland currently have identical overall records, as both are 9-9 on the season. Wake is one game ahead of the Terps, sitting in seventh place in the ACC standings with a 3-5 mark. Maryland is 2-5 in the league.
The Series: Maryland leads 38-10 in a series that began in the 1976-77 season. Three of Wake's 10 wins in the series have come in the last three seasons, with two of those coming on the road.
The Rankings: Neither team is ranked.
The Coaches: WFU head coach Charlene Curtis is 39-90 in her fifth season with the Deacons, and owns a 201-240 career mark in her 16th season as a head coach. Maryland head coach Chris Weller is 495-278 in her 26th season as a head coach, all at Maryland.
Up Next: Wake Forest returns to action next Thursday, Jan. 31, when it travels to NC State for a 7:00 pm tip with the Wolfpack in Reynolds Coliseum.
Deacs Look to Make it Three ACC Wins in a Row at Maryland
The Wake Forest women's basketball team (9-9, 2-5 ACC), on a two-game win streak and winners in three of its last four games, travel to Maryland for a key ACC battle against the Terps on Thursday at Cole Field House at 7:30 pm.
The two teams have an identical season record of 9-9, and the Demon Deacons are one game ahead of the Terps in the league standings, sitting in seventh place with a 3-5 mark. Maryland is 2-5 in the conference.
Thursday's game is the start of a three-game road swing for the Deacons, its longest road streak of the season. A week from Thursday, WFU plays at NC State and follows that up with a road trip to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech that weekend.
Wake recorded its first victory over a ranked opponent in two seasons, upsetting 20th-ranked North Carolina, 65-64, at home last Monday night. The Deacs owned as much as a 14-point lead in the second half, but the Tar Heels stormed back to take a one-point lead with 18 seconds remaining. Deacon senior Adell Harris hit two clutch free throws with 12 seconds left to lift WFU to the victory.
The 2001-02 campaign marks the 31st season of women's basketball at Wake Forest University. The Demon Deacons' all-time record is 324-446.
Streaky Deacs
With the win over North Carolina on Monday, Wake Forest has won two ACC games in a row for the first time since the 1996-97 season, when it posted consecutive victories over Clemson and Florida State. Wake has not put together a string of three straight league wins since the 1987-88 campaign, when it actually had a school-record five-game win streak against ACC teams.
Speaking of streaks, Wake's season so far could be divided into several four game sets, both winning and losing. After starting off 2-0, WFU then lost four straight, followed that up with a four-game win streak, then slid into another four-game losing streak. Wake has gone 3-1 over the last four games, with the lone loss at Virginia sandwiched between wins over Florida State and Clemson.
Trying to Turn the Tide on the Road
A win over Maryland would be momentous for the Deacons for many reasons, but above all it would halt a 22-game ACC road losing streak. The Deacons have not won an ACC game on its' opponent homecourt since Feb. 20, 2000 - coincidentally at Maryland - posting a 57-54 win over the Terps.
In fact, Wake's last two road victories in league play have both occurred at Cole Field House, as the Deacs also won at Maryland during the 1998-99 campaign. Prior to that, Wake's last ACC road victory was Feb. 23, 1997 at Florida State.
Other ACC Notables
* Halfway through its conference slate, Wake has posted a 3-5 record, matching its record from the first half of league play a year ago. The Deacs, however, did not win any games on the backstretch of 2001, finishing the season with a 3-13 in conference play for the third straight year.
* One more ACC win would give Wake head coach Charlene Curtis her best ACC record during her tenure at Wake. After an 0-16 season during her first year with the Deacons (1997-98), Curtis' teams have compiled a 3-13 mark in each of the last three seasons.
* Wake Forest's win over North Carolina on Monday night marked the third straight season the Deacs have defeated the Tar Heels in Winston-Salem. After halting an 18-game UNC win streak in the 2000, the two teams have split the last six meetings, with the home team emerging as the winner in those games.
* Wake Forest actually played North Carolina for the second time this season on Monday night, before it had faced all eight league opponents for the first time. The Deacs will face Maryland for the first time this season on Thursday, and will begin its "round robin" with the other seven teams in the league next week.
Low-Scoring Games Working in Wake's Favor
Wake Forest has struggled with putting points on the board on a consistent basis this season. The Deacs rank last in the ACC in scoring offense, averaging 61.7 points per game and have not reached 80 points in a game this season - 79 versus Radford is the season high thus far.
But on the flip side, the team has proven that it can win games without scoring a lot of points, relying on its defense and rebounding to limit the opponents' scoring opportunities. In Wake's nine victories this year, its victims have averaged just 58.4 points per game. Only one team (Florida State in a 77-73 loss) put more than 70 points on the board while two teams (Clemson and UNC Asheville) were held under 50 points.
In Wake's last outing, a one-point win over North Carolina, the Deacs held the ACC's most potent offense to 64 points (its fourth-lowest total of the season), 66 field goal attempts (tying a season low) and 31.8 percent shooting (its third-lowest of the year.)
Tonia Brown - The Three-Point Threat
Guard Tonia Brown has drained a team-high 42 three-pointers, including a single-game career best six versus Florida State on Jan. 10. After hitting 11 treys in the first nine games of the season, Brown has connected on 31 three-pointers (3.4 per game) over the last nine contests. She is shooting 38.8 percent (31-of-80) from beyond the arc in that same stretch. For the entire season she is shooting 35 percent from long range (42-of-121).
Just midway through her sophomore year, Brown already ranks in ninth place on Wake's career three-pointers list (62), ninth in three-point attempts (197) and 10th in career three-point percentage (.315).
Brown ranks third in the ACC in three-pointers per game (2.33) as well as fifth in percentage (.347). In conference games only, she leads the league in three-pointers per game (3.62) and ranks second in percentage (.392).
Brown finished her rookie season last year as the Deacons' leader with 20 total three-pointers, and had already passed that mark by the 13th game of this season.
Head Coach Charlene Curtis
Head coach Charlene Curtis (Radford '76) is in her fifth season at the helm of the Demon Deacon program. Her career coaching record of 201-240 (39-90 at WFU) also includes stints at her alma mater, Radford, as well as 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 Terrapins
Maryland is 9-9 on the season with a 2-5 mark in ACC play after facing every team in the league once prior to Thursday's game with Wake. The Terrapins opened the 2001-02 campaign with three straight wins and have compiled a 7-4 mark in non-conference play.
While Wake enters the game with two straight wins under its belt, the Terps are a team hungry for a win, having dropped three straight to Georgia Tech, Virginia and Clemson.
Thursday's game will most likely be a low-scoring affair, as Maryland is averaging 64.8 points to Wake's 61.7. Both teams are holding their opponents in the 60s as well. Maryland, in fact, leads the league in scoring defense, allowing just 60.2 points per game.
Two Terps are averaging double-figures in scoring, as senior guard Marche Strickland puts up 12.9 points an outing and senior forward DeeDee Warley is scoring 11.0 points to go with a team-high 5.8 rebounds a game. Strickland is one of the ACC's top three-point shooters, connecting on 41 percent (37-of-91) of her long-range shots so far this year.
The Series with Maryland
Maryland holds a 38-10 lead in a series which began in the 1976-77 season, although the series is just 4-3 in Maryland's favor over the last seven meetings ... the Terrapins opened the series by winning the first 14 meetings, the longest winning steak between the two teams ... Wake's longest winning streak is four games, from 1994-96 ... the Deacs' last two ACC road victories have come at Cole Field House (1999, 2000) ... Wake trails 15-7 overall in games played at Maryland ... Wake's Charlene Curtis owns a 3-6 record against the Terrapins.
Deacon-Terp Connections
Thursday's game will be a homecoming for two Wake Forest freshmen, as Meredith Bell (Waldorf) and Erin Ferrell (Gaithersburg), both hail from the state of Maryland ... combining the two rosters, nine players from Maryland are involved with Thursday's game ... another WFU player, LaChina Robinson, is from nearby Alexandria, Va. ... Maryland junior Brie Jackson attended The Bullis School, the same school Ferrell attended ... Jackson was coached there by Ferrell's father, Wayne.
The Last Meeting with Maryland... Feb. 19, 2001
Aided by a 26-1 run over eight minutes in the middle of the second half, the Maryland women's basketball team pulled away from Wake Forest, winning 69-53 in the Deacons' final home game of the season at Joel Coliseum.
Wake Forest led at halftime by a 28-26 margin, but the Terrapins unleashed a three-quarter court pressure defense and the Deacons suffered through a nine-minute drought without a field goal.
"It's a zone we use that's been effective for us all year. It's our bread-and-butter defense," Maryland coach Chris Weller said. "They did a great job anticipating passes but our three-quarter court press is what we've gone with all year and we went with it tonight."
Maryland's Deedee Warley led all scorers with 21 points and also grabbed 12 rebounds. For Wake Forest, Eafton Hill scored a team-high 19 points. Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick, playing in her final home game, contributed 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks. Other Wake Forest seniors included Olivia Dardy who scored six points to go with a team-high six rebounds, and Kristen Shaffer who scored two points. All four seniors, including Janae Whiteside, who suffered a season-ending injury early in the year, were honored in a pre-game ceremony.
"I disappointed for the seniors, disappointed that we couldn't get a win at home for them in their last game," Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis said. "Down the stretch, we need to be ready to play 40 hard minutes. Maryland did that tonight and they did a great job controlling the tempo with their zone."
Maryland's Terri Daniels recorded a career-high 17 points and set a new Maryland record for three point percentage, hitting all on five of her attempts.
In the second half, Maryland shot 61.9 percent while Wake Forest connected on just 29.7 percent of its shots.
Free Throw Woes - Until the Game is on the Line
Wake Forest has struggled from the charity stripe this season, connecting on just 59.7 percent of its shots from the line. The Deacons' opponents are averaging over 69 percent from the stripe, and have gone to the line 85 more times than WFU (385-300).
Wake's best performance from the foul line this season came on Dec. 30 against NC State, when it shot over 78 percent (18-of-23). But the team followed that up with a 47 percent outing against Georgia Tech (7-of-15), its second-worst performance of the year. After averaging around the 60 percent mark in the next three games, the Deacs enjoyed a solid outing against Clemson, shooting 75 percent (12-16). Against Carolina the squad dropped back down to its average, hitting 9-of-15 (.600) from the stripe.
Despite the lack of consistency, the Deacons have gotten some clutch performances at the line in all three of its ACC victories so far this year. Two Deacons - junior Tiffani Listenbee and sophomore Bianca Brown - took advantage of their opportunities at the line in the closing seconds of the Florida State game to help seal a four-point victory. After missing two free throws earlier in the game, Listenbee hit two straight with 27 seconds left, then Brown followed up with two of her own at the 0:14 mark. Brown further proved her worth at the line against Clemson, nailing four straight foul shots in that victory as well.
Senior Adell Harris perhaps gave the most impressive performance at the line against North Carolina. After Wake led for nearly the entire game, the Tar Heels owned a one-point lead with 18 seconds remaining. On Wake's next possession Harris drove the lane and was fouled, sinking her two shots to lift WFU to a one-point victory. It was her only trip to the line that game.
Shooting Roller Coaster Continues
If the trend holds true, Wake Forest should shoot better than 36 percent against Maryland on Thursday.
The Deacons' shooting percentage has been on quite a roller coaster ride this season, and has followed an "up-down" cycle for the last eight games. Wake shot a season best 53.8 percent against Clemson, then dropped back to 36.2 percent versus UNC in its last outing.
After struggling with its shooting in the early goings of the season, Wake Forest started to warm up on the offensive end of the floor. The Deacons shot below 40 percent in the first four games of the year, but posted a five-game streak of 40 percent or better shooting before taking a downward turn for four straight games, hitting a season-low 21 percent against NC State on Dec. 30.
The Deacs' performance against Clemson goes down as the high est shooting percentage in a game since shooting over 54 percent from the field in a 77-57 win over Coppin State on Dec. 2 of last season.
The school record for shooting percentage in a game is 78.8 percent (26-33), set against Princeton in 1980. That mark is also an ACC record.
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest will have a week before its next game, as it travels to NC State next Thursday, Jan. 31 for a 7:00 pm tipoff with the Wolfpack at Reynolds Coliseum.
