Women's Basketball Hosts Appalachian State, High Point
11/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2002
WAKE FOREST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
NEWS & NOTES
Games 4 & 5
Sun.-Mon., Dec. 1-2, 2002
Wake Forest (2-1) vs. Appalachian State (1-2)
and High Point (2-1)
Joel Coliseum (14,665)/Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tipoff: vs. App State: Sun., Dec. 1 at 1:00 pm/vs. High Point: Mon., Dec. 2 at 7:00 pm
Broadcast: Sunday??s game with App State will be broadcast locally on WBRF 98.1 FM. Carter Blackburn will call the play-by-play with Roper Halverson providing color analysis.
Records: Wake Forest is 2-1 with a win at home over Marshall in its last outing. App State is 1-2 , most recently falling to Charlotte. High Point is 3-1 after defeating Campbell in its last game.
The Series: The series between WFU and ASU is tied 10-10. High Point leads its series with the Deacs, 10-6. Wake, however, has enjoyed the recent advantage in both series, winning three straight over ASU and four against HPU.
The Coach: Deacon coach Charlene Curtis begins her sixth season at WFU, where she has compiled a 44-98 record. Her 16-year career has produced a 206-248 mark.
Noteworthy: Wake Forest junior Eafton Hill is from Boone, N.C. and has averaged 12.0 ppg against App State the last two years.
Demon Deacons Host Back-To-Back Games At Joel Coliseum
In the middle of a six-game homestand, the Wake Forest women??s basketball team starts off the month of December with games against two regional rivals. The Deacons host Appalachian State on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 1:00 p.m., then turn around and play High Point on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
Wake Forest, under sixth-year head coach Charlene Curtis, is 2-1 in the young season and looking to continue their steady improvement of the last few years. Wake posted a 12-16 record last year, its best mark in six seasons.
This 2002-03 campaign marks the 32nd season of women??s basketball at Wake Forest University. The program owns an all-time record of 329-454.
Deacs Use Defense to Down Marshall In Last Outing
Wake Forest won its home opener for the second straight year, defeating Marshall, 67-56, at Joel Coliseum on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Deacs used a strong defensive effort in the win, as the Herd committed 28 turnovers. Wake tallied 16 steals, matching its second-best performance in that category from a year ago.
The Deacs cooled off from the hot-shooting performances they gave in the opening weekend, but junior Eafton Hill continued to put up the big points, scoring 21 to reach the 20-point mark for the third time in as many games.
Deacs Set School Records in Three-Pointers, Attempts
Wake Forest started off the new season with a bang, breaking the school??s single-game record for three-pointers in the 2002-03 opener against La Salle. The Deacs drained 15 treys (25 attempts) against the Explorers, shattering the previous school record of 13 set on Dec. 3, 1993 against Butler.
Wake??s best performance from beyond the arc in all of last season was nine against FSU.
The Deacs followed the La Salle game with nine three-pointers versus SMU, and tied the school mark of 27 attempts, originally set against Georgia Tech in 1999.
Through three games, Wake is averaging 9.7 three-pointers a game and is shooting over 41 percent (29-of-71) from beyond the arc.
Freshman Put Up Big Numbers Early
Two of Wake Forest??s four-member freshman class made an immediate impact in their collegiate debuts last weekend. Guard Cotelia Bond-Young started off strong, scoring 18 points against La Salle, including 5-of-6 from three-point range. She also grabbed three steals against the Explorers. She scored just one free throw versus SMU, but dished five assists.
Guard/forward Liz Strunk scored nine points -- all three-pointers -- versus La Salle, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. She played more of an all-around role against SMU, pulling down six rebounds and two assists while scoring seven points.
Pouring in the Points
One of Wake Forest??s keys to success this season is to put more points on the board. The Deacs averaged just 60.8 points a game last year, and have not averaged more than 64 points in a season since the 1995-96 campaign.
Wake Forest definitely showed signs of improvement in the scoring category in the opening weekend of the 2002-03 campaign. The Deacs?? 87 points against La Salle were the most scored by a WFU team since totaling the same amount at Richmond on Nov. 30, 1999.
Through three games the Deacs are averaging 75.0 points a game.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Appalachian State is 1-2 in the young season, with a win over UNC Asheville to go with road losses at Campbell and Charlotte. The Mountaineers are under the guidance of first-year head coach Adrienne Shuler.
Junior guard Aisha Bryant leads the Mountaineers in scoring (19.0 ppg). Bryant is also pulling down 6.0 rebounds an outing and has missed just once from the line (13-14) this season.
Freshman forward Joy Davis leads ASU with 7.0 rebounds a game. Senior guard Tiffani Johnson currently owns the team??s best field goal percentage (.538).
The Series With Appalachian State
The series between Wake Forest and Appalachian State is tied 10-10, with Wake winning the last three meetings over the last three seasons. The Deacs have actually won 10 of the last 12 after the Mountaineers started the series with an eight-game win streak from 1972-82.
In games played in Winston-Salem, Wake owns a 7-3 lead. Head coach Charlene Curtis is 3-0 against the Mountaineers in her WFU career.
Eleven of the 20 meetings in this series have been decided by 10 points or less, including a four-point Wake Forest win in Winston-Salem last season.
Scouting the Panthers
High Point will come into the Wake Forest game on Monday night with a 3-1 record. The Panthers dropped their season opener at Western Carolina, but rebounded to post home wins over Gardner-Webb and Longwood before winning by one point, 59-58, at Campbell in its last outing.
Two guards, senior Misty Brockman and junior Narelle Henry, lead High Point in scoring. Brockman is averaging 10.5 points, while Henry is putting up 10.0 per game.
The Series With High Point
High Point leads 10-6 in a series that began in Wake Forest basketball??s first season of existence, 1971-72. The teams met 12 times over the next 10 years, but then did not face each other for nearly 20 years, from 1981 to 1999.
The Deacs have won the last four meetings, including a 74-51 victory at High Point last season.
In games played on Wake??s home court, the series is tied 2-2. WFU head coach Charlene Curtis is 3-0 against the Panthers during Wake tenure.
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest remains in Winston-Salem for the fourth game in its six-game homestand, but will change venues. The Deacs host IUPUI on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7:00 p.m. in Reynolds Gymnasium on the WFU campus.