Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Virginia Thursday Night at Joel Coliseum
2/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2002
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WAKE FOREST WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
NEWS & NOTES
Game #24
Thurs., Feb. 14, 2002
Wake Forest (10-13, 4-9 ACC) vs. Virginia (13-10, 6-6 ACC)
Joel Coliseum (14,665)/Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tipoff: 7:00 pm
Radio: Broadcast worldwide on the web at www.WakeForestSports.com. Carter Blackburn will call the play-by-play, with Roper Halverson provding color commentary.
Records: Wake Forest is 10-13 overall and sits in eighth place in the ACC standings with a 4-9 league mark. The Cavaliers, 13-10 overall and 6-6 in the ACC, are currently in fifth place in the league standings after defeating Georgia Tech in their last outing Monday night.
The Series: In the most lopsided rivalry of the Wake program, Virginia leads the series 50-1 and has won 48 straight since 1978, including a 65-51 victory in Charlottesville last month.
The Rankings: Neither team is ranked. Virginia is receiving a few votes in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.
The Coaches: WFU head coach Charlene Curtis is 40-94 in her fifth season with the Deacons, and owns a 202-244 career mark in her 16th season as a head coach. Virginia's Debbie Ryan, in her 25th season as a head coach (all at UVa) is 557-207 overall.
Up Next: Wake Forest travels to Clemson to face the Tigers on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2:00 pm.
No Love Lost on Valentine's Day as Deacons Try Halt Cavalier Win Streak
The Wake Forest women's basketball team (10-13, 4-9 ACC) faces one of the most frustrating rivalries in its program's history as it takes on the Virginia Cavaliers (13-10, 6-6 ACC) on Thursday - Valentine's Day - in Joel Coliseum (7:00 pm/Internet broadcast).
The rivalry is frustrating for the Demon Deacons because they face the Cavaliers for the 51st time on Thursday and will be searching for just their second overall win against UVa. Virginia owns the series, 50-1, and have won 48 straight, including a 16-point win in Charlottesville earlier this season.
In that earlier meeting on Jan. 13, the Cavaliers used an 11-0 run in the second half to break a 38-38 tie and win 65-51. Deacon Tonia Brown was the game's high scorer with 18 points, including four three-pointers.
Wake Forest enters Thursday's game looking to halt a two-game skid and pick up its fifth ACC victory, the most in six seasons. Virginia has gone 3-3 over its last six games and is in the middle of the pack in the ACC standings with a 6-6 conference mark.
The 2001-02 campaign marks the 31st season of women's basketball at Wake Forest University. The Demon Deacons' all-time record is 325-450.
All-ACC Candidate Tonia Brown - A Three-Point Threat
Wake Forest shooting guard Tonia Brown continues to rank as one of the top three-point shooters in the ACC. She has drained a team-high 54 three-pointers through 23 games in 2001-02, including a single-game career best six versus Florida State on Jan. 10.
Divide the season in half and notice the increase in her numbers just over the course of this season. Brown hit 15 total treys in the first 11 games of the season (with four of those coming in the 11th game). But over the second half of the season (12 games), Brown has connected on 39 three-pointers (3.25 per game).
Her streak of consecutive games with at least one three-pointer now stands at 12. Just midway through her sophomore year, Brown already ranks in sixth place on Wake's career three-pointers list (74), sixth in three-point attempts (236) and ninth in career three-point percentage (.314).
Brown currently ranks third in the ACC in three-pointers per game (2.25) as well as fifth in three-point shooting percentage (.338). In conference games only, she is second in the league in three-pointers per game (3.15) and sixth in percentage (.363).
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.
Injury Update
Wake Forest has been in good shape over the second half of the season, as junior forward Heather Miller, who will miss this season with a stress fracture in her back, is the only player listed on the injury report right now.
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 202-244 (40-94 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.
Wake Using Low-Scoring Games to its Advantage
One of Wake Forest's biggest concerns this season has been putting points on the board on a consistent basis. The Deacons have ranked last in the ACC in scoring offense for the bulk of the season, currently averaging 60.6 points per game. Wake has not reached 80 points in a game this season - 79 versus Radford is the season high thus far.
But in several instances, 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' possessions and scoring opportunities. In Wake's 10 victories this year, its victims have averaged just 58.7 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 one-point win over North Carolina on Jan. 21, the Deacs held the ACC's then-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.)
Scouting the Cavaliers
Virginia (13-10, 6-6 ACC) currently sits in fifth place in the conference standings. The Cavaliers have an identical league mark to Clemson, but the Tigers are in fourth place due to a better overall record.
Virginia has been on a lose one - win one pattern over the last six contests, and are coming of a six-point victory over Georgia Tech on Monday. The Cavaliers scored a season-high 85 points against the Yellow Jackets behind the career-best performance of Anna Prillaman. The sophomore guard scored 22 points, including six three-pointers, and set a school record for three-pointers in a half with five treys in the second stanza.
Cavalier senior Telisha Quarles leads the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, while freshman forward Brandi Teamer is nearly averaging a double-double with 15.3 points and an ACC-high 9.0 rebounds a contest. Prillaman currently leads the conference in three-point shooting percentage (.471).
The Series with Virginia
Virginia is one of Wake's oldest and most familiar rivalries, as the two teams have met 51 times on the hardwood over the last 26 seasons ... the Cavaliers have won all but one of those games, with Wake's lone victory a 60-59 win in Charlottesville in the 1977-78 campaign - Debbie Ryan's first year as Virginia's head coach ... since then, the Wahoos have won 48 straight contests ... last year's double-overtime game in Charlottesville marked just the second game in the series that went beyond regulation.
Deacon-Cavalier Connections
* Wake Forest head coach Charlene Curtis served as an assistant coach under Debbie Ryan at Virginia from 1981-83. Curtis also earned her master's degree from Virginia while working as a coach for the Cavs.
* Three current Deacons call Virginia their home state - Tonia Brown (Roanoke), Heather Miller (Bassett) and LaChina Robinson (Alexandria). Coach Curtis is also a native of Roanoke.
* The coaching staffs of these two teams must have crossed recruiting paths in Maryland last season as five players from the state of Maryland - all freshmen - are on the rosters of these two teams, including Wake's Meredith Bell (Waldorf), Erin Ferrell (Gaithersburg), and Virginia's LaTonya Blue (Baltimore), Jocelyn Logan-Friend (Cheverly) and Lynette O'Reggio (Laurel).
Tonia Brown Stepping Up Her All-Around Game
Sophomore Tonia Brown's three-point shooting has already been mentioned, but it's also worth noting that the 5-10 guard has emerged as the team's top scorer this season, averaging 14.3 points per game (16.2 ppg in ACC contests). With last year's leading scorer, Eafton Hill, sidelined for eight midseason games with an injury, Brown took on a greater responsibility of producing points and responded well.
After serving as a backup to senior starter Kristen Shaffer last season, Brown stepped into the starting shooting guard position this year and has been the team's top scorer in 17 of 23 games this season and has posted 18 double-figure outings, including a career-best 28 points in the win over Florida State on Jan. 10.
"We've been very pleased with her progress," said coach Curtis of Brown. "She showed moments last year in a support role, but this year we've really handed the reins to her as she's done well. The toughest thing for her is that we haven't gotten her any help. We're still looking for a consistent second and third option to go to."
Brown, who has natural point guard abilities as well, ranks second on the team with an average of 2.4 assists per game. She's also stepped up her rebounding numbers, averaging 4.3 boards - a mark which currently ranks fourth on the team. She also leads the squad with 52 steals (2.3 spg), including a career-best and team single-game season high six thefts against NC State on Jan. 31.
In fact, in ACC games only, Brown appears among the league's top 10 players in four different statistical categories, including scoring, three-point field goals, three-point percentage and steals.
Sophomore Sensations
Last year's freshman class of Eafton Hill, Tonia Brown, Tracy Alston and Bianca Brown saw significant action last season. And this year they are proving the experience they gained last season is paying dividends, as all four have started at least seven games this year and have each led the Deacs in either scoring, rebounding or assists at least once so far this year. In fact this sophomore group provided the spark for the Deacons' win over Clemson on Jan. 17, as they finished as Wake's top four scorers, Hill was the leading rebounder, and Alston and Tonia Brown led the team in assists.
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest hits the road for the fifth time in the last six weekends, as it travels to Clemson, S.C. to face the Tigers. After defeating Clemson at home on Jan. 17, the Deacons will be searching for its first sweep of any ACC opponent since the 1996-97 season. Tipoff is set for 2:00 pm in Littlejohn Coliseum.
