Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Hoops Hosts Georgia Tech At The Annex
1/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
NEWS & NOTES
Game 18
Fri., Jan. 31, 2003
Wake Forest (10-7, 1-6 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech (13-6, 2-5 ACC)
Joel Coliseum Annex (3,008)/Winston-Salem, N.C.
Tipoff: 7:00 pm
Radio: Broadcast live on the WBRF 98.1 FM and on the internet at www.WakeForestSports.com. Carter Blackburn calls the action with Roper Halverson providing color commentary.
Records: WFU is 10-7 and 1-6 in the ACC and currently on a five-game skid after falling to Clemson on the road last Sunday. Georgia Tech is 13-6 overall, 2-5 in the league and winners of two straight over conference opponents.
The Series: Friday's game is the 45th meeting between the two teams. Ga. Tech leads the series, 25-19, with WFU winning the last meeting in Atlanta last season.
The Coaches: Deacon coach Charlene Curtis is in her sixth season at WFU, where she has compiled a 52-104 record. Now in her 18th season, her career has produced a 214-254 mark. Georgia Tech coach Agnus Berenato is 276-259 in her 19th overall season as a head coach, 216-204 in her 15th season with the Yellow Jackets.
Up Next: WFU travels to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m.
WFU Hosts Georgia Tech; Wraps Up First Round of ACC Play
The Wake Forest women's basketball team, in search of a much-needed win, returns to the Joel Coliseum Annex for the second time this season to host ACC-rival Georgia Tech on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:00 p.m. (WBRF 98.1 FM).
The Demon Deacons are currently riding a five-game losing streak, their longest such slide since a nine-game streak closed out the 2000-01 campaign.
Friday's game marks the final match of the first round of ACC play. Wake's second half of the conference slate picks back up Sunday afternoon with a date at Florida State.
Georgia Tech halted a five-game losing streak of its own by picking up its first two ACC victories last week. The Yellow Jackets defeated Clemson in overtime last Thursday, 89-78, then topped NC State, 64-54, on Sunday.
Under sixth-year head coach Charlene Curtis, Wake Forest is looking to continue its steady improvement of the last few years. The Deacons posted a 12-16 record last year, their best mark in six seasons, and are already over three-fourths of the way to reaching that win total this season.
Last Outing: WFU Offense Struggles in Loss at Clemson
The Wake Forest offense never seemed to get on track, as the Deacs shot 27 percent, including a season-low five percent from three-point range (1-of-20), in a 61-45 loss at Clemson on Sunday afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Wake was able to put up only 15 points in the first half, sparked by a late six-point run by Tiffani Listenbee. The senior forward put up another six points in the second half to finish as the team's leading scorer with 12. Freshman Cotelia Bond-Young finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and a career-best (and game-high) 10 rebounds.
The loss at Clemson marked the first time all season the Deacs lost a game when they outrebounded their opponent (45-41). It was also the lowest point total put up by WFU since scoring 35 in a loss to NC State on February 8 of last season.
Home Sweet ... Annex?
Sunday's game marks the second time this season - and sixth time in program history - the Demon Deacons will play at the Joel Coliseum Annex. Wake is 3-2 all-time in this alternative facility, including a win over Georgia Tech in the 2000-01 season. Wake Forest hosted Maryland in the Annex earlier this year, dropping a two-point contest, 75-73.
Keep An Eye on Cotelia
Wake Forest freshman Cotelia Bond-Young has become an effective go-to player for the Demon Deacons this season, and, in doing so, has positioned herself as one of the top candidates for ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
The 5-7 guard is currently the ACC's top scoring freshman with 11.6 points per game, a mark that also ranks second on the Deacon squad and 15th among all league players. Her 35 three-pointers this season also ranks third in the ACC in treys per game (2.06), while her three-point shooting percentage (.398) is also second among league leaders. She has led both of those categories for much of the season.
Bond-Young has quickly proven to be a solid all-around player, as she also ranks first among ACC rookies and 10th among the overall league's leaders in assists (3.24 apg) as well as eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.57). That figure also currently ranks as the fifth-best season ratio in WFU history.
Only three ACC freshman rank among the league's top 30 scorers, including Bond-Young, 18th-place La'Tangela Atkinson of UNC (10.6 ppg) and Mistie Bass of Duke (23rd with 9.3 ppg). In ACC games only, Bond-Young is the only freshman putting up double-figures in scoring (10.9).
She also owns a team-high 11 double-figure scoring games and has led WFU in scoring four times this season. In the team's last outing at Clemson, she led the Deacs in rebounding for the first time this season with a career-best 10 boards.
Listenbee: The Iron Deac
On Jan. 23 against NC State, senior forward Tiffani Listenbee played in her 100th career game as a Demon Deacon. In fact, Listenbee has not missed a game during her entire collegiate career (currently 101). She is the only current player on the squad who can claim this accomplishment.
If Listenbee should play in every game the rest of the season, she will become the second Demon Deacon in as many years to see action in every outing of her career. Last season, LaChina Robinson closed out her career playing in all 112 games possible, a mark that ties for seventh at WFU in career games played. Depending on the team's progress in the postseason, Listenbee could do no worse than tie that mark.
Scouting Georgia Tech
After suffering a five-game ACC losing streak of their own, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets appeared to have gotten back on track with two straight ACC wins coming into Friday night's game versus WFU. The Jackets are 13-6 overall with a 2-5 mark in conference play.
Tech is led by senior center Sonja Mallory, considered one of the ACC's top players. Mallory leads the league in rebounding (9.9 rpg), blocked shots (1.79) and ranks second in scoring with 17.6 points a contest. She's averaging a double-double in ACC games only with 14.1 points and 11.6 boards.
The Yellow Jackets also have a pair of juniors putting up double-figure scoring, including forward Fallon Stokes (15.1 ppg) and guard Megan Isom (12.2). Isom ranks second in the ACC with 2.2 three-pointers per game, as she's netted 47 of Tech's treys so far this season. Another junior, Alex Stewart, leads the conference with 6.42 assists per outing.
Georgia Tech, traditionally of the conference's stronger rebounding teams, leads the league in offensive boards (18.1 pg) and ranks second overall in rebounding offense (44.9) and third in rebound margin (+8.9).
The Series With Georgia Tech
Sunday's game marks the 45th meeting between the conference rivals ... Georgia Tech leads 25-19 over WFU in a series that began in the 1979-80 season ... the two teams have met every year since then ... the Deacons have enjoyed success at home against the Yellow Jackets, with a 14-7 lead in games played in Winston-Salem ... WFU has not fared as well in Atlanta, however, winning just five games on Tech's court ... Wake's longest winning streak in the series is four games (1984-86), while Tech's longest such streak is six games (1996-98) ... the teams have split their two meetings in each of the last two seasons ... eight of the last 10 meetings have been decided by 11 points or less ... Charlene Curtis is 3-8 against the Jackets as Wake's head coach ... WFU's 64-61 victory in Atlanta last season halted a 24-game ACC road losing streak for the Demon Deacons.
Deacon-Jacket Connections
* Combine the rosters of these two teams and you will find three players who hail from Sweden -- Wake's Johanna Bj?rklund and Georgia Tech's Jasmina Pacariz both hail from Stockholm, while Yellow Jacket Nina Barlin is from Katrineholm, Sweden.
* Georgia Tech assistant coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick was a member of the Demon Deacon squad from 1997-2001, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors and Academic All-District accolades during her time at WFU. Kirkpatrick still ranks 10th all-time in rebounding and fifth in the WFU career charts in field goal percentage.
* Deacon junior Tracy Alston and Tech freshman Cheytoria Phillips both graduated from Southeast Raleigh HS in Raleigh, N.C.
* Georgia Tech women's basketball SID Jeremy Noel is a Wake Forest graduate who worked in the Deacon media relations office.
* Georgia Tech women's basketball administrative assistant Kyle Snipes held a similar position in the Deacon men's basketball office and is also a WFU graduate.
The Last Meeting with Georgia Tech ... February 3, 2002
Led by Bianca Brown's career-best 20 points, Wake Forest won an ACC road game for the first time in nearly two years, defeating Georgia Tech, 64-61 in Atlanta.
Brown finished a perfect 4-for-4 from both three-point range and the free throw line, while going 6-for-7 overall from the field. She went on to earn ACC Player of the Week honors for her performance in that contest.
Georgia Tech led 35-33 at halftime, and the Jackets looked poised to take control as it scored the period's first six points to take a 41-33 lead just 1:51 into the second period. Tech led 49-44 with 10:58 left, but that would be the last field goal before the 1:23 mark.
Georgia Tech attempted a comeback after being down six with under two minutes to play, but Milli Martinez' three-point attempt as time expired was off the mark. That shot by Martinez came after she attempted to miss the second attempt of a two-shot foul but the ball banked in off the backboard with 6.1 seconds left. Wake's Adell Harris sealed the game with a pair of free throws.
A Roller-Coster Ride From Beyond the Arc
Wake Forest was the ACC's top three-point shooting team in terms of both percentage and three-pointers per game for most of the early season, but its three-point shooting has fluctuated wildly in ACC play. It their first three conference games, the Deacons shot just 10-of-61 shooting from beyond the arc (16.4 percent). The next three games showed an upward trend, as WFU converted on 22-of-60 (37 percent) from long range. In the last outing, however, Wake suffered its worst three-point shooting performance of the season, connecting on just 1-of-20 (5 percent).
On the defensive side of the three-point shooting battle, the Deacs have a fairly good job of keeping their opponents from scoring a lot of treys. WFU ranks fourth in the ACC in three-point percentage defense (.296), while in ACC games only it ranks third (.244). In fact, until the last outing at Clemson, WFU had held its previous six ACC opponents to 33 percent or lower from beyond the arc. (Top-ranked Duke shot 33 percent, while the other five teams shot 23 percent or worse.) The Tigers, however, made seven threes and shot 42 percent -- both of which were highs for WFU's conference opponents thus far.
Coming Up Next
The Deacs make a quick turnaround following Friday night's game with Georgia Tech, traveling to Tallahassee, Fla. to face Florida State on Sunday, Feb. 2. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.
