Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Hoops Takes On Seminoles In Tallahassee
2/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2003
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Wake Forest Women's Basketball
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Game 19
Sun., Feb. 2, 2003
Wake Forest (10-8, 1-7 ACC) vs.Florida State (14-5, 6-2 ACC)
Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center (12,200)/Tallahassee, Fla.
Tipoff: 2:00 pm
Broadcast: None.
Records: WFU is 10-8, 1-7 in the ACC, and currently on a six-game skid after falling to Georgia Tech at home on Friday. Florida State is 14-5 overall, 6-2 in ACC play, and have won four of their last five outings.
The Series: Sunday's game is the 26th meeting between the two schools. WFU owns the edge in the series, 14-11, but FSU won the first meeting earlier this season. Prior to the 'Noles win in Winston-Salem, the home team had won the last eight meetings.
The Coaches: Deacon coach Charlene Curtis is in her sixth season at WFU, where she has compiled a 52-105 record. Now in her 18th season, her career has produced a 214-255 mark. Seminole coach Sue Semrau is 74-87 in her fifth season as a head coach, all at Florida State.
Up Next: WFU plays two straight games on the road for just the third time this season, traveling to Virginia for a 7:30 tipoff on Thursday, Feb. 6 against the Cavaliers.
WFU Begins Second Round of ACC Play With Tallahassee Trek
The Wake Forest women's basketball team, in search of a much-needed win, begins its second round of ACC games with a trip to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on the Florida State Seminoles. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.
The Demon Deacons are currently riding a six-game losing streak, their longest such slide since a nine-game streak closed out the 2000-01 campaign.
It's a quick turnaround for Wake Forest, who hosted Georgia Tech on Friday evening at the Joel Coliseum Annex. The Demon Deacons rallied from an 18-point deficit, but could never regain the lead and lost, 74-70, to the Yellow Jackets.
Florida State (14-5 overall, 6-2 ACC) bounced back from a loss at No. 1 Duke by winning at Clemson, 59-57, in its most recent outing on Thursday. The Seminoles finished the first round of ACC play with losses to only Duke and UNC, and currently sit in third place in the conference standings.
Last Outing: Comeback Falls Short In Loss To Georgia Tech
Wake Forest's top two season scorers, Eafton Hill and Cotelia Bond-Young, were held to a combined nine points as the Deacons lost their sixth straight game, 74-70, to Georgia Tech on Friday at the Joel Coliseum Annex.
Eight of those points from Hill and Bond-Young came during a late second-half rally. WFU, down by 18 midway through the final period, was able to cut the deficit to three with a minunte remaining. But the Jackets went 6-of-6 at the free throw line to hold on for the four-point win.
Although Wake owned a slight edge in rebounding, 21-20, at the half, the Yellow Jackets became more aggressive on the glass after the break. Tech ended up with the advantage, outrebounding the Deacs 47-33.
Demon Deacon sophomore Erin Ferrell tied her career high with a season-best 16 points to lead WFU's scoring effort. Tonia Brown put up 15 and Tiffani Listenbee, despite major foul trouble, added 10.
Taking This Show On The Road
Although the Demon Deacons have not won on their opponents' home court since a 65-59 win at UNC Wilmington on Dec. 29, they've taken just three road trips since then. Two were day trips to the home courts of national top 10 teams, as they fell to No. 9 UNC and top-ranked Duke. The third trip -- WFU's only overnight trip in the first round of conference play -- was a loss at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum last weekend.
Wake Forest has hosted 11 home games so far this year while playing just six on the road.
Wake Forest won just one ACC road game last season -- at Georgia Tech -- after not winning at any league opponent's home court in 2001. The Deacs' last win at FSU's Tallahassee-Leon Country Civic Center was a 63-59 victory on Feb. 23, 1997.
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 11.1 points per game, a mark that also ranks second on the Deacon squad. Prior to the last outing versus Georgia Tech, she was the league's 15th leading scorer overall. Her 35 three-pointers this season also ranked third in the ACC in treys per game (1.94), while her three-point shooting percentage (.393) was 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 (3.27 apg) as well as eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55). That figure also currently ties as the seventh-best season ratio in WFU history.
Only three ACC freshman rank among the league's top 30 scorers, including Bond-Young, 17th-place La'Tangela Atkinson of UNC (10.8 ppg) and Mistie Bass of Duke (24th with 8.9 ppg). In ACC games only, Bond-Young was the only freshman putting up double-figures in scoring before scoring just two versus the Yellow Jackets.
She also owns a team-high 11 double-figure scoring games and has led WFU in scoring four times this season.
Although her scoring numbers have been below her average in Wake's last two games, Bond-Young has stepped up in the rebounding category, leading the team in both outings. She pulled down 10 at Clemson and had six versus Georgia Tech.
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 102). 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.
Brown Nets 100th Three-Pointer
Although she's not quite on pace to match last year's school-record 62 three-pointers, junior guard Tonia Brown continues her assault on the WFU three-point shooting records.
She scored just one three-pointer against Maryland on Jan. 12, but that was all she needed to notch her 100th career trey. Already listed on WFU's career three-pointers chart, Brown is the sixth player in school history - and first since Alisha Mosley (1997-00) - to reach the century mark in that category.
Brown now ranks sixth all-time at WFU with 103 career three-point attempts, fourth with 331 career attempts, and her .311 shooting percentage ranks tied for ninth.
After setting the school's single-season record with 62 three-pointers last season, Brown has tallied 21 treys thus far in the 2002-03 campaign. Freshman Cotelia Bond-Young leads the squad with 35, one shy of cracking the single season top 10 list.
Ferrell On The Offensive
Sophomore forward Erin Ferrell played a new role for the Deacs in the team's last outing versus Georgia Tech -- as a starter. The part seemed suited for her, as she tied a career high and led the team with 16 points in her first start of the season.
While Ferrell had appeared to have settled into her role as a defensive stopper off the bench, she's been making some noise on the offensive end of the floor as well. She's currently averaging 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, 2.2 points and 1.4 boards over her averages as a rookie last season.
Ferrell already has seven games of double-figure scoring this year, more than doubling her mark of three double-figure games from all of last season. In the team's win at UNC Wilmington, she set a new career high in rebounds (10) and recorded her first double-double with 12 points as well. Versus FSU on Jan. 2, she was Wake's leading scorer with 15 points.
Scouting Florida State
Florida State has emerged as the surprise team in the ACC this season. After being picked tied for last place in the conference's preseason poll (with WFU), the 'Noles have quietly put together a 14-5 record, 6-2 in the first round of ACC play.
Senior guard Tasheika Morris leads FSU with 14.7 points per game and owns a team-high 27 three-pointers (shooting 27-of-95 from beyond the arc). Senior forward Katelyn Vujas leads the 'Noles in rebounding (6.1 rpg) while scoring 7.4 points per game.
Guard Linnea Liljestrand has had the hot shooting hand as of late, going 10-of-13 for 29 points (including 6-of-9 from three-point range) over FSU's last two games.
Looking over the team statistics, Florida State and Wake Forest are very comparable in scoring (FSU 68.5, WFU 68.4), points allowed (FSU 61.8, WFU 63.1) and rebounding (FSU 40.1, WFU 40.9). The 'Noles have the advantage in overall field goal percentage (.425 to WFU's .389), but the Deacs have the edge in three-point shooting (.314 to FSU's .293).
The Series With Florida State
Wake Forest and Florida State met for the first time in the 1991-92 season, the first year FSU was a member of the ACC ... the two teams have played each other 25 previous times, with Wake Forest leading the series 14-11 ... the Seminoles, however, lead the series in Tallahassee, 7-4 ... Wake Forest's last win on FSU's home court took place in the 1996-97 season ... prior to FSU's two-point win at Joel Coliseum earlier this season, the home team in this series had won eight straight meetings ... the first six games of the series (1991-94) were hotly-contested affairs, as all six were decided by six points or less ... the teams evenly split those six games ... four of the last five games have been decided by 10 points or less ... Wake's longest streak in the series is six wins, posted from 1995 to 1997 ... FSU's longest streak is three games (1997-99) ... Charlene Curtis is 5-7 in her head coaching career against the Seminoles, including a 4-7 mark as Wake's coach.
Deacon-Seminole Connections
* Wake Forest's Johanna Bj?rklund and Florida State's Linnea Liljestrand both hail from Stockholm, Sweden and attended the same school, Brannkyrka Gymnasium.
* Wake Forest assistant coach Sharon Manning and FSU assistant Theresa Gernatt competed as ACC rivals in the late 80s-early 90s, as Gernatt played at Georgia Tech and Manning was at NC State.
The Last Meeting with Florida State ... January 2, 2003
Despite its worst three-point shooting performance of the season thus far (1-of-22, 4.5 percent), the Demon Deacons had a chance to send the game into overtime. But Tonia Brown's last second shot bounced off the backboard and Florida State escaped Joel Coliseum with a two-point win, 63-61, in the ACC opener for both teams.
Sophomore Erin Ferrell led WFU with a then season-high 15 points.
Last Time In Tallahassee ... Feb. 9, 2002
Tonia Brown posted her fourth 20-point game of the 2001-02 season, and Tracy Alston pulled down a career-best 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Florida State emerged as the victor, 63-56, in a seesaw battle. It marked the eighth straight game in the series that the home team had won.
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. That was followed up by its second-worst three-point shooting performance of the season, connecting on just 1-of-20 (5 percent) at Clemson. In the team's last outing versus Georgia Tech, Wake connected on its season average -- six three-pointers -- while shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc (6-15).
On the defensive side of the three-point shooting battle, the Deacs have done 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 (.302), while in ACC games only it ranks third (.263). In fact, until the last two games versus Clemson and Georgia Tech, 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, while the Yellow Jackets shot 44 percent (4-of-9).
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest plays two straight road games in ACC play for the first and only time this season, traveling to Charlottesville, Va. to face the Virginia Cavaliers on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Having defeated UVa earlier this season, the Deacons will look for their first sweep in conference play since the 1996-97 season.
