Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Hoops Hits The Road Again; Travels To Maryland
2/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2003
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WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game 22
Thurs., Feb. 13, 2003
Wake Forest (10-11, 1-10 ACC) vs.Maryland (9-13, 3-8 ACC)
Comcast Center (17,100)/College Park, Md.
Tipoff: 7:00 pm
Broadcast: None.
Records: WFU fell below .500 for the first time this season, now 10-11, 1-10 in the ACC after a loss to UNC on Sunday. The Terps are 9-13 overall, 3-8 in ACC play, and have dropped two straight.
The Series: Thursday??s game marks the 53rd meeting between the two teams. Maryland owns the lead in the series, 41-11, and has won two straight over the Deacs, including a two-point win earlier this season.
The Coaches: Deacon coach Charlene Curtis is in her sixth season at WFU, where she has compiled a 52-108 record. Now in her 18th season, her career has produced a 214-258 mark. Terrapin coach Brenda Frese is 66-43 in her fourth season as a head coach, 9-13 in her first season with the Terrapins.
Noteworthy: This week??s trip will be a homecoming of sorts, as five Deacons hail from the state of Maryland.
Up Next: Wake Forest returns home to host nationally-ranked Duke on Monday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m.
WFU Heads North To Take On The Terps
Playing the third of the last four games on the road, the Wake Forest women?? s basketball team heads to College Park, Md. to face the Maryland Terrapins on Thursday, Feb. 13. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the new Comcast Center.
The Demon Deacons are currently riding a nine-game losing streak, their longest such slide since a nine-game streak closed out the 2000-01 campaign. WFU has not endured such a streak since setting a school-record with 16 straight losses in the final half of the 1997-98 campaign.
Wake Forest will travel to Maryland seeking revenge for a two-point loss to the Terps at home last month. The outcome of this game may help determine seedings for the ACC Tournament, as Maryland is currently in eighth place in the league standings, while WFU is two games behind in ninth.
Last Outing: Deacs Drop Another Close League Contest
TIffani Listenbee had a career-best day, despite falling into early foul trouble against North Carolina on Sunday. The Deacon senior tied her personal best with 20 points and set a new career mark in rebounds (13). She shot 9-of-11 from the field before fouling out in 30 minutes of action.
Listenbee??s performance, however, wasn??t quite enough to pull off the upset of the sixth-ranked Tar Heels, as UNC held on for a 10-point win, 67-57. Although North Carolina would build double-digit leads throughout the contest, the Deacs never went away. WFU trailed by seven at the half and pulled to within two points with less than five minutes remaining.
Taking This Show On The Road
The Demon Deacons have not won on their opponents?? home court since a 65-59 win at UNC Wilmington on Dec. 29, going 0-5 on the road in that span. All five of those losses have been to ACC teams.
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 Maryland was a three-point win, 57-54, on Feb. 20, 2000.
Oh, So Close!
After cruising through the months of November and December with just one game decided by 10 points or less, the Demon Deacons have been through some battles since the start of the New Year.
After defeating UNC Wilmington by six, 65-59, on Dec. 29, Wake Forest has gone 0-6 in games decided by 10 points or less. All six losses have come against ACC opponents.
Overall, six of the Deacs?? 11 ACC games so far this season have been decided by a close margin.
That stretch includes a pair of two-point losses to Florida State, a two-point loss to Maryland, a four-point loss to Georgia Tech, a 10-point loss at then No. 1-ranked Duke (which was a two-point game with less than a minute remaining), and a 10-point loss at home to No. 6 North Carolina.
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 a candidate for ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
The 5-7 guard is currently the ACC??s leading freshman scorer with 10.6 points per game, a mark that also ranks second on the Deacon squad. She is also the league??s 16th leading scorer overall. Her 39 three-pointers this season ranks third in the ACC in treys per game (1.86), while her three-point shooting percentage (.361) is fourth among league leaders. She 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 11th among the overall league??s leaders in assists (3.29 apg) as well as sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.60). That figure also ranks as the fifth-best season ratio in WFU history.
Only five ACC freshman rank among the league??s top 30 scorers, including Bond-Young, La??Tangela Atkinson of UNC (also with 10.6 ppg), Mistie Bass of Duke (8.1), Chrissy Fisher of Maryland (7.9) and Amanda White of Clemson (7.7) . In ACC games only, Bond-Young was the only rookie putting up double-figure scoring for the first half of the ACC season, but is currently the second-leading freshman with 9.2 ppg. Maryland??s Fisher is the current leader at 9.5.
Bond-Young also owns a team-high 13 double-figure scoring games and has led WFU in scoring five times this season.
Although her scoring numbers have been below her average in Wake??s last five games, Bond-Young has stepped up in the rebounding category, leading the team in two of those outings. She pulled down team-highs 10 at Clemson and six versus Georgia Tech. She also had 10 at Florida State while notching her first double-double.
Scouting The Terrapins
Maryland enters Thursday??s game with a 9-13 record, 3-8 in ACC play. The Terrapins sit in eighth place in the conference standings, two games ahead of Wake Forest. Maryland has lost six of its last seven games, with the lone win a 74-72 overtime decision at home against NC State.
Senior guard Renneika Razor leads the Terps with 15.6 points per game (15.0 in ACC games only). Razor also leads the conference in steals (3.5 spg). Junior center Delvona Oliver, a transfer from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, is scoring 12.5 points and pulling down a team-high 6.2 rebounds a contest. Senior Terri Daniels is third on the squad in scoring (9.3 ppg) and ranks third in the league in assists (4.64 apg).
Freshman Chrissy Fisher, a 6-0 freshman forward, has really come on strong in league play. Fisher is the ACC??s leading freshman scorer in conference games only, just edging Cotelia Bond-Young, 9.5 points to 9.2.
Like the first meeting between the two teams in January (a 75-73 Terp victory), Thursday night??s game has the potential to be a high-scoring contest. Both teams rank among the top half of the league in three-point shooting and three-pointers per game, but also rank in the lower third of the league in field goal percentage defense and scoring defense. The two teams combined for 12 treys in their earlier meeting.
The Series With Maryland
Maryland holds a 41-11 lead in a series which began in the 1976-77 season, although the series is just 6-4 in Maryland??s favor over the last 10 meetings ... the Terrapins opened the series by winning the first 14 meetings, the longest winning streak between the two teams ... Wake Forest has actually fared better on the road against Maryland, as the Terps have won 21 of 24 meetings in Winston-Salem ... the Deacs have won seven games in College Park but will make their first appearance in the new Comcast Center on Thursday ... Wake??s longest winning streak in the series is four games, from 1994-96 ... WFU??s Charlene Curtis owns a 4-9 record against the Terrapins ... Maryland coach Brenda Frese is 1-0 against the Demon Deacons with Maryland??s victory earlier this season.
WFU-Maryland Connections
Five Wake Forest players -- Meredith Bell (Waldorf), Cotelia Bond-Young (Landover), Keila Evans (Baltimore), Erin Ferrell (Gaithersburg) and Sandi James (Columbia) all hail from the state of Maryland ... combining the two rosters, 11 players from the state of Maryland are involved with Sunday??s game ... Maryland senior Brie Jackson attended The Bullis School, the same school Ferrell attended ... Jackson was coached there by Ferrell??s father, Wayne.
Twenty Points Times Seven
Through 21 games this season, Wake Forest has tallied seven 20-point games -- three by Eafton Hill, two by Tiffani Listenbee and one apiece by Tonia Brown and Cotelia Bond-Young.
The Deacs have already surpassed their 20-point game total from all of last year. In the 2001-02 season, Brown posted four 20-point games while Bianca Brown tallied one.
Coming Up Next
Wake Forest returns home to host a nationally-ranked top 10 opponent for the second straight game at Joel Coliseum. The Deacs host second-ranked Duke on Monday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised on the ACC regional sports network.
