Wake Forest Athletics
Women's Basketball Set For ACC Tournament This Weekend
3/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
WFU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
ACC TOURNAMENT PACKAGE
Game 28
Fri., March 7, 2003
Wake Forest (13-14, 3-13 ACC) vs. #2/2 Duke (28-1, 16-0 ACC)
26th Annual ACC Tournament/Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum
Seedings: Duke: No. 1/Wake Forest: No. 9
Tipoff: 8:00 pm
Radio: Locally on WBRF 98.1 FM and the internet at www.WakeForestSports.com. Carter Blackburn and Roper Halverson call the action.
Records: WFU finished the regular season with a 13-14 record, 3-13 in ACC play after losing at Georgia Tech, 77-60, on Monday evening. Duke went 28-1 in the regular season and finished the ACC slate with a 16-0 record for the second straight year.
The Series: Friday??s game will mark the 59th meeting between the two teams. Duke leads the series, 40-18, and has won 22 straight over the Demon Deacons.
The Coaches: Deacon coach Charlene Curtis is in her sixth season at WFU, where she has compiled a 55-111 record. Now in her 18th season, her career has produced a 217-261 mark. Duke coach Gail Goestenkors is 265-83 in her 11th overall season as a head coach, all with the Blue Devils.
Noteworthy: The meeting with Duke is the second time in three seasons that Wake has faced the Blue Devils in the opening round of the ACC Tournament. Duke won in overtime, 75-68, in 2001.
26th Annual ACC Tournament Opens Friday; Deacs Face Duke
With the regular season now complete, the Wake Forest women??s basketball team heads to Greensboro, N.C. for the ACC Tournament, March 7-10 at the Greensboro Coliseum. It is the 26th annual women??s conference tournament, the longest-running event of its kind in the country.
A challenging task lies ahead for the Demon Deacons, who are seeded ninth in the bracket. Wake Forest will face top-seeded and three-time defending ACC champion Duke in a first-round matchup on Friday, March 7 at 8:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast locally on the radio on WBRF 98.1 FM as well as WakeForestSports.com.
The winner of the Wake Forest-Duke matchup is awarded a bye to the semifinals on Sunday, where it would face the winner of the Florida State-Georgia Tech matchup at 1:00 p.m.
Wake Forest??s Path to Greensboro
The Demon Deacons finished ninth in the regular season standings after dropping the ACC finale at Georgia Tech this past Monday. Wake Forest finished 13-14 overall, 3-13 in league play.
Although Wake Forest got off to its best start (9-1) in 10 seasons and posted its highest number of victories (13) in seven years, the Deacs struggled in conference play, going through a nine-game losing streak in the middle of the season. They rebounded to win three of their last six games before finishing just under .500 for the regular season.
Scouting The Blue Devils
After beginning the 2002-03 season as the nation??s No. 1 team, the Duke Blue Devils have been nearly perfect this season, compiling a 28-1 record as well as an unblemished 16-0 ACC mark for the second straight year. Duke??s lone loss was a 77-65 decision to then second-ranked UConn in a battle between the nation??s top two teams on Feb. 1.
A look at the Duke personnel has to start with All-America candidate and the front-runner for ACC Player of the Year, junior Alana Beard. Beard, who was the only unanimous pick on the All-ACC first team, leads the league in scoring with 22.5 points per game -- 4.9 points more than the second-place scorer. Beard also tops the ACC in overall field goal percentage (.552), although Wake Forest??s Tiffani Listenbee led that category in ACC games only this season (.547). Beard can do it all, as she??s ranked among the ACC top 12 leaders in every statistical category but three-point shooting.
Another Blue Devil, however, leads that statistic as junior guard Vicki Krapohl, a third-team All-ACC pick, tops the league in three-point percentage (.425). Another junior, forward Iciss Tillis, really stepped up in ACC play. Tillis was the second-leading vote-getter on the All-ACC first team after averaging 15.2 points and 8.6 rebounds in conference games.
The Blue Devils lead the ACC in the majority of the statistical categories. Duke and Wake Forest rank 1-2 in the league in three categories -- including turnover margin (Duke 8.69 to WFU??s 2.89) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3 to 0.92). Wake Forest actually owns the edge in three-pointers made per game, averaging a league-high 5.70 treys per contest to Duke??s 5.28.
The Series With Duke
Duke is Wake Forest??s second-oldest rivalry (behind North Carolina) as Friday??s game marks the 59th meeting between the two schools (Wake and UNC have met 60 times) ... Duke leads the series 40-18, and has won 22 consecutive contests, dating back to a 70-69 Wake win in the 1993 ACC Tournament ... the first meeting between the two schools took place in the 1974-75 season, a year before Duke??s women??s program became an official varsity sport ... the two teams have met at least once every year since the 1976-77 campaign ... Wake??s longest winning streak in the series is five games (1987-90), while Duke??s longest streak is its current 22-game mark ... the two teams have had some close battles over the years, as 14 games have been decided by five points or less ...none, however, went into overtime before the opening-round battle in the 2001 ACC Tournament ... in the last 10 meetings Duke??s average margin of victory has been 26.1 points ... Duke leads the series 4-2 in games played on neutral courts (3-2 in ACC Tournament games).
Devils & Deacs In Tournament Play
Despite Duke??s No. 2 national ranking and top seed in the ACC Tournament, the Blue Devils should be the opponent of choice for Wake Forest, at least from a historical perspective. Consider these facts:
* Wake Forest and Duke have met five times in conference tournament play, and the Blue Devils are the only team WFU has defeated at least twice in the tournament.
* All five meetings have been decided by nine points or less. The average margin of victory in those five games is 4.8 points. The average margin in WFU??s tournament games with other opponents is 21.2 points.
* In the last tournament meeting between the two teams (2001), ninth-seeded WFU took top-seeded Duke to overtime before losing, 75-68. It is the only overtime game between a 1 and 9 seed in tournament history.
Deacon-Devil Connections
Wake Forest sophomore Erin Ferrell and Duke??s Monique Currie were high school teammates at The Bullis School in Maryland, where Ferrell??s father, Wayne, coached them to back-to-back conference championships and a 27-2 record during their senior season (2001).
Did You Know?
Wake Forest??s 10-point loss (71-61) at then No. 1 Duke in January was the Blue Devils?? toughest test in an ACC home game so far this season. Duke??s other conference games at home -- all Blue Devil victories -- were decided by an average of 29.9 points.
Duke??s 71 points in that win over WFU was its third-lowest point total at home this season (behind 65 points in its loss to UConn and 69 points versus Clemson).
Deacs Look To Halt Another Long Opponent Streak
With its matchup versus Duke, WFU is looking to halt another long series win streak for its opponent. Earlier in the season the Deacons stopped Virginia??s 49-game win streak in the series with a 77-66 victory. The Blue Devils have won 22 straight in this series, currently the longest such streak against the Deacons. Wake??s last win over the Blue Devils was a one-point win, 70-69, in the 1993 ACC Tournament ??play-in?? game.
Listenbee Saves Her Best For Last
Wake Forest senior forward Tiffani Listenbee is playing some of her best basketball during the final stretch of her collegiate career, which helped her earn third-team All-ACC honors and make a case as one of the league??s most improved players for 2002-03.
For a stretch late in the regular season, Listenbee led Wake Forest in scoring for six consecutive games and posted double-figure scoring in eight of nine contests. She was also the team??s leading rebounder in five of seven outings during that stretch, and had double-figure rebounding performances in four of those games.
Also included in that stretch were two double-doubles -- 20 points and 13 rebounds versus North Carolina and 18 points, 12 boards at NC State. The 20 points tied her then-career high, while the 13 boards were a personal best. She broke that scoring high with 21 points versus North Carolina A&T.
Listenbee also improved her field goal shooting numbers, shooting 43-of-63 (68 percent) from the field during that six-game stretch. She finished the ACC season as the league leader in field goal percentage (.547). She was the only Deacon averaging double-figure scoring in conference games (10.8 ppg), a mark that ranked 14th in the league.
Bond-Young Bursts Onto the Scene
Wake Forest freshman Cotelia Bond-Young made an immediate impact and became an effective go-to player for the Demon Deacons this season, leading to her selection on the ACC All-Freshman Team.
The 5-7 guard led all ACC rookies in scoring (10.0 ppg) and assists (3.7 apg). She also finished the the regular season as the league??s 19th leading scorer and sixth-ranked assists leader overall. Her 42 three-pointers ranked fourth in the ACC in treys per game (1.56), while her three-point shooting percentage (.321) was ninth among league leaders. She led both of those categories for much of the early season.
Bond-Young quickly proved to be a solid all-around player, as she also ranked third among ACC rookies in steals (1.3) and sixth in rebounding (4.4). Her 1.72 assist-to-turnover ratio (100-58) ranks as the fourth-best season ratio in school history and is currently WFU??s career record in that category.
Bond-Young owns a team-high 16 double-figure scoring games and has led WFU in scoring five times and in assists 14 times this season.
Last Time Out
Wake Forest traveled to Atlanta to face a red-hot Georgia Tech team in the regular season finale on Monday, March 3. The Yellow Jackets, winners of five straight leading up to the game, jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back, leading by 19 at the half, 43-24, and finishing with a 77-60 victory.
Deacon junior Eafton Hill led the Wake Forest effort off the bench, scoring 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Another junior, Tonia Brown, finished with 14 points, including a trio of three-pointers. The Deacs couldn??t stop Georgia Tech??s duo of Sonja Mallory and Fallon Stokes, however, who finished with 24 and 23 points, respectively.
Deacs Notch Victory Number 13
Wake Forest??s win over Clemson marked the Deacs?? 13th victory of the 2002-03 campaign. It is the most victories posted by a Wake Forest squad since the 1995-96 season and most during the Charlene Curtis era at WFU.
Although they finished the regular season one win below .500, the 2002-03 Deacons are still in the hunt for a winning season; something that hasn??t been accomplished at WFU since the 1990-91 campaign.
Bond-Young Sets Assist-to-Turnover Record
Although her scoring numbers were below her early-season average in the second half of the ACC season, freshman Cotelia Bond-Young stepped up in the rebounding and assist categories. She pulled down rebounding team-highs of 10 at Clemson and six versus Georgia Tech. She had 10 boards at Florida State while notching her first double-double.
Bond-Young has also been the team??s assists leader in 14 games this season, including five of the last six outings. For the season she??s averaging 4.2 assists with just 2.1 turnovers per game. She??s the ACC??s leading freshman in assists (3.72 apg) and leads WFU assist-to-turnover ratio (1.72). That mark ties as the third-best season ratio in school history. And with her 100th assist against Georgia Tech in the team??s last outing, Bond-Young is currently holding the school career record for assist-to-turnover ratio.
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 111). She is the only current player on the squad who can claim this accomplishment, and that figure ties as the 10th most games played in school history.
If Listenbee should play in every possible WFU game during the tournament, 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 this weekend, Listenbee could do no worse than tie that mark.
Deacon Duo Dishes 100
Wake Forest has two players -- freshman Cotelia Bond-Young and junior Tonia Brown -- who have each dished at least 100 assists so far this season. Brown leads the team with 103, while Bond-Young reached the century mark in the team??s final outing of the regular season.
Besides WFU, North Carolina is the only other team in the ACC to have two players with at least 100 assists this season.
The last time Wake Forest achieved this mark was the 1992-93 season, when Nicole Levesque tallied 112 assists and B.J. Thames dished 106.
