Women's Basketball Opens Practice Friday
10/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 15, 2009
2009-10 Schedule in PDF Format 
Updated Team Roster
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - On Friday, October 16, the Wake Forest women's basketball team will officially begin practice for the 2009-10 season. Today the Demon Deacons will hold their final fall skill instruction and follow with six team practices through the next five days.
This year the Deacons have five true freshmen that will have to get acclimated quickly to the fast pace of practice.
"We want to make sure that we understand the pace of play. We want to make sure the speed and the pace of practice is right," Wake Forest head coach Mike Petersen said.
"We've got a ton of stuff to put in right away. At the end of six days the players will have a lot of offensive and defensive information to absorb. There is a very stiff learning curve, however you can't stop practice to help everyone catch up."
The Deacons will have a lot of ground to cover in the next few weeks because they have an extremely open lineup at this point. Last season Wake Forest graduated two of its most consistent starters over the last four years, Alex Tchangoue and Corinne Groves. The squad has a lot of versatile players to fill the voids, but there are no definites at any spot in the lineup right now. The first weeks of practice will be crucial in working out personnel.
"One of the things we like about this group is we've got really good versatility," Petersen said.
"We've got a lot of different people that play a lot of different positions. We are going to look at a lot of different groups together. We have to see which people work best together. That is going to be a key for us in the first six days."
The Deacons are entering 2009-10 practice coming off one of the strongest seasons in Wake Forest's women's basketball history. The Deacons finished 19-12 in 2008-09, ending the season in the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
Wake Forest will begin competition on with an exhibition game against Mars Hill on November 9 and follow up with the season opener against Jacksonville on November 13 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
- www.WakeForestSports.com -
