Wake Forest University
Furman
Defense Propels Deacons Past Furman 84-35
12/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2010
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WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Wake Forest forced 37 Furman turnovers and converted them in 35 points en route to rolling to an 84-35 victory Wednesday night at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
The win was the second-straight for the Deacs, who are now 7-5 on the season while the loss drops Furman to 6-5 on the year.
The 37 turnovers forced by the Deacons were the most by the Paladins in a game this season, topping their previous high of 25. Wake also dominated in the paint, outscoring Furman 52-18 down low.
Senior Brittany Waters led four Demon Deacons in double-figures with 13 points and four rebounds. Sophomore guard Lakevia Boykin scored 12 points and dished out two assists while freshman Erin Hall was 3-of-5 from long range and finished with 11 points. Freshman point guard Chelsea Douglas came off the bench to score 10 points and dish out four assists.
Sophomore center Sandra Garcia and junior point guard Brooke Thomas also had solid all-around games Wednesday. Garcia finished with nine points, six rebounds and a career-high four steals while Thomas was aggressive all night, posting seven points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Furman was led by Kendra Berry, Raegan Thompson and Kaitlin Oberg who all finished with six points apiece. Berry led the Paladins on the boards with seven rebounds but also had a game-high nine turnovers.
Boykin and Thomas combined for 11 of Wake's first 14 points as the Deacs raced out to a 14-4 lead. Wake extended the lead to 19 at 27-8 on a lay-up by Garcia at the 7:04 mark but the Paladins answered with buckets from Lakyn Ledford and Ayanna Randolph as well as a three-pointer by Kelly O'Connor to cut the lead to 12 at 27-15 with 5:44 to play in the half.
The Deacs then got a jumper from Mykala Walker to end the Furman run and would close the half on a 9-2 run of their own to take a 36-17 lead into the locker room.
Boykin led all scorers at the break with nine points while Waters and Douglas each had six. Wake forced 21 first half turnovers and converted them into 24 points.
Waters came out of the locker room with the hot hand and scored Wake's first seven points of the second half to help push the lead to 26 at 45-19. Furman then got a layup from Oberg and a free throw by Martha Robinson at the 15:33 mark but that was the last Paladin score for the next eight minutes. The Deacs would score 20 points during that span, including six from Secily Ray and four each from Garcia and Boykin to build a 65-22 lead with 7:31 to play in the game.
Wake held that 43-point edge for the rest of the contest as Hall's third three-pointer of the night provided the final margin of 84-35.
The 84 points were the most for the Deacs since they scored 86 points in an overtime victory against Butler on Nov. 26. Wake shot 45.2 percent (33-of-73) from the floor while limiting Furman to just 26.8 percent (11-of-41).
Two areas that bugged the Deacs during their recent skid was rebounding and turnovers but Wednesday, they righted the ship on both. Wake was +9 on the boards (42-33) which was the highest margin in the last five games and it committed just 14 turnovers, which was the fewest since the William & Mary game on Nov. 21.
The Deacons will now have a week off to enjoy the Christmas holiday before hosting another SoCon-foe in Appalachian State on Wednesday, Dec. 29. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Joel Coliseum.
