Wake Forest University
Mercer
Wake Forest Cruises Past Mercer 90-44
11/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Nov. 23, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Junior Asia Williams led four Demon Deacons in double-figures with a career-high 16 points as the Wake Forest women's basketball team cruised to a 90-44 victory over Mercer Wednesday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons improve to 3-1 on the season with the win as Mercer drops to 0-5.
Williams had given Wake a spark off the bench in each of the first three games this season and Wednesday was no exception. She was 6-of-7 from the floor and scored 12 points in the opening half and would finish with a career-high 16 points. Williams also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals in the game.
Freshman Dearica Hamby, playing in her fourth career game, finished with a season-high 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field. Hamby used her length well, collecting a game-high five steals.
Point guard Chelsea Douglas finished with 11 points and five assists for the Deacs while junior Sandra Garcia scored in double-figures for the first time this season, notching 10 points. Garcia was 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and also dished-out two assists.
Alicia Williams led Mercer on the afternoon with nine points while Alex Phillips pulled-down a game-high 14 rebounds. The Bears were without the services of their leading scorer, Briana Williams, for most of the game as she suffered a knee injury just three minutes into the contest.
The Deacons forced Mercer into 38 turnovers which led to a number of quality looks. Wake shot over 50 percent for most of the game and finished 34-of-72 for 47 percent. Mercer shot just 28 percent from the floor but held the advantage on the boards, outrebounding Wake 51-36.
After Mercer scored the first five points of the game, the Deacs scored 22 of the next 23 points to build a 22-6 lead with 10 minutes to play in the half. Wake shot 62 percent during the run and held the Bears to just 20 percent. Junior Mykala Walker scored seven points for Deacs during the spurt.
Wake Forest continued its pressure and would outscore Mercer the rest of the half 31-13 and led 48-19 at the break. The Deacs forced the Bears into 21 first half turnovers and converted them into 27 points. Wake also shot 58 percent (21-of-36) from floor with 36 of the 48 points coming from inside the lane.
The second half started much the same way as the first half as the Deacs opened on a 24-6 run to take a 72-25 advantage with 10 minutes to go. Hamby's first three-pointer of her career gave the Deacons' their biggest lead of the game to that point at 77-29 with just over seven minutes to play.
Wake then pushed the lead to as many as 52 at 90-38 and would go on to win 90-44. The Demon Deacons will spend the Thanksgiving holiday at home with family before returning to the court Friday night. Wake Forest will host Jacksonville at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. This will be the rubber match for the Deacs and Dolphins as the two teams split a pair of meetings the last two seasons.
