Wake Forest University
California
Wake Forest Falls To No. 20 Cal 84-61
11/30/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2013
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF)
By Gary Petit, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
RENO, Nev. - Wake Forest junior Dearica Hamby scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds but No. 20 Cal shot over 55 percent for the floor and took the opening round game of the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic Friday night 84-61.
Cal (4-2) broke open a close game with a 28-9 run that spanned the end of the first half and the start of the second half. That run gave the Bears a 49-31 lead and the Demon Deacons (4-3) wouldn't get any closer than 14 the rest of way.
Hamby continued her solid start to the season. She has now recorded a double-double in five of the seven games. She scored 16 points of her 27 points in the second half.
Senior Chelsea Douglas finished the night with 16 points and dished-out three assists. Freshman Ataijah Taylor also had a solid night off the bench with six points and a team-high four assists.
Six Golden Bears scored in double-figures on the night led by center Justine Hartman's 16 points. Afure Jemerigbe finished with 15 points and six rebounds while Brittany Boyd had 13 points and six assists.
Cal shot 55.6 percent for the game and was 20-of-29 from the free throw line. The Demon Deacons were coming off their best shooting game of the season at Arizona but shot just 37.9 percent tonight. Wake did however hold their own with the taller posts from Cal on the boards as the Deacs grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and held a 20-5 edge in second chance points.
Both teams started slow from the floor but a pair of three-pointers by Cal gave the Golden Bears an 11-5 lead at the 14:31 mark. Douglas answered with a three of her own to spark a 12-0 Deacon run and Wake had its largest lead of the opening half at 17-11.
Cal worked the ball inside the rest of the first half as Hartman scored all 12 of her first-half points from within two feet of the basket. The Bears retook the lead at 21-20 and would eventually take as much as an 11-point lead before settling on a 40-31 edge at the break. Hamby led the Deacons in the first half with 11 points and 6 rebounds.
The Bears scored the first nine points of the second half to take a commanding 49-31 lead. Boyd was the difference in the first 10 minutes as she scored four points and dished-out six assists to help Cal continue to build the lead.
The Cal lead grew to as many as 24 points with 10 minutes left in the game but three-straight lay-ins by Hamby helped the Deacs get to within 16 at 70-54 with under seven minutes to play. The Bears did the majority of their scoring the rest of the half from the free throw line and would take the game 84-61.
The Demon Deacons will face host Nevada in the first game on Saturday evening beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/nevada.portal.
