Wake Forest University
Florida A&M
Hamby's Career Night Leads Deacons Past FAMU 79-63
12/28/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2013
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF)
By Gary Petit, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
MIAMI, Fla. - Junior Dearica Hamby scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to lead Wake Forest to a 79-63 win over Florida A&M on the first night of the FIU Fun & Sun Classic on Saturday.
The win was the fourth-straight for the Demon Deacons who are now 8-4 on the season and advance to face host Florida International in the championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m.
The key run in the game came in the middle of the second half. FAMU was able to hang within eight points for most of the first half and the early part of the second half but then a 20-6 Demon Deacon run broke the game open.
Hamby dominated yet again as she notched her sixth 20-point game of the season. Her 18 rebounds topped her previous career-high of 17 against Campbell earlier this season. She also tied a career-high with five assists and notched five steals and two blocks. This was Hamby's 10th double-double of the season.
Douglas picked-up two quick fouls in the first half and was relegated to the bench but still finished with 13 points and a pair of assists. Freshman Ataijah Taylor filled-in for Douglas nicely as she finished with 10 points, three assists and four steals.
Fellow freshmen Keri Fulp and Kelila Atkinson also had nice evenings. Fulp scored a season-high seven points and pulled-down three rebounds while Atkinson chipped-in with six points, five rebounds and five assists.
For FAMU, Jasmine Grice scored 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had five steals. Taneka Rubin added 16 points and Kimberly Sparkman chipped-in with 14 points.
The Deacons shot a season-best 50 percent (30-of-60) from the floor and held FAMU to just 32.4 percent. Wake also had 20 assists on 30 made field goals.
FAMU jumped out to an early 9-6 lead but a 12-0 run for the Deacs over a six minute span led to an 18-9 edge. Hamby scored seven points during the run. The lead swelled to as many as 12 on a number of occasion and after a Rattler three-pointer in the waning seconds of the half, the teams headed to the locker room with Wake Forest in front 38-29.
It wasn't the prettiest of halves for the Deacons. Wake had 13 turnovers and was just 9-of-17 from the free throw line or the lead could have been more. The defense stepped-up however and limited FAMU to 35 percent in the first half.
The Rattlers remained close at the onset of the second half got to within seven points at 40-33. Lay-ups by Hamby and Taylor pushed the lead back to double-digits and would start the Deacon run. Hamby had eight points during the stretch with the majority of them coming on the fast break off of full-court pressure. Douglas also had a couple of lay-ins and a deep three-pointer.
When the dust settled on the run, the Deacons were in front 66-44 with eight minutes to play. The final eight minutes were slow and choppy with each team committing a number of fouls. That allowed the Deacons to stave-off the mini Rattler runs and the Deacs would take a 79-63 victory.
Wake Forest plays host FIU at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in the championship game. FIU defeated Fairleigh Dickinson in the first game of tournament.
