Wake Forest University
Furman
Fourth-Quarter Rally Lifts Deacs Past Furman
11/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF) 
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Leading for a little more than 10 minutes total, Wake Forest women's basketball pulled out a 59-52 victory Wednesday afternoon against Furman inside LJVM Coliseum to finish its three-game homestand with a perfect record.
Trailing by four at 45-41 entering the fourth quarter, Wake Forest opened on a 7-0 run to take the lead thanks to a three-pointer by Elisa Penna, a layup by Amber Campbell and a layup by Kortni Simmons with 5:18 to play.
Furman responded with four-straight points on two free throws and a jumper by Whitney Bunn to take a one-point lead at 49-48, but Wake Forest then went on another run with an Ariel Stephenson layup, an Alex Sharp three-pointer and a Milan Quinn layup with 1:34 to go to put Wake Forest up 55-49.
Down the stretch, Furman's Le'Jzae Davidson hit a three-pointer with 1:23 to go to cut the Demon Deacon lead to three at 55-52, but the Wake Forest defense didn't allow another point to the Paladins in clinching the 59-52 victory.
Wake Forest improves to 4-1 on the season with the victory while Furman is left still in search of its first win in four tries, falling to 0-4. The Demon Deacons are 4-1 to open the season for the third straight year after racing out to the record in both 2014-15 and 2015-16. Wake Forest led for a total of 10:23 throughout the afternoon while Furman led for 27:32, but the Demon Deacons were on top when it mattered most.
In the fourth quarter alone, Wake Forest's defense did a number on Furman's offensive attack in allowing the Paladins to shoot just 2-for-12 from the field with six turnovers. On the flip side, Wake Forest had just one turnover in the final quarter while hitting six shots from the field and four more at the free throw line in tallying 18 points to Furman's seven in the quarter.
The Demon Deacons finished with 48 rebounds to Furman's 40. Wake Forest has now pulled down at least 47 rebounds in four of its five games thus far this year and is averaging 46.4 boards per game, which is second in the ACC behind only Notre Dame.
Stephenson led the Demon Deacons with 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting while pulling down seven rebounds. Penna was the only other player in double figures for the Deacs with 11 points. On the glass, Sharp led the Deacs with a career-high 11. She has now pulled down at least seven rebounds in each of her first five collegiate games and is averaging 7.8 per game. Quinn also had a solid night on the boards with 10 rebounds to go with her eight points. She leads Wake Forest in the early going with 8.2 rebounds per contest.
Furman was led by Cierra Carter's 15 points and 13 rebounds. Davidson and Bunn joined Carter in double figures with 12 points apiece, but no other Paladin scored more than four points in the game.
After going back and forth throughout the first half, Furman took a 32-25 lead into the locker room to mark the biggest halftime deficit of the season thus far for Wake Forest. Out of the break, the Demon Deacons went on a 10-2 run over the first 3:03 of the third quarter to build a 37-34 lead, but Furman answered with back-to-back three-pointers to regain the lead. After Wake Forest's early run in the third, Furman went on an 11-4 run and took its four-point lead to the fourth quarter before the Wake Forest defense clamped down in helping to seal the victory.
Wake Forest committed just nine turnovers in the game, which marks the lowest total of the season through the first five games. The number is the lowest since committing nine against Clemson in the 2016 ACC Tournament on March 2. It's just the second time since the start of the 2015-16 season Wake Forest has committed single-digit turnovers.
With the three-game homestand concluded, Wake Forest heads out on the road for its next three games starting with a matchup at Elon on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m. The Deacs and Phoenix have not met since Feb. 12, 1980, and this will be Wake Forest's first trip to Elon since 1979.
