Wake Forest University
Seton Hall
Pirates Snap Deacs' Five-Game Winning Streak
12/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- Though jumping out to an early lead, Wake Forest women's basketball was unable to secure its sixth victory in a row in taking a 70-63 loss on the road at Seton Hall on Sunday afternoon inside Walsh Gymnasium.
The loss drops the Demon Deacons to 6-2 on the season while Seton Hall moves to 5-3 and ends a brief two-game losing streak. Wake Forest was in search of its sixth-straight victory for the first time since 2009 and was riding its longest winning streak since the nonconference portion of the schedule during the 2014-15 season in December 2014.
Wake Forest got off to a hot start in hitting 9-of-18 shots to open the game while Seton Hall connected on just two field goals in the first quarter. The stellar shooting helped the Demon Deacons open up an 18-2 advantage over the course of the first 7:30 of the game.
After Wake Forest built the 16-point advantage, though, Seton Hall worked its way back throughout the better part of the second and third quarters and tied the game for the first time at 34 with 4:11 to play in the third quarter after a 32-16 run.
Trailing by six through three quarters at 44-38 after SHU took its first lead of the day with 3:31 to go in the third, Wake Forest fought its way back and cut the lead to two at 45-43 after an Ariel Stephenson three-pointer and tied the game at 49 with 5:47 to play with a Stephenson layup. The Pirates answered the Deacon run in scoring nine of the game's next 10 points to take a 58-50 lead with 2:58 to go and held the Demon Deacons at arm's length over the final minutes on the way to the victory.
Wake Forest did cut the score back down to five with 49 seconds to go after layups by Tyra Whitehead and Stephenson, but four Seton Hall free throws rebuilt the lead to nine with 30 seconds to go. Wake Forest again cut the Pirate lead to five at 68-63 with 12 seconds to play with an Elisa Penna three-pointer, but two free throws again extended the lead back to seven with 10 seconds to go and the Deacs turned the ball over with seven seconds to play, signaling the end of the comeback attempt.
The Demon Deacons committed a season-high 28 turnovers on the afternoon and Seton Hall scored 24 points off those turnovers. The Pirates struggled in the first half with turnovers, committing 19 in the opening 20 minutes before committing just four in the final two quarters. The 28 turnovers is 10 more than the previous high-mark of 18 this season, which came in the loss at LSU on Nov. 13. The 28 turnovers is also the most in a game since the Deacs committed 30 on Jan 28, 2016, against Florida State.
In scoring 25 fourth-quarter points, the Demon Deacons hit 52.9 percent of their shots in the frame while trying to make the comeback, but it came on the heels of shooting 7.7 percent in the third quarter on 1-of-13 as Seton Hall took a six-point lead to the final quarter and won by just seven.
Penna led Wake Forest with 15 points and Milan Quinn followed close behind at 14 points. Quinn missed her third-straight double-double and fifth of the season by one rebound, finishing with nine on the afternoon. Amber Campbell also nearly recorded her first-career double-double in finishing with 13 points and a career high nine rebounds. Stephenson had her streak of five-straight games scoring in double figures snapped, finishing with nine. She did pull down seven rebounds and had a game-high six assists.
Seton Hall had four players score in double-figures. The Pirates were led by LaTecia Smith's 19 points while Lubirdia Gordon had 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. JaQuan Jackson had 12 and Kaela Hilaire also finished with 11.
With the team's three-game road trip in the books, Wake Forest returns home for a season-long four-game homestand starting Thursday, Dec. 8, at LJVM Coliseum against Xavier. Opening tip is set for 7 p.m. Xavier is 5-0 this season and takes on Michigan on Monday night at home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thursday's game in Winston-Salem will mark the first road game of the year for the Musketeers.
