Wake Forest Athletics
Stephenson Earns Second ACC Weekly Honor
2/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ariel Stephenson of Wake Forest women's basketball has picked up her second ACC Rookie of the Week award of the season, the conference announced Monday afternoon.
Voted on by the Blue Ribbon Panel, Stephenson was named the Rookie of the Week after averaging 19 points per game last week in two Wake Forest victories over Pittsburgh and NC State. The 19-point average came on a 48.1 percent clip from the floor, including a 53.1 percent mark from long range in 34.4 minutes of action.
On Thursday at Pittsburgh, Stephenson led the Deacs with a team-high 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Against NC State, Stephenson notched a game and career high 22 points to lead the Deacs to their first win over NC State since the 2012-13 season. The freshman has now led Wake Forest in scoring each of the last four games after leading the Deacs in only four of her first 20 career games.
Now with two ACC Rookie of the Week awards, Stephenson in the first Demon Deacon to earn two in a season since Sandra Garcia in 2009-10. Since Garcia's second ACC Rookie of the Week honor on Feb. 1, 2010, a Wake Forest player had not won the honor since Stephenson's award after the first week of the 2015-16 season.
Stephenson is riding a hot streak since the latter part of January. In her last six games, she is averaging 17.5 points per contest – nearly five points more than her season average – while shooting 42.9 percent from the field with a stellar 38.6 percent from long range.
Wake Forest goes for its third-straight ACC win on Thursday night, Feb. 11, in South Carolina against Clemson at 7 p.m. The Demon Deacons are in search of their first three-game winning streak in conference play since the 2011-12 season when they did it twice. That season, Wake Forest made its most recent trip to the WNIT, beating Charlotte in the first round before falling in overtime to James Madison.
