Wake Forest Falls at No. 7 Louisville, 75-61

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –The Wake Forest women's basketball team fell at the hand of No. 7 Louisville, 75-61, Sunday afternoon in the KFC Yum! Center.

With the defeat to the ACC leading Cardinals (16-1, 5-0 ACC), the Demon Deacons (10-6, 3-2 ACC) had their three-game conference winning streak snapped.

Despite trailing by as much as 19 in the game, the Deacs continued to make runs against the top-10 Cardinals. In the fourth quarter, Wake Forest was as close as eight points.

For the second time this season, a pair of Demon Deacons finished a game with a double-double. Christina Morra posted a game and career-high 13 rebounds en route to her second career double-double. She added 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

Ivana Raca, who led the team with 16 points, tallied her third consecutive double-double with four of her 10 rebounds coming on the offensive end of the floor.

The Demon Deacons 15 offensive rebounds helped translate into 16 second chance points. Wake outrebounded Louisville by 10 (42-to-32) and had 10 more second-chance points.

"In the second half, I thought we adjusted to their defense and we took care of the ball," head coach Jen Hoover said. "That was a big difference, and we outrebounded them. Those were two things that we really talk a lot about coming into the game. I thought our kids really came out here and fought against a talented team."

After taking an early 6-5 lead on the first five possessions of the game, the Cardinals proceeded to go on a 14-0 run to take a double-digit lead.

Down 10 entering the second quarter, a 10-4 run in the first 3:31 cut the deficit to just 23-19. A deep three at the top of the key from Alexandria Scruggs helped cap the run.

The game remained close until 2:45 left in the half. The Cardinals closed out the half on a 10-0 run to take a 38-23 advantage at halftime.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Deacs scored on three of their first five possessions to take an early 6-5 lead at the 6:21 mark of the first quarter. With the shot clock running down, Gina Conti worked her way to the right elbow and to put Wake in front.
After being down 19-9 entering the second quarter, the Demon Deacons worked themselves back into the game. A three from Alexandria Scruggs with 6:29 left in the quarter completed the 10-4 run and put Wake withing four.
After being within five points with 2:45 left in the second quarter, Louisville closed out the half on a 10-0 run. The No. 7 Cardinals led 38-23 at the halftime interval.
Coming into the second half trailing 15, the Demon Deacons chipped away at the lead by working the ball into the paint. After a pair of layups from Scruggs and one by Christina Morra, Wake trailed just 49-42 with 2:29 left in the third.
In the fourth quarter, the Deacs were within eight of the top-10 Louisville squad before falling to the ACC leaders.

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons return home for a midweek matchup against Virginia on Thursday. Wake Forest has won its last four games inside of the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum including both in conference play.

The game can also be seen on ACCNX with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. (ET).

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Team Stats

Ivana Raca

Christina Morra

Alex Sharp

Alexandria Scruggs

Players Mentioned

Gina Conti

Christina Morra

Ivana Raca

Alexandria Scruggs

Players Mentioned

Gina Conti

Christina Morra

Ivana Raca

Alexandria Scruggs

Wake Forest Athletics