Wake Forest University
6-4,3-3ACC
Notre Dame
6-5,4-3ACC
Conti Drops Career-High in Road Defeat
1/14/2021 6:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Senior Gina Conti dropped a career-best 29 points including eight three pointers.
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Despite a career day from senior guard Gina Conti, the Wake Forest women's basketball team dropped a tight 79-72 game at Notre Dame.
Conti finished the afternoon with a career-best 29 points to lead the Demon Deacons (6-4, 3-3 ACC). The Grove City, Ohio native knocked down 8-of-12 threes in the game nearly willing Wake Forest to the come-from-behind victory.
Her eight threes are also a career-high and just one short of the school record held by Elisa Penna (Feb. 18, 2018 at NC State) and Chelsea Douglas (Dec. 29, 2013 vs. Florida International).
In the fourth quarter, a Conti fast break layup with 30 seconds left cut the game to 75-72. From there, free throws from the Fighting Irish (6-5, 4-3 ACC) extended their lead and lifted them past the Deacs.
Fellow senior Ivana Raca continued to score at a high rate, posting 17 points in the loss. She also collected four rebounds to go with a steal, block and an assist.
Despite having just two points, sophomore Alexandria Scruggs found a way to change the game in other ways. She had a team-best eight rebounds and five assists while also grabbing a pair of steals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Deacs got off to a strong start with the help of an opening possession three pointer from freshman guard Jewel Spear. Within the first three minutes of the game, Wake Forest built its leads to 7-2.
- The start was capped off when sophomore guard Alexandria Scruggs ripped down an offensive rebound and laid it back in at 7:18 of the first quarter.
- Notre Dame worked its way back into the game eventually leading by as much as six points. A Gina Conti three right before the buzzer made it a 19-16 game after one quarter of action.
- The thin Notre Dame margin remained for much of the second quarter. Olivia Summiel made it a 27-23 game with 4:24 on the clock, grabbing an offensive board and laying it in.
- From that point, the Fighting Irish closed out the second quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 37-25 advantage into the locker room.
- Through 20 minutes of play, Ivana Raca was on her way to another double-figure game, netting a team-best eight points in the opening 20 minutes.
- Spear continued her hot shooting from behind the arc, knocking down 2-of-3 attempts from distance.
- The Demon Deacons answered with a run of their own to start the third quarter. Sparked by a Christina Morra layup and one, the Deacs trimmed it to a 39-33 contest with 7:32 in the quarter.
- Throughout the quarter Wake Forest moved to within six points of Notre Dame including on a Conti three from the corner after an offensive rebound. The make with 1:14 on the clock made it a 55-49 game. It capped off a 7-0 run for the Demon Deacons.
- The Fighting Irish scored on their next possession to take a 57-49 lead into the fourth.
- With the help of Conti's sharpshooting from behind the arc, the Deacs continued to score at a high rate. Her three with 4:52 remaining in the game made it a 69-59 contest. At that point, the senior was 6-of-10 from behind the arc and had a game-high 21 points.
- Behind a career performance from Conti, the Deacs continued to work themselves back into the game. After a steal and fastbreak layup from Conti, Wake Forest made it a 75-72 game with 30 seconds remaining in the game.
- That would be as close as the Demon Deacons got, falling to Notre Dame, 79-72.
STANDOUT STAT
Gina Conti finished the afternoon with a career-best 8-of-12 three pointers, finishing one away from the school record.
Coming into the game, her previous career-high in three-point makes was four and her season-high was three.
She also topped her previous career-high of 25 points, coming at St. John's last season on Nov. 22, 2019.
FROM HOOVER
"Our energy to start the game, other than hitting the first three, we looked like we were a little flat. It looked like we were in slow motion. We just dug too big of a hole in the first half. When you score nine points in a quarter, you're just fighting and clawing to get back from it. Give us a lot of credit for the fight. Conti put us on her shoulders and was going to try to will us to win. Her teammates helped her. People found her and found things, but you can not let a team have 22 assists and 11 turnovers. Your defense is nonexistent if that happens. That's what's most disappointing. We can not have those kind of statistics go that way. We out rebounded them, we made more threes than them, but we knew that is where they win games is in the paint."
NEXT UP
Wake Forest continues its road weekend, visiting Virginia Tech on Sunday, Jan. 17.
The game will tip off at 4 p.m. on ACC Network.
