Wake Forest University
9-8,6-7ACC
Georgia Tech
11-4,9-3ACC
Conti and Raca Lead Deacs to Road Win at Georgia Tech
2/7/2021 2:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Wake Forest snaps the Yellow Jackets seven-game winning streak, holding Georgia Tech to just 52 points on Sunday afternoon.
ATLANTA, Ga. -- After dropping the first matchup earlier this season, the Wake Forest women's basketball team got the bounce back victory at Georgia Tech, 61-52, on Sunday afternoon.
The Demon Deacons (9-8, 6-7 ACC) were led by their senior leaders in guard Gina Conti and forward Ivana Raca as the Deacs snapped the Yellow Jackets (11-4, 9-3 ACC) seven-game winning streak.
For the seventh time this season and the 15th time in her career, Raca finished the game with a double-double. She ended the afternoon with 11 points and 12 rebounds while also having four assists against the Yellow Jackets.
She now ranks 10th in program history in career rebounds, passing RaeAnna Mullholland (1994-97) with her first board of the third quarter.
Conti ended the game with a team-best 20 points including going a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line. In total the Deacs went 15-of-16 from the charity stripe on Sunday, helping close out the game down the stretch.
Junior forward Christina Morra and freshman guard Jewel Spear also finished the afternoon with double-figure points. The duo had 10 each in the Deacs' first victory at Georgia Tech since Feb. 2, 2004.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Junior forward Christina Morra got the Demon Deacons going on the low block as Wake Forest isolated her on the low block on the first three possessions. She scored twice to make it a 4-2 lead at the 8:07 mark of the first quarter.
- Late in the quarter with under three minutes to play, senior guard Gina Conti went on a 4-0 run of her own to make it a 9-8 game at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter.
- After 10 minutes of action, Wake Forest trailed 17-10 as Georgia Tech finished the quarter on a 8-2 run.
- After the Yellow Jackets scored on their opening possession of the second, the Demon Deacons proceeded to go on a 12-0 run over the next five minutes.
- During the run, freshman guard Jewel Spear knocked down a pair of three pointers, her first points of the contest.
- By the end of the run the Demon Deacons claimed a 22-19 lead, their first advantage since the 8:07 mark of the first quarter.
- The game remained tight throughout the rest of the quarter with each team trading leads.
- With less than 20 seconds left, senior forward Ivana Raca had the ball at the top of the key and found a wide open Conti on the left wing. Conti drilled the triple to give Wake Forest the 27-26 advantage.
- They took that lead into the halftime break.
- Conti led the Demon Deacons with nine points at the midway point.
- Raca continued to attack the glass, totaling seven rebounds in the first half.
- With the seven boards she moved into a tie for 10th place all time in program history with 650 for her career.
- With less than 20 seconds left, senior forward Ivana Raca had the ball at the top of the key and found a wide open Conti on the left wing. Conti drilled the triple to give Wake Forest the 27-26 advantage.
- Despite it being close throughout the third period of play, Wake Forest led during the entire quarter and pushed the lead out to as much as seven.
- The Deacs' seven-point edge came on a Raca made three from the left wing at the 3:38 mark of the third. At that point, the Demon Deacons led 39-32.
- In all, Georgia Tech was only able to manage 11 points during the quarter as Wake Forest went into the fourth quarter with a 41-37 lead.
- The Demon Deacon defense continued to thwart the offensive attack of the Yellow Jackets in the fourth quarter as Georgia Tech was never not able to get in a consistent offensive rhythm.
- A quick 6-0 spurt by the Deacs capped off by a three pointer at the end of the shot clock by Conti pushed the Demon Deacon advantage to 53-43 with 2:42 remaining in the game.
- With the help of efficient free throw shooting down the stretch, Wake Forest was able to close out the huge road victory.
- The Deacs shot 13-of-14 at the line in the fourth quarter while Gina Conti went a perfect 8-for-8 from the line.
- Wake Forest closed out the game with a near perfect 15-of-16 (93.8 pct.) mark at the charity stripe.
- The victory is the Deacs first in Atlanta since Feb. 2, 2004, snapping a streak of nine consecutive games.
STANDOUT STAT
With seven rebounds in the first half alone, senior forward Ivana Raca moved into the top 10 on the Wake Forest all-time rebounding list. She ended the afternoon with a team-high 12 boards, passing RaeAnna Mullholland (1994-97) with her first board of the third quarter.
With 11 points, she recorded her seventh double-double of the season and her second consecutive double-double. When she accomplishes the feat, the Demon Deacons are 5-2 this season.
FROM HOOVER
"That is a signature win. I told our kids that the team is going to finish third in our league, if it ended today. They are an extremely talented team and we knew that. We felt like our first game against them, we did not know who that team was that showed up. It was not the Wake Forest women's basketball team. We told our kids, forget it, that was not us, we are not going to go there. We really wanted another chance at them because we felt like it was such a bad game the first time, and we just gutted it out and showed a lot of grit today." - Head Coach Jen Hoover
NEXT UP
The Deacs come home for their penultimate home game of the season, hosting Pitt for a Thursday night tipoff at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The game will tip off at 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Wake Forest will be honoring its three seniors in Maya Banks, Gina Conti and Ivana Raca prior to the game. It will also be the annual Play4Kay Pink Game, helping raise awareness for breast cancer research.
