Dreams Become Reality at 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

The Deacs believed they had done enough last season to take that next step forward.

The Wake Forest Women's Basketball team grabbed an emotional overtime victory over North Carolina in the penultimate regular-season game a year ago, then went to Greensboro and won a pair of games in the ACC Tournament — including yet another precious victory over the Heels. The Deacs had finished the season with a .500 record, good enough to earn a WNIT invitation.

And then just a week later the college sports world came to a screeching halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WNIT invitation never came, as the tournament was never played, just as the NCAA Tournament was canceled.

So, you'll have to forgive coach Jen Hoover and her team for the nerves and anxiousness they encountered Monday, as they waited along with a small group of booster and fans at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum to see if they had earned an invitation to the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

The Deacs are a tough, gritty, experienced team who challenged themselves the entire year against some of the best competition both in the ACC and through a rigorous non-conference slate against several ranked opponents. They put a cap on their season with yet another victory over North Carolina in the ACC Tournament — a team that was comfortably in the tournament in every projection available.

Yet, the Deacs were considered firmly planted on the NCAA Tournament bubble — experts had Wake Forest as one of the final teams to potentially get an at-large invite, so nothing was assured.

The first half of the bracket had been revealed and Wake Forest hadn't heard its name called, meaning 32 of the 64 teams had been announced.

Then in the second game announced in the Alamo Region, Wake Forest was announced as the No. 9 seed, set to square off against eight-seeded Oklahoma State at 1 p.m.

Sunday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The reveal set off a spontaneous celebration among the Wake Forest players and staff, with hugs, screams and cheers filling the coliseum.

"Just after last year, with getting postseason taken away, the opportunity of experiencing what it could be like if we got in and then not having it was hard," Wake Forest senior point guard Gina Conti said. "For me specifically, that carried over to this year, and knowing that the opportunity is here. Every game we played like it was our last game, every single player that stepped on the court did that. It just showed throughout the season and now we have the opportunity."

The Demon Deacons are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988, when freshman center Jenny Mitchell (now coach Jen Hoover) scored the winning basket in a first-round victory over Villanova.

"I am just so excited," Hoover said. "Nerves, anxiousness all day long from top to bottom with the program. I'm so happy for these players and thankful for the selection committee to respect what we did, our body of work, our non-conference schedule into our conference.

"It's just an unbelievable moment that I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to share with the young ladies and my staff and this university for what we've accomplished. We are super excited to play a team like Oklahoma State and see what we can do."

It's just the second all-time appearance in the tournament for Wake Forest, but is an achievement that Hoover believes will soon become the standard.

"Some of the things that we've had happen here at Wake Forest in the recent years with the amazing facilities we have, our academics have always spoken for themselves, but now we have some of the top facilities if not the most beautiful weight room in the whole country," Hoover said. "Now, we have some of that buzz factor that you have to have with this day and age, with the top student-athletes that you want to represent your university."

In many ways, Hoover has built this program in recent years precisely for this moment. This year's team features two extremely talented and experienced seniors in Conti and forward Ivana Raca — both of whom earned postseason All-ACC honors.

Conti is the 29th player in Wake Forest history to pass 1,000 career points, an honor for which she was recognized prior to the selection show watch party. She's also third in program history in career assists with 485.

"I came to Wake because I wanted to help be a part of a team that makes it to the NCAA tournament," Conti said. "To do it in my fourth year here, that's something that's super exciting and just shows that all of our hard work paid off."

Raca is ninth in career scoring at Wake Forest with 1,469 points and was named a finalist for International Player of the Year.

"I was so excited, I jumped out of my chair," Raca said. "I was nervous before; I was anxious just to hear our name. When I saw our name playing against Oklahoma State, and we were a nine seed, that was really good for us and it's just a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"I came here just to get the program to the NCAA tournament, and it's just one of my dreams come true. It's not just to get in it but have wins too."

Breaking through with this team, especially in this season, is special for Hoover.

"We're just so happy for them, these kids have put a lot in," she said. "Four years fly by, but at the same time, that's a lot of sweat equity that they've put in. They've had a lot of teammates that have come through that they've had to take under their wings, and show the way.

"In the most difficult year in any of our lives, I would say, with what we've gone through and experienced with COVID, and not being able to do some of the normal team building activities we've had the opportunity to do, it's been a real challenge. But they embraced it.

The steady play of Conti and Raca has definitely led the way for Wake Forest, but what has made them particularly dangerous this season is it's now impossible to just key on them defensively. Freshman guard Jewel Spear hit for 29 points against UNC and is averaging 10.9 points a game. Forward Christina Morra is crafty in the post, and also averages double figures. On any given night, Olivia Summiel or Alexandria Scruggs can give opposing defenses fits inside and out, respectively.

Hoover, in her ninth season at the helm, became the all-time winningest coach in program history with the ACC Tournament win over UNC and is now leading her alma mater back to the Big Dance after a 33-year drought.

"There's nothing more special than having this opportunity, especially when you're talking about a senior class with those two and Maya Banks, who, bless her heart, had a tough year with having knee surgery," Hoover said. "Everything they came here to do, this is a dream come true for these kids.

"It's definitely part of why I recruited them and brought them here, selling them on this exact dream. And if we dream it, we believe it, we can achieve it. To sit here tonight with them and being able to say, we did it, but we're not happy with that. We don't want to just make it to the tournament. I've said this from day one: we want to go with the intention of winning when we get there."

Sunday's game against Oklahoma State (18-8) will tip off at 1 p.m. at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. The winner will move on to face either top seed Stanford (25-2) or 16-seeded Sun Valley (13-6) in the second round Tuesday.

Wake Forest Athletics

Dreams Become Reality at 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

Related News

Players Mentioned

Maya Banks

Gina Conti

Christina Morra

Ivana Raca

Alexandria Scruggs

Jewel Spear

Olivia Summiel

Related Videos