Wake Forest University
12-3,2-2ACC
Miami
7-4,0-1ACC
Wake Forest Grabs First Road ACC Victory at Miami, 47-46
1/6/2022 11:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
With the help of a 25-5 run in the first and second quarter, the Deacs built up an insurmountable lead as they would not trail from that point in the game.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- The Wake Forest women's basketball team came away with its first road victory of the Atlantic Coast Conference play, 47-46, Thursday at Miami.
The Demon Deacons (12-3, 2-2 ACC) held their seventh team this season under 50 points, limiting the Hurricanes (7-4, 0-1 ACC) to 28.1 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from behind the arc.
The Deacs relied on that strong defensive effort down to the final seconds. The Hurricanes had the ball on the final possession of the game. The Wake Forest defense held one final time to secure the victory.
Sophomore guard Jewel Spear finished the night with a game-high 15 points while also adding a pair of rebounds and a block shot to her statline. Junior forward Olivia Summiel tallied a team-high nine rebounds.
This is the fourth time this season Summiel has pulled down nine or more rebounds in a game. Overall, the Deacs controlled the glass all night long with 44 rebounds to the Hurricanes 35 boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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The Demon Deacons attacked the pain early in the game, going to Christina Morra on the opening two possessions of the game on the low block.
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Morra converted both opportunities to put the Deacs in front ealy, 4-2, with 8:44 left on the clock in the first quarter of play.
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A few minutes later the ball was kicked out to junior guard Kaia Harrison on the right wing. She knocked down the shot from behind the arc to put the Deacs up, 7-4.
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Sophomore guard Jewel Spear started to heat up with three minutes left in the quarter, hitting back-to-back-to-back buckets.
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The final one at the 2:18 mark of the first quarter came from behind the arc on the left wing and put the Deacs in front 14-12.
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It helped spark a 10-0 run to give Wake Forest a 17-12 lead with just seconds remaining in the opening stanza.
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Wake Forest took a 17-13 lead into the second quarter.
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With the help of another singy defensive performance, Wake Forest continued to build on its lead in the second quarter pushing the advantage to double digits after a made Demeara Hinds free throw at 7:20 mark of the quarter.
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The Deacs lead continued to grow as the Hurricanes continued to have trouble getting by the Wake Forest defense.
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With 4:26 remaining in the opening 20 minutes, Miami was forced to use a timeout as Wake Forest's lead swelled to 13 points, 27-14.
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The teardrop basket from Spear brought her total for the first two quarters to 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
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The Demon Deacons led by as many as 19 points in the opening 20 minutes as the Deacs held the Hurricanes without a field goal from the 3:45 mark of the first quarter to the 0:59 mark of the second quarter.
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In total, it was a stretch of 12:46 minutes the Deacs held Miami without a field goal.
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Over that period of time, the Hurricanes managed to score just five points total, all coming from the free throw line.
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By halftime, the Deacs led 34-23, the first time this conference season Wake Forest led at halftime.
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Spear led all scorers with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
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The Deacs controlled the boards, leading Miami in that category, 22-15 as the Hurricanes had just two second chance points in the opening 20 minutes.
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Overall, the Demon Deacons limited Miami to just 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) from the field in the first two quarters while the Hurricanes' leading scorer, Kelsey Marshall, was held without a field goal on 0-of-3 shooting.
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After the Deacs were up 34-15 with less than two minutes left in the first half, the Hurricanes answered with a 17-0 run to climb back within two of the Demon Deacons.
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The run ended when Olivia Summiel knocked down a left wing three pointer to make it a 37-32 lead in favor of the Demon Deacons with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
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Kaia Harrison pushed it to a 7-point lead, getting a contested left-handed layup to fall.
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Wake Forest took a 41-36 lead into the final quarter.
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The Deacs continued to lead with 4:36 left to play, hanging on to a slim 43-41 lead.
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Miami came all the way back when they tied the game at 43-43 with 2:52 remaining in the game.
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Spear answered on the next possession, converting an and-one layup to put the Deacs back in front with 2:28 on the clock. It gave Wake Forest a 46-43 edge.
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Wake Forest held on for the 47-46 road victory, the Deacs first in conference play.
STANDOUT STAT
Over a stretch of 12:46 minutes from the 3:45 mark of the first quarter to the 0:59 mark of the second quarter, the Demon Deacons held the Hurricanes without a field goal make. Miami went a combined 0-of-16 over this stretch and managed just five points, all coming from the free throw line.
The Demon Deacons went on a 25-5 run over this period to take a commanding 34-17 lead with less than a minute remaining before halftime.
FROM HOOVER
"It is never easy to win on the road in this league. We learned some lessons playing without Elise Williams today. We knew at some point they were going to come back and they did with a minute and a half to go into half. We had held them to two points in that second quarter and then we turned the ball over, I think four straight possessions. Not pretty. But when you can gut it out and not fold when that happens, that shows a lot of character for our team. I thought Olivia Summiel's leadership on our team was outstanding. Our kids were exhausted there at the end. It's such a short rotation at that point. Now, we enjoy the win, never be satisfied, learn some lessons and get some rest and recovery tomorrow." - Coach Jen Hoover
NEXT UP
Wake Forest continues its road trip in the state of Florida on Sunday with a matchup against Florida State at 2 p.m. tipoff against the Seminoles.
For those not in attendance in Tallahassee, the game will also be televised on ACC Network Extra.
