Deacs Start 2023 at Clemson Sunday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Claiming the first conference victory of the season on Thursday against Pitt, the Wake Forest women's basketball team is back on the road at Clemson Sunday to start the New Year.

The Deacs (10-4, 1-2 ACC) have climbed 10 spots in the NET rankings over the last week claiming back-to-back double-digit victories over Rhode Island and Pitt. The Demon Deacons finished the month of December with a record of 5-1 and the key has been the improvement on the defensive end of the floor. Over those six games, the Deacs have limited opponents to just 51.8 points per game with opposing teams shooting just 32.6 percent from the field and just 23.5 percent from behind the arc. Wake Forest finished the month with a +14.4 scoring margin.

The Tigers (10-4, 1-1 ACC) are coming off a historic win for their program, defeating No. 7 Virginia Tech on Thursday night, 64-59. It marked the first top-10 win for the Clemson program since December 9, 2000 vs. No. 9 Auburn, 71-61. The Tigers are one of the best teams in the country in turning over opponents, leading the ACC with 11.3 steals per game which also ranks 27th nationally. They also rank 32nd in the nation with 20.79 turnovers forced per game. Senior guard Daisha Bradford is 25th in the country with 25 total steals through 14 games this season.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET) at Littlejohn Coliseum. For those not at the arena, fans can tune in to ACC Network. A live stats feed can be found here.

Fans can follow along via the Demon Deacons Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts (@WakeWBB).

DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE

Through 14 games this season, the Demon Deacons have done a stellar job of holding their opponents down in shooting. Wake Forest has held their opponents to just 35.0 percent shooting from the field and just 27.7 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 27th in the nation and the Deacs also rank 44nd with 4.4 blocks per game. The Deacs achieve a block on 10.9 percent of possessions this season, the highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).

Additionally, their 55.7 points allowed per game ranks 31st nationally and fifth in the ACC.

The best defensive effort of the season came during the month of December. Over six games, the Deacs limited opponents to just 51.8 points per game with opposing teams shooting just 32.6 percent from the field and just 23.5 percent from behind the arc. In three games, the Deacs held opponents to 51 points or fewer including the ACC home opener against Pitt.

In the win over Pitt, Elise Williams finished the game with a career-best six steals and led the Demon Deacons to a season best effort in that category as Wake Forest ended the game with 11 total steals and 20 forced turnovers, resulting in 17 points off turnovers.

LAST TIME

Wake Forest vs. Pitt (Dec. 29)

Result: W, 66-51

This marks the first conference win of the head coach Megan Gebbia era and improves the Demon Deacons record to a perfect 7-0 at home this season.
Wake Forest jumped out to an early advantage and remained in control for nearly the entire game against the Panthers. The Deacs limited Pitt to 34.5 percent shooting from the field and just 1-of-10 from behind the three-point arc. The Demon Deacons came into the game ranked 30th in the country in field goal percentage defense.
Additionally, the Demon Deacons forced Pitt to turn the ball over 20 times in the game leading to 17 points off turnovers on the offensive end of the floor.

SERIES HISTORY

Versus Clemson

Series: Clemson leads 52-25

Last: Feb. 10, 2022

Result: L, 87-78

The Demon Deacons are 7-1 against the Tigers in the last eight games at Littlejohn Coliseum. Additionally, the Deacs hold a 12-5 advantage in the series over the last 17 games against Clemson.
For the first time in conference play and just the second time overall in the 2021-22 season, the Demon Deacons ended the game with five or more players in double-figure scoring.
Sophomore guard Jewel Spear was the top scorer for the Demon Deacons for the 21st time in 24 games played this season. 11 of her team-high 18 points came in the fourth quarter as she went 4-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from behind the arc in the final 10 minutes.

MAY I ASSIST YOU

Under head coach Megan Gebbia, the Demon Deacons have seen a huge increase in number of assists and percentage of assists on made baskets. Wake Forest currently ranks in the 94th percentile country, assisting on 64.5 percent of made baskets versus a season ago where their 45.0 percent of assists on made baskets ranked in the 4th percentile in the country.

The Demon Deacons had their best game in terms of assisting the basketball in over three seasons as the 23 assists in the win over Longwood marked the most since Nov. 8, 2019 against College of Charleston. Additionally, sophomore guard Elise Williams tied her career-best with eight helpers in the victory. In total, seven Demon Deacons finished the night with at least one assist including five from guard Kaia Harrison and four from guard Jewel Spear.

Against Rhode Island, Wake Forest assisted on 14 of 21 made baskets in the game and all five starters had multiple assists in the win. Elise Williams' 55 assists this season ranks 65th in the country and fifth in the ACC.

1,000 AND COUNTING

Junior guard Jewel Spear reached a career milestone in the victory over Charlotte on Dec. 11 as she became the 30th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point club, totaling 17 points. She becomes the first Wake Forest player to join the 1,000-point club since 2020-21.

She continues to climb the rankings as she moved into 26th on Thursday. She needs six points to tie Ariel Stephenson (2015-19) for 25th:

Rank	Player	Career Points
23.	Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97)	1,110
24.	Secily Ray (2008-12)	1,099
25.	Ariel Stephenson (2015-19)	1,079
T26.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	1,073
T26.	Tonia Brown (2000-04)	1,073
28.	Erin Ferrell (2001-05)	1,044
29.	Gina Conti (2018-21)	1,037
30.	Barbara Buchanan (1980-1984)	1,023

Additionally, Spear went into the year with a chance to break the all-time threes record in program history and is one away from moving into the top three in program history:

Rank	Player	Career Threes
1.	Cotelia Bond Young (2003-06)	267
2.	Chelsea Douglas (2010-14)	257
3.	Nicole Levesque (1991-94)	193
4.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	192
5.	Heidi Coleman (1995-99)	191
6.	Lakevia Boykin (2009-13)	167

OWNING THE ARC

The backcourt duo of junior Jewel Spear and sophomore Elise Williams has been shooting the basketball from behind the arc at historic clips. They have combined to knock down 59-of-143 attempts from distance or 41.3 percent. Spear has hit 44-of-103 (42.7 percent) while Williams has hit 15-of-40 (37.5 percent).

The Demon Deacons have been one of the best teams in the ACC at shooting the three-point shot so far this season, knocking down 7.3 threes per game over their first 14 games. This also ranks 81st nationally:

Rank	Team	Threes Made Per Game
1.	Virginia Tech	7.9
2.	Florida St.	7.5
3.	Wake Forest	7.3
4.	NC State	6.8
5.	Clemson	6.6

BLOCKAGE

Olivia Summiel recorded three blocks against Pitt on Thursday. She now ranks 16th nationally with 26 blocks on the season and her total already is the most by a Demon Deacon since the 2018-19 season when Ona Udoh had 41 blocks for the season.

Her 1.86 blocks per game also rank fifth in the ACC and 30th nationally.

As a team, the Deacs have blocked 4.4 shots per game which would be a school record and ranks 44th nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game.

UP NEXT

The Demon Deacons head home for the first game of 2023 at LJVM Coliseum, facing Big-4 foe Duke on Thursday at 6 p.m.

For those who cannot attend, the game will air on ACC Network Extra.

Wake Forest Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Gina Conti

Kaia Harrison

Jewel Spear

Olivia Summiel

Ona Udoh

Elise Williams

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