Wake Forest University
Notre Dame
Deacs Look to Continue Momentum at No. 7 Notre Dame
1/10/2023 11:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Demon Deacons are coming off a 51-50 victory over Georgia Tech on Sunday with the help of another strong defensive performance.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After defeating Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon, the Wake Forest women's basketball hits the road, traveling to No. 7 Notre Dame on Thursday evening in Purcell Pavilion.
The Deacs (11-6, 2-4 ACC) will look to continue their winning ways after defeating Georgia Tech on Sunday for the Deacs second conference victory of the season. Over the last four ACC games, Wake Forest has forced opponents 17.0 turnovers per game including 20 in the win over Pitt and 19 against Duke on Thursday while also limiting ACC foes to just 55.2 points per game in that same stretch. The Demon Deacons now boast the 25th-best defense in the country and it ranks third in the conference.
The Fighting Irish (12-2, 3-1 ACC) are coming off their first loss of the conference season and just the second loss overall this year, falling to No. 22 North Carolina, 60-50, Sunday afternoon. The only other Notre Dame loss this season came at the hands of Maryland on Dec. 1 when the Irish lost at the buzzer to the Terrapins. Notre Dame ranks 11th in the country, avering 81.6 points per game and have five players who are averaging 9.9 points or better per game. Additionally, the Fighting Irish rank ninth nationally with 45.36 rebounds per game and eighth nationally with 5.6 blocks per game.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. (ET) at Purcell Pavilion. For those not at the arena, fans can tune in to ACC Network Extra. A live stats feed can be found here.
Fans can follow along via the Demon Deacons Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts (@WakeWBB).
TOP-25 DEFENSE
Through 17 games this season, the Demon Deacons have done a stellar job of holding their opponents down in shooting and scoring. After holding Georgia Tech to just 50 points on Sunday, the Deacs have held their opponents to an average of 55.9 points allowed per game, ranking 25th nationally and third in the ACC.
This is a massive improvement in the rankings from a season ago when the Deacs ended the year ranked 164th nationally and ninth in the ACC in the category at 63.0 points per game.
Wake Forest has held their opponents to just 36.0 percent shooting from the field and just 28.8 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 37th in the nation and the Deacs also rank 51st with 4.3 blocks per game. The Deacs achieve a block on 10.6 percent of possessions this season, the highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).
Over the last 12 games, the Demon Deacons have been playing their best defense of the season, holding 11 of 12 opponents to 61 points or less and six opponents in that stretch to less than 55 points. Over that time, opponents have shot just 35.9 points per game and only 28.0 percent from behind the three-point line while also forcing their opponents to turn the ball over 15.8 times per game.
Over the last four ACC games, Wake Forest has forced 17.0 turnovers including 20 in the win over Pitt and 19 against Duke on Thursday.
LAST TIME
Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech (Jan. 8)
Result: W, 51-50
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The Demon Deacons (11-6, 2-4 ACC) used stellar defense holding the Yellow Jackets (9-7, 0-5 ACC) to just 35.3 percent and just 28.6 percent from three. The Deacs have now held 14 opponents to under 40 percent shooting this season and hold a mark of 11-2 when they do so. This includes both ACC victories this season over Pitt and Georgia Tech.
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Wake Forest held the Jackets leading scorer in Cameron Swartz to just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.
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Senior forward Olivia Summiel was huge for the Deacs, converting all three of her three pointers while also posting a team-high tying seven rebounds and 11 total points.
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Junior guard Elise Williams finished the game as the Deacs' high scorer, totaling 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting while also converting 3-of-3 free throws.
SERIES HISTORY
Versus Notre Dame
Series: Notre Dame leads 0-10
Last: Jan. 13, 2022
Result: L, 74-64
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Jewel Spear crossed over the 600-point barrier on Thursday night, accomplishing the feat in just 42 career games for the Demon Deacons.
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For the sixth time this season and the fourth time in the last five games, junior forward Olivia Summiel led the Deacs in rebounding. Summiel totaled 11 rebounds in the loss. She finished the night with a double-double, the first of her career, adding 12 points to her statline while also having a pair of assists.
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This marks the fourth time this season Summiel has had double-figure boards in a game.
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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 93rd percentile country, assisting on 63.7 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.
Elise Williams' 63 assists this season ranks 95th in the country and sixth 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 25th on Sunday. She needs six points to tie Secily Ray (2008-12) for 24th and 17 points to tie Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97):
|
Rank |
Player |
Career Points |
|
23. |
Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97) |
1,110 |
|
24. |
Secily Ray (2008-12) |
1,099 |
|
25. |
Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.) |
1,093 |
|
26. |
Ariel Stephenson (2015-19) |
1,079 |
|
27. |
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 moved into the top three on Thursday and will become just the third player in program history to reach 200 threes with six more threes:
|
Rank |
Player |
Career Threes |
|
1. |
Cotelia Bond Young (2003-06) |
267 |
|
2. |
Chelsea Douglas (2010-14) |
257 |
|
3. |
Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.) |
194 |
|
4. |
Nicole Levesque (1991-94) |
193 |
|
5. |
Heidi Coleman (1995-99) |
191 |
|
6. |
Lakevia Boykin (2009-13) |
167 |
OWNING THE ARC
The trio of senior Olivia Summiel, junior Jewel Spear and sophomore Elise Williams has been shooting the basketball from behind the arc at high clips. They have combined to knock down 84-of-223 attempts from distance or 37.7 percent. Spear has hit 46-of-115 (40.0 percent), Summiel has knocked down 20-of-55 (36.4 percent) Williams has hit 18-of-53 (34.0 percent).
Spear leads the conference with 46 three pointers made (15th nationally) and 2.88 threes made per game (24th nationally).
On the defensive side of the floor, Wake Forest is limiting opponents to just 28.8 percent shooting from behind the arc, ranking in the top 100 in the country.
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 6.8 threes per game over their first 17 games. This also ranks 103rd nationally:
|
Rank |
Team |
Threes Made Per Game |
|
1. |
Virginia Tech |
8.1 |
|
2. |
Florida St. |
7.8 |
|
3. |
Wake Forest |
6.8 |
|
T4. |
Clemson |
6.6 |
|
T4. |
Miami |
6.6 |
BLOCKAGE
Olivia Summiel recorded another block against Georgia Tech Sunday. She now ranks 25th nationally with 29 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 1.71 blocks per game also rank third in the ACC and 49th nationally.
As a team, the Deacs have blocked 4.3 shots per game which is close to a school record and ranks 51st nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game.
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons continue their three-game road stretch on Sunday when the Deacs head south to play Miami. Tipoff for the road clash is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion.
For those who cannot attend, the game will air on ACC Network Extra.
