Deacs Travel to No. 12 Virginia Tech

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The conclusion of the Wake Forest women's basketball three-game road swing comes on Sunday when the Demon Deacons travel to No. 12 Virginia Tech at Cassell Coliseum.

The Deacs (11-8, 2-6 ACC) are the only team in the conference to play three consecutive road games this season, closing that stretch Sunday. Over the last six games, sophomore guard Elise Williams has played some of the best basketball of the season, totaling double-figure points in each game while averaging 12.3 points per contest. She has been helped by her efficiency at the free throw line, knocking down 88.2 percent of her attempts during the stretch.

The Hokies (15-3, 5-3 ACC) have spent the entire season ranked inside of the top 15 in the national rankings, climbing to as high as No. 6. Virginia Tech goes into Sunday as the No. 22 team in the latest NET rankings. The Hokies boast one of the best players in the conference in returning ACC Player of the Year, Elizabeth Kitley. This season she is averaging 18.2 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game. Her 11.0 rebounds ranks 12th in the country and her 11 double-doubles this season rank seventh in the country and leads the ACC.

Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) at Cassell Coliseum. For those not at the arena, fans can tune in to Regional Sports Networks and 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-50 DEFENSE

Through 19 games this season, the Demon Deacons have done a stellar job of holding their opponents down in shooting and scoring. The Deacs have held their opponents to an average of 57.4 points allowed per game, ranking 44th 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 37.2 percent shooting from the field and just 27.8 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 58th in the nation and the Deacs also rank 71st with 4.1 blocks per game. The Deacs achieve a block on 10.0 percent of possessions this season, the third-highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).

Over the last 14 games, the Demon Deacons have been playing their best defense of the season, holding 12 of 14 opponents to 61 points or less and seven opponents in that stretch to less than 55 points.

Over the last five ACC games, Wake Forest has forced 16.2 turnovers including 20 in the win over Pitt and 19 against nationally-ranked Duke.

LAST TIME

Wake Forest at Miami (Jan. 15)

Result: L, 55-43

The Deacs defense again had another impressive performance, holding the Hurricanes to 2-of-15 from behind the arc. Additionally, Wake Forest held Miami leading scorer Haley Cavinder to just nine points on 2-of-10 shooting and just 1-of-6 from behind the arc.
- Cavider came into the game shooting 43 percent from behind the arc and the Deacs snapped her nine-game streak of double-figure scoring.
On the offensive end of the floor, Wake Forest was led by double-figure scoring efforts from sophomore Alyssa Andrews and Williams. This marks the sixth consecutive game Williams has finished in double digits. Over that stretch, she has led the Deacs in scoring four times.

SERIES HISTORY

Versus Virginia Tech

Series: Virginia Tech leads 18-14

Last: Jan. 2, 2022

Result: L, 66-53

The Deacs were led by a near double-double performance from sophomore guard Jewel Spear, who finished the game with a team-high 15 points while also collecting seven rebounds in the game.
Junior forward Olivia Summiel also nearly ended the Sunday contest with a double-double, leading the Demon Deacons with 10 rebounds while adding eight points to her statline on 3-of-6 from the field.

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 63.9 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' 69 assists this season ranks 120th in the country and eighth 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 nine points to tie Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97) and 48 points to tie Alex Sharp (2016-20):

Rank	Player	Career Points
20.	Corinne Groves (2005-09)	1,194
21.	Beth Davis (1988-91)	1,172
22.	Alex Sharp (2016-20)	1,149
23.	Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97)	1,110
24.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	1,101
25.	Secily Ray (2008-12)	1,099
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 and will become just the third player in program history to reach 200 threes with five more threes:

Rank	Player	Career Threes
1.	Cotelia Bond Young (2003-06)	267
2.	Chelsea Douglas (2010-14)	257
3.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	196
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 91-of-249 attempts from distance or 36.6 percent. Spear has hit 48-of-126 (38.1 percent), Summiel has knocked down 21-of-59 (35.6 percent) and Williams has hit 22-of-64 (34.4 percent).

Spear leads the conference with 48 three pointers made (29th nationally) and 2.67 threes made per game (32nd nationally).

On the defensive side of the floor, Wake Forest is limiting opponents to just 27.8 percent shooting from behind the arc, ranking 51st 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 6.5 threes per game over their first 19 games. This also ranks 123rd nationally:

Rank	Team	Threes Made Per Game
1.	Virginia Tech	7.9
2.	Florida St.	7.7
3.	Wake Forest	6.5
T4.	Clemson	6.4
T4.	North Carolina	6.4

BLOCKAGE

Olivia Summiel recorded another block against Miami Sunday. She now ranks 40th nationally with 30 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 1.58 blocks per game also rank third in the ACC and 60th nationally.

As a team, the Deacs have blocked 4.1 shots per game which is close to a school record and ranks 71st nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game.

UP NEXT

After a three-game road stand, the Demon Deacons return home to face Louisville Thursday night. Tipoff for the game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Andrews

Gina Conti

Kaia Harrison

Alex Sharp

Jewel Spear

Olivia Summiel

Ona Udoh

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Athletics