Wake Forest University
Miami
Deacs Look Even Season Series Against Miami Sunday
1/27/2023 5:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Demon Deacons are coming off their highest NET win of the season, defeating Louisville, who was No. 33 in NET, by 11 points Thursday night at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After claiming a bounce-back victory over Louisville on Thursday night, the Wake Forest women's basketball looks to complete a 2-0 week against the Miami Hurricanes Sunday afternoon at Lawrence Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Deacs (12-9, 3-7 ACC) continued to be dominant on their home floor, improving to 9-1 in home games this season. The Demon Deacons used an 18-0 run during the third quarter to gain the lead and never looked back from that point. For the second consecutive game, junior guard Jewel Spear was huge for the Deacs in the scoring column. She finished the evening with 34 points, the most she has scored against an ACC opponent in her career and her second-highest total overall. Additionally, the Demon Deacons held ACC second-leading scorer Hailey Van Lith to just eight points. It was the first time she was held under double digits this season and her lowest total since Jan. 2, 2022.
The Hurricanes (13-7, 6-3 ACC) come into Sunday's game riding high, claiming victories in six of the last seven games which included two wins over ranked opponents. The Canes took a hard-fought victory over Wake Forest two weeks ago down in Miami, 55-43. The Hurricanes are one of the better teams in conference in forcing turnovers, ranking 27th in the country with 10.6 steals per game while also forcing an average of 19.6 turnovers per game which ranks 40th nationally.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET) at LJVM Coliseum. 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).
PRIDE GAME
Sunday will be the Pride Game at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. There will be 100 Pride pins and 100 Pride t-shirts given away to fans when they enter the arena on Sunday afternoon.
Claim your spot for Sunday at GoDeacs.com/Tickets and be sure to arrive early to be one of the first to get your Pride Game gear.
Family Four packs will also be on sale. The package includes 4 tickets to the game and 4 popcorn vouchers for just $24.
THIRD QUARTER JEWEL
Over the last two games, junior guard Jewel Spear hasn't missed in the third quarter, literally. Against No. 12 Virginia Tech Sunday and Louisville Thursday, Spear has combined to go a perfect 8-for-8 from the field including 5-of-5 from the three-point line. Additionally, she is a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
In the two games, she combined to average 14.5 points in the third quarter alone and it helped pace her to her two best performances in conference play this season.
In the last two contests, she has totaled 61 points (30.1 PPG) while also knocking down 9-of-19 threes (47.4 percent) and 20-of-22 free throw attempts (90.9 percent).
TOP-55 DEFENSE
Through 21 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 58.2 points allowed per game, ranking 51st nationally and fourth 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 38.3 percent shooting from the field and just 27.9 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 97th in the nation, the Deacs also rank 86th with 3.8 blocks per game and the three-point defense ranks 50th. The Deacs have achieved a block on 9.4 percent of possessions this season, the fifth-highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).
Over the last 16 games, the Demon Deacons have been playing their best defense of the season, holding 13 of 16 opponents to 61 points or less and seven opponents in that stretch to less than 55 points.
Over the last six ACC games, Wake Forest has forced 16.0 turnovers including 20 in the win over Pitt, 20 in the win over Louisville and 19 against nationally-ranked Duke.
LAST TIME
Wake Forest vs. Louisville (Jan. 26)
Result: W, 68-57
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After trailing by nine at the halftime break, the Demon Deacons used an 18-0 run to claim the lead heading into the fourth quarter. They would never trail in the fourth to hand the Cardinals their second-straight loss.
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Wake Forest was led in the score column by junior guard Jewel Spear as The Colony, Texas native tallied a season-high 34 points, while shooting 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 beyond the arc. Her 34 points mark the second-highest total in her career and most against a conference opponent, trailing just her 40-point game against ETSU as a sophomore.
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The Deacs came up clutch at the charity stripe down the stretch, finishing the game plus-11 in free throw makes. Spear ended the night going 14-of-16 from the line to lead. Her makes and attempts from the free throw line were both career highs.
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Individually, Spear registered over 50 percent of the Deacs' points Thursday en route to surpassing Alex Sharp for 22nd on the Wake Forest all-time scoring list.
SERIES HISTORY
Versus Miami
Series: Miami leads 17-11
Last: Jan. 14, 2023
Result: L, 55-43
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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.
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Cavider came into the game shooting 43 percent from behind the arc and the Deacs snapped her nine-game streak of double-figure scoring.
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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.
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 90th percentile country, assisting on 62.3 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' 72 assists this season ranks 137th in the country and ninth 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 22nd on Thursday. She needs 10 points to tie Beth Davis (1988-91) and 32 points to tie Corinne Groves (2005-09):
|
Rank |
Player |
Career Points |
|
20. |
Corinne Groves (2005-09) |
1,194 |
|
21. |
Beth Davis (1988-91) |
1,172 |
|
22. |
Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.) |
1,162 |
|
23. |
Alex Sharp (2016-20) |
1,149 |
|
24. |
Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97) |
1,110 |
|
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 became the third player in program history to reach 200 threes Sunday at Virginia Tech:
|
Rank |
Player |
Career Threes |
|
1. |
Cotelia Bond Young (2003-06) |
267 |
|
2. |
Chelsea Douglas (2010-14) |
257 |
|
3. |
Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.) |
205 |
|
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 104-of-277 attempts from distance or 37.6 percent. Spear has hit 57-of-145 (39.3 percent), Summiel has knocked down 21-of-59 (35.6 percent) and Williams has hit 26-of-73 (35.6 percent).
Spear leads the conference with 57 three pointers made (19th nationally) and 2.85 threes made per game (22nd nationally). Additionally, she is one of just three players in program history to reach 200 career threes, achieving the milestone on Sunday against Virginia Tech.
On the defensive side of the floor, Wake Forest is limiting opponents to just 27.9 percent shooting from behind the arc, ranking 50th 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 6.6 threes per game over their first 21 games. This also ranks 115th nationally:
|
Rank |
Team |
Threes Made Per Game |
|
1. |
Virginia Tech |
7.8 |
|
2. |
Florida St. |
7.7 |
|
T3. |
Wake Forest |
6.6 |
|
T3. |
North Carolina |
6.6 |
|
5. |
Clemson |
6.5 |
BLOCKAGE
Olivia Summiel a block against Miami Sunday. She now ranks 50th nationally with 31 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. Additionally, Summiel is now one block away from entering the top 10 in single-season program history.
Her 1.48 blocks per game also rank third in the ACC and 74th nationally.
As a team, the Deacs have blocked 3.8 shots per game which is close to a school record and ranks 86th nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game.
UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons hit the road for a midweek battle at No. 24 Florida State Thursday evening in Tallahassee, Fla.
For those who are unable to attend on Thursday night, the game can be seen on ACC Network Extra with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
