Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Duke
Deacs Face No. 19 Duke at Home Thursday
1/4/2023 4:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Wake Forest will look to remain unbeaten at home in the Deacs first game of the season against a ranked opponent.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After going 1-1 in the first full week of conference play, the Wake Forest women's basketball team is back home at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the first of two home games this week, facing Big-4 foe Duke.
The Deacs (10-5, 1-3 ACC) will look to remain undefeated at home this season where they are a perfect 7-0 this season. While at home this season, the Demon Deacons have won by an average of 20.8 points per game. Additionally, Wake Forest has won every home game this season by at least 14 points. The Deacs have shared the ball at an extremely high rate in home games, assisting on 119 of 180 made baskets (66.1 percent). Junior guard Jewel Spear has played her best basketball at home this season, averaging 19.9 points per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the field (40-of-78) and 49.1 percent from behind the arc (27-of-55).
The Blue Devils (13-1, 3-0 ACC) lone loss this season came at a neutral site to then-No. 3 UConn. All but one of Duke's 13 wins this season have come by double digits with the only exception being in the 63-56 victory over Louisville on Sunday. Like Wake Forest, Duke has been one of the best teams in the country on the defensive end of the floor. The Blue Devils rank second in the country in scoring defense, allowing 50.3 points per game while ranking fifth in the country in opponent shooting percentage at 33.2 percent.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 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).
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Through 15 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 35.5 percent shooting from the field and just 28.1 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 35th in the nation and the Deacs also rank 48nd with 4.3 blocks per game. The Deacs achieve a block on 10.7 percent of possessions this season, the highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).
Additionally, their 56.0 points allowed per game ranks 32nd nationally and fourth 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 at Clemson (Jan. 1)
Result: L, 60-59
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Summiel had another impressive performance to lead the Demon Deacons, totaling 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. She led the Deacs in rebounds, assists, blocks and steals in the loss to the Tigers.
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This marks the first time since Ivana Raca on Nov. 20, 2020 in a win over Missouri State that a Demon Deacon has had that many points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in a single game. Additionally, this is just the fifth time since 2009-10 that a Deac has finished with such a statline.
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Sophomore guard Elise Williams finished the game with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field while senior guard Kaia Harrison posted eight points on 3-of-5 from the field.
SERIES HISTORY
Versus Duke
Series: Duke leads 69-20
Last: Feb. 6, 2022
Result: L, 81-76
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Spear erupted during the second half, posting 19 of her game-high 27 points. The performance marked her 10th game of 20 or more points this season.
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Well-rounded scoring by the Deacons featured three other starters finishing in double figure scoring. Junior forward Niyah Becker, junior forward Olivia Summiel, and junior guard Kaia Harrison each chipped in 12 points, the total being a career-high Harrison. Additionally, Becker grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, falling just short of her second double-double of the year.
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 64.2 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' 56 assists this season ranks 88th 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 19 points to tie Secily Ray (2008-12) for 24th and 30 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.) |
1,080 |
|
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 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 61-of-155 attempts from distance or 39.4 percent. Spear has hit 44-of-110 (40.0 percent) while Williams has hit 17-of-45 (37.8 percent).
On the defensive side of the floor, Wake Forest is limiting opponents to just 28.1 percent shooting from behind the arc.
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 7.1 threes per game over their first 15 games. This also ranks 93rd nationally:
|
Rank |
Team |
Threes Made Per Game |
|
1. |
Virginia Tech |
8.2 |
|
2. |
Florida St. |
7.8 |
|
3. |
Wake Forest |
7.1 |
|
T4. |
NC State |
6.5 |
|
T4. |
Clemson |
6.5 |
|
T4. |
Miami |
6.5 |
BLOCKAGE
Olivia Summiel recorded another block against Clemson Sunday. She now ranks 19th nationally with 27 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 1.80 blocks per game also rank third in the ACC and 34th nationally.
As a team, the Deacs have blocked 4.3 shots per game which would be a school record and ranks 48th 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 home weekend at LJVM Coliseum, playing against Georgia Tech Sunday at 2 p.m.
For those who cannot attend, the game will air on ACC Network Extra.
