Deacs Make Trip to Atlanta Thursday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After winning three of the last five games, the Wake Forest women's basketball team looks to earn its first conference road victory Thursday night, traveling to Atlanta, Ga. to play Georgia Tech.

The Deacs (14-11, 5-9 ACC) are coming off their second bye of the conference slate, returning to action Thursday for the final four games of the regular season. The Demon Deacons still sit alone in 10th place and are just two games back from potentially earning a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament. Wake Forest is in search of their first ACC road win of the season. Wake Forest is looking to complete the regular season sweep of the Yellowjackets for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Additionally, a sixth ACC win would give Megan Gebbia the most by a first-year head coach in program history. No Wake Forest coach has reached six wins in conference play until at least their third year on campus. Currently, Gebbia has the third-most overall wins by a first-year head coach in program history and is three away from the program record of 17 wins.

Following a win over No. 15 NC State at home two weeks ago, the Yellowjackets (12-13, 3-11 ACC) are on a three-game slide with losses coming to Clemson, Pitt and Miami. Georgia Tech thrives on getting to the free throw line, owning the ACC's best mark of 75.8 percent shooting from the charity stripe. Additionally, the Yellowjackets have been strong on the offensive glass this season, averaging 13.5 offensive rebounds per game. The Jackets have nearly three players averaging double-figure points led by Cameron Swartz who has posted 12.9 points per game.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. (ET) at McCamish 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-50 DEFENSE

Through 25 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 58.4 points allowed per game, ranking 49th nationally and second 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 38.7 percent shooting from the field and just 26.8 percent shooting from behind the arc. The opponent shooting percentage ranks 108th in the nation, the Deacs also rank 67th with 3.9 blocks per game and the three-point defense ranks 23rd. The Deacs have achieved a block on 9.6 percent of possessions this season, the fifth-highest rate in the Her Hoops Stats era (2009-10 to present).

Over the last 20 games, the Demon Deacons have been playing their best defense of the season, holding 15 of 20 opponents to 61 points or less and nine opponents in that stretch to less than 55 points.

Over the last 12 ACC games, Wake Forest has forced 15.6 turnovers including 20 in the win over Pitt, 20 in the win over Louisville, 19 in the win over Clemson and 19 against nationally-ranked Duke.

LAST TIME

Wake Forest vs. No. 22 NC State (Feb. 9)

Result: L, 51-42

The Demon Deacons became the first team since Columbia on Jan. 4, 2010 to hold NC State to zero made three pointers, ending a 434-game streak with a made triple for the Wolfpack.
- While at home, the Deacs have held ACC opponents to 15-of-77 (19.5 percent) from beyond-the-arc this season.
Defensively, Wake Forest held NC State to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. Of note, over the last 20 games, the Demon Deacons have held 15 of 20 opponents to 61 points or less and nine opponents in that stretch to less than 55 points.

SERIES HISTORY

Versus Georgia Tech

Series: NC State leads 49-28

Last: Jan. 8, 2023

Result: W, 51-50

The Demon Deacons used stellar defense holding the Yellow Jackets 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.
- Wake Forest held the Jackets leading scorer in Cameron Swartz to just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.
After Georgia Tech got the ball back down one with three seconds left in the game, the Jackets called a timeout to advance the ball to half court. With the help of a staunch defense from junior forward Demera Hinds, Georgia Tech was unable to get a shot off at the buzzer and Wake Forest earned their second ACC win of the year, both coming at home.

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 86th percentile country, assisting on 61.0 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.

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 continued to climb the rankings as she moved into 16th on Thursday. She needs 44 points to move into the top 15:

Rank	Player	Career Points
10.	Liz Strunk (2002-06)	1,352
11.	Lisa Stockton (1982-86)	1,347
12.	Jane Jackson (1977-80)	1,342
13.	Lakevia Boykin (2009-13)	1,309
14.	Elisa Penna (2015-19)	1,269
15.	Brittany Waters (2007-11)	1,267
16.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	1,223
17.	Alice Neal (1985-89)	1,214
18.	Alex Tchangoue (2005-09)	1,212
19.	Barbara Durham (1979-83)	1,203
20.	Sandra Garcia (2009-13)	1,201

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 at Virginia Tech and is 42 threes away from moving into second in program history:

Rank	Player	Career Threes
1.	Cotelia Bond Young (2003-06)	267
2.	Chelsea Douglas (2010-14)	257
3.	Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.)	215
4.	Nicole Levesque (1991-94)	193
5.	Heidi Coleman (1995-99)	191

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 126-of-356 attempts from distance or 35.4 percent. Spear has hit 67-of-191 (35.1 percent), Summiel has knocked down 27-of-75 (36.0 percent) and Williams has hit 32-of-90 (35.6 percent).

Spear ranks fourth in the conference with 67 three pointers made (24th nationally) and second in the conference with 2.79 threes made per game (19th nationally). Additionally, she is one of just three players in program history to reach 200 career threes, achieving the milestone against Virginia Tech.

On the defensive side of the floor, Wake Forest is limiting opponents to just 26.8 percent shooting from behind the arc, ranking 23rd 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 25 games. This also ranks 110th nationally:

Rank	Team	Threes Made Per Game
1.	Virginia Tech	8.1
2.	Florida St.	7.3
3.	Wake Forest	6.6
4.	North Carolina	6.4
T5.	Three tied	6.0

BLOCKAGE

Olivia Summiel a block against Clemson Sunday. She now ranks 47th nationally with 37 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 tied for ninth in program history in blocks in a single season:

Rank	Player	Year	Total Blocks
1.	Lisa Dodd	1987-88	60
2.	Mekia Valentine	2006-07	50
3.	Milan Quinn	2015-16	49
4.	Meki Valentine	2007-08	44
5.	Lisa Dodd	1986-87	43
6.	Kandice Ball	2015-16	42
7.	Ona Udoh	2018-19	41
8.	Jenny Mitchell	1989-90	40
9.	Olivia Summiel	2022-23	37
T10.	Dearica Hamby	2012-13	36
T10.	Ona Udoh	2017-18	36

Her 1.48 blocks per game also rank third in the ACC and 66th nationally.

As a team, the Deacs have blocked 3.9 shots per game which is close to a school record and ranks 67th nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game. Additionally, Wake Forest's 97 blocks this season are just four away from cracking the top 10 in Demon Deacon single-game history.

UP NEXT

The Demon Deacons are set to play their final roald game of the regular season when they travel to No. 19 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.

For those who are unable to attend on Sunday, the game can be seen on ACC Network with tipoff scheduled for 4 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kaia Harrison

Jewel Spear

Olivia Summiel

Ona Udoh

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Athletics