Thursday, March 2
Greensboro, NC
11:00 a.m.
Wake Forest University
16-15,5-13ACC
65
vs
54
Florida State
23-9,12-6ACC
1
2
3
4
F
Wake Forest
14
2
29
20
65
Florida St.
21
13
8
12
54
Demon Deacons Stun Florida State With Second-Largest Halftime Comeback in ACC Tournament History
3/2/2023 1:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball
This marks the third time in four years the Deacs have made a quarterfinals appearance and are set to take on No. 4 seed Louisville Friday.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – For the second-consecutive game, the Wake Forest women's basketball team used a dominant third-quarter performance to advance in the ACC Tournament with a 65-54 victory over Florida State Thursday inside the Greensboro Coliseum.
This is now the third time in the last four years the Deacs have advanced to the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals, holding a record of 6-3 over that time.
The Demon Deacons (16-15) outscored the Seminoles (23-9), 29-8, in the third quarter, erasing a second-round record 18-point halftime deficit in the process. In the midst of the quarter, the Deacs finished the quarter on an 18-0 run. The run continued into the fourth quarter as the Deacs went on a 26-0 run to grab full control of the game. Prior to the run, Wake Forest trailed by 15 and by the end the Deacs were up by 11 points.
Wake Forest went 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the floor and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the third period of action, including 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from junior guard Jewel Spear. In addition to the second round record, the 18-point comeback marks the second-largest halftime comeback in ACC Tournament history and the largest in the second round.
Spear finished the contest with game-high 19 points and seven rebounds with all 19 of her points coming in the second half. The Colony, Texas native eclipsed the 100-point mark in ACC tournament games for her career and now sits at 113 through six games (18.8 ppg). Additionally, her seven rebounds marks the most she's had in an ACC Tournament game.
Senior forward Olivia Summiel put in one of the best all-around performances of her career with 13 points, a game-high nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks in addition to playing the full-40 minutes for the second time this season.
Junior forward Demeara Hinds put in 12 points on an efficient 6-of-7 shooting, in addition to nine rebounds and four steals. Over the last two days in Greensboro, she has averaged 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals on 9-of-13 (69%) shooting.
On the defensive end, Wake Forest held Florida State to just 20 points, holding the Seminoles to 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) from the floor in the second half. The Deacs finished the game with a season-best nine block including four from Summiel. Her season total of 45 blocks now ranks fourth in Wake Forest single-season history. Additionally, the Deacs season total of 118 blocks is tied for fourth in program history.
The Demon Deacons continued to dominate inside during the tournament, as they are now outscoring opponents, 64-40, in the paint over the last two games. Additionally, Wake Forest outrebounded Florida State, 43-33, and added 12 second-chance points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
"That was a rough first half for us, offensively. We talked to them early on about just kind of focusing on the defensive end, 'we can't score, just trying to get the stops we needed to get.' Then we changed some things in the second half coming out, defensively. We talked about getting the ball inside. That's what started off our offense, getting some layups, hitting a couple. Then, things started to kind of roll from there. It was the first time this year that we were down by that many points, and were able to comeback. A heck of a second half offensively for us and on defense we held up. We held them for 12 minutes without scoring. Credit to our young ladies. I didn't sub a whole lot either. They're tired. They're willing to fight through and just keep talking about them believing in themselves. I told them that I believe in them, and that they're made for March. I'm really excited for this one.--" - head coach Megan Gebbia
NEXT UP
The Deacs will now face No. 4 seed Louisville (21-10, 12-6 ACC) at 11 a.m. on Friday.
All games through the semifinal round will be broadcast on ACC Network.
This is now the third time in the last four years the Deacs have advanced to the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals, holding a record of 6-3 over that time.
The Demon Deacons (16-15) outscored the Seminoles (23-9), 29-8, in the third quarter, erasing a second-round record 18-point halftime deficit in the process. In the midst of the quarter, the Deacs finished the quarter on an 18-0 run. The run continued into the fourth quarter as the Deacs went on a 26-0 run to grab full control of the game. Prior to the run, Wake Forest trailed by 15 and by the end the Deacs were up by 11 points.
Wake Forest went 11-of-16 (68.8 percent) from the floor and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the third period of action, including 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from junior guard Jewel Spear. In addition to the second round record, the 18-point comeback marks the second-largest halftime comeback in ACC Tournament history and the largest in the second round.
Spear finished the contest with game-high 19 points and seven rebounds with all 19 of her points coming in the second half. The Colony, Texas native eclipsed the 100-point mark in ACC tournament games for her career and now sits at 113 through six games (18.8 ppg). Additionally, her seven rebounds marks the most she's had in an ACC Tournament game.
Senior forward Olivia Summiel put in one of the best all-around performances of her career with 13 points, a game-high nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks in addition to playing the full-40 minutes for the second time this season.
Junior forward Demeara Hinds put in 12 points on an efficient 6-of-7 shooting, in addition to nine rebounds and four steals. Over the last two days in Greensboro, she has averaged 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals on 9-of-13 (69%) shooting.
On the defensive end, Wake Forest held Florida State to just 20 points, holding the Seminoles to 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) from the floor in the second half. The Deacs finished the game with a season-best nine block including four from Summiel. Her season total of 45 blocks now ranks fourth in Wake Forest single-season history. Additionally, the Deacs season total of 118 blocks is tied for fourth in program history.
The Demon Deacons continued to dominate inside during the tournament, as they are now outscoring opponents, 64-40, in the paint over the last two games. Additionally, Wake Forest outrebounded Florida State, 43-33, and added 12 second-chance points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After winning the opening tip, Florida State immediately opened the scoring as Erin Howard drained a triple from the left wing.
- The Seminoles then scored consecutive field goals to take a 7-0 lead at the 8:41 mark.
- Elise Williams scored the Deacs' first points of the game as she drove to her left and finished a floater.
- Florida State then scored five unanswered to take a 12-2 lead, forcing a Demon Deacon timeout.
- Coming out of the break in action, Wake Forest scored seven unanswered, narrowing its deficit to three at the 4:49 mark.
- Alexandria Scruggs, Olivia Summiel and Demeara Hinds all scored during the Deacs' 7-0 run.
- After a 5-0 Seminole spurt, Williams canned a contested trey from the right wing.
- The two sides exchanged field goals for the remainder of the quarter as Florida State owned a 21-14 lead after 10 minutes of action.
- Despite trailing by seven, the Demon Deacons outrebounded the Seminoles, 9-8, in the opening frame.
- Florida State opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run, extending its lead to 13 at the 4:02 mark.
- Scruggs scored the Deacs' first points of the quarter with three minutes remaining in the first half.
- After outscoring the Demon Deacons 13-2 in the second quarter, Florida State held a 34-16 lead at the halftime break.
- Defensively, Wake Forest held the Seminoles to 29.4 percent shooting in the second period.
- Additionally, the Deacs limited the Seminoles to only one three pointer during the frame.
- Defensively, Wake Forest held the Seminoles to 29.4 percent shooting in the second period.
- The two sides exchanged baskets to open the third quarter before Wake Forest went on a blistering 9-0 run over a three-minute span, narrowing its deficit to 11 at the 6:29 mark.
- Jewel Spear and Hinds combined for 11 points over the first four minutes of the period.
- After four Florida State free throws gave the Seminoles a 15-point lead, the Demon Deacons went on a dominant 18-0 run to take a three point lead at the end of the third quarter.
- Spear came alive in the frame as she tallied a game-high 11 points, while shooting 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
- Overall, six Deacs combined to score 29 points during the third quarter as Wake Forest outscored Florida State, 29-8.
- Defensively, the Demon Deacons held the Seminoles to only 6.7 percent shooting in the third period.
- Spear continued the run for Wake Forest with back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter and expanded the lead to nine with 8:43 remaining.
- Summiel closed-out the 26-0 run with a layup off an assist from Williams at the 6:43 mark.
- The Demon Deacons held the Seminoles scoreless for nearly nine minutes of action.
- Layups from Spear and Hinds helped the Deacs hold on to a comfortable nine-point advantage as the clock continued to tick to four minutes remaining.
- Williams put the Deacs up double-digits for good with a second-chance layup at the 2:35 mark.
- Summiel connected on her third triple of the contest to make it 62-49 Wake Forest with 1:21 remaining.
- Scruggs and Summiel knocked down a trio of free throws with under a minute remaining to secure the second-largest comeback in ACC Tournament history.
- With Thursday's second round win over Florida State, Wake Forest has now advanced to the quarterfinals in three of the last four ACC Tournaments. The Deacs own a 6-3 record over the past four years in ACC Tournament action and are allowing only 61.0 points per game defensively in those contests.
- Over the past three seasons, Spear has averaged 18.8 points per game in the ACC tournament in six games. Additionally, she is averaging 22.5 points per game in wins, scoring 19 or more points in all four victories.
"That was a rough first half for us, offensively. We talked to them early on about just kind of focusing on the defensive end, 'we can't score, just trying to get the stops we needed to get.' Then we changed some things in the second half coming out, defensively. We talked about getting the ball inside. That's what started off our offense, getting some layups, hitting a couple. Then, things started to kind of roll from there. It was the first time this year that we were down by that many points, and were able to comeback. A heck of a second half offensively for us and on defense we held up. We held them for 12 minutes without scoring. Credit to our young ladies. I didn't sub a whole lot either. They're tired. They're willing to fight through and just keep talking about them believing in themselves. I told them that I believe in them, and that they're made for March. I'm really excited for this one.--" - head coach Megan Gebbia
NEXT UP
The Deacs will now face No. 4 seed Louisville (21-10, 12-6 ACC) at 11 a.m. on Friday.
All games through the semifinal round will be broadcast on ACC Network.
Team Stats
WF
FSU
FG%
.439
.311
3FG%
.333
.300
FT%
.700
.625
RB
43
33
TO
16
14
STL
8
6
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballGuard
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's BasketballGuard
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