Wake Forest Athletics
Five Demon Deacons Named to ACC All-Academic Team
4/13/2023 7:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The five Deacs on the team set a new program record and over the last four seasons 12 Demon Deacons have made the team.
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A program record five Wake Forest women's basketball student-athletes were named to the ACC All-Academic Team, as announced by the league office Thursday.
For the second time in her career, junior guard Jewel Spear was named to the team while senior forward Olivia Summiel, senior guard Alexandria Scruggs, senior guard Kaia Harrison and senior forward Niyah Becker all on the team for the first time in their collegiate careers.
Additionally over the past four seasons, Wake Forest has had 12 student-athletes named to the Academic All-ACC Team.
Wake Forest ACC All-Academic Team Honorees
**Jewel Spear, Wake Forest, Jr., Communication
Olivia Summiel, Wake Forest, Sr., Business & Enterprise Management
Alexandria Scruggs, Wake Forest, Sr., Health & Exercise Science
Kaia Harrison, Wake Forest, Sr., Communication
Niyah Becker, Wake Forest, Sr., Communication
YEAR ONE OF THE GEBBIA ERA
For the second time in her career, junior guard Jewel Spear was named to the team while senior forward Olivia Summiel, senior guard Alexandria Scruggs, senior guard Kaia Harrison and senior forward Niyah Becker all on the team for the first time in their collegiate careers.
Additionally over the past four seasons, Wake Forest has had 12 student-athletes named to the Academic All-ACC Team.
Wake Forest ACC All-Academic Team Honorees
**Jewel Spear, Wake Forest, Jr., Communication
Olivia Summiel, Wake Forest, Sr., Business & Enterprise Management
Alexandria Scruggs, Wake Forest, Sr., Health & Exercise Science
Kaia Harrison, Wake Forest, Sr., Communication
Niyah Becker, Wake Forest, Sr., Communication
YEAR ONE OF THE GEBBIA ERA
- The Deacs continued to make history in the first season of the Megan Gebbia era as she captured the 17th win, tying her for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.
- Additionally, the 17 wins tie the most for the Demon Deacons since the Deacs won 20 games during the 2011-12 season.
- Coming off a run to the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, this is the third time in the last four years that the Demon Deacons have reached the quarterfinal round. The senior class for the Deacs is now 6-4 at the tournament during their time at Wake Forest.
- The two wins also match the most wins in the tournament in program history.
- Additionally in three of the last four seasons, Wake Forest has been the highest seed left in the tournament.
- The Deacs are the only double-digit seed to make the quarterfinal round twice in the last two years and only one other school has done so once.
- The Deacs ACC Tournament run included a historic 20-point comeback effort over Florida State and it was the second-largest halftime comeback in ACC Tournament history, holding the Seminoles to just 16.6 percent shooting in the second half to win by double digits.
- The Demon Deacons were led by ACC All-Tournament team honoree junior Jewel Spear, who led the Deacs in scoring in the wins over Virginia and Florida State.
- The Demon Deacons season on the court was highlighted by a number of memorable victories including back-to-back home wins over NCAA Tournament teams in Louisville and Miami in late January.
- The Deacs made Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum into a fortress this season, finishing the regular season with an 11-4 mark including six wins in ACC play.
- The record at home is the sixth-best winning percentage in program history and if the Deacs are chosen to host they will have the chance to move up that list.
- Additionally in non-conference action, Wake Forest went on the road and claimed a win over Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge while also grabbing wins over NCAA Tournament qualifier ECU and WNIT qualifiers High Point and Rhode Island.
- Individually, Spear led the team in scoring this season, netting 11 20-plus point games.
- She now is in the top 10 in program history in scoring and is just the second player in program history to have 500 or more points in back-to-back seasons, joining Dearica Hamby.
| Rank | Player | Career Points |
| 1 | Dearica Hamby (2011-15) | 1,801 |
| 2 | Jenny Mitchell (1987-91) | 1,728 |
| 3 | Amy Privette (1983-87) | 1,722 |
| 4 | Nicole Levesque (1990-94) | 1,663 |
| 5 | Chelsea Douglas (2010-14) | 1,656 |
| 6 | Tracy Connor (1992-97) | 1,619 |
| 7 | Cotelia Bond-Young (2002-06) | 1,507 |
| 8 | Amber Campbell (2014-18) | 1,489 |
| 9 | Ivana Raca (2017-21) | 1,482 |
| 10 | Jewel Spear (2020-Pres.) | 1,385 |
- She goes into next season needing 416 points to become the all-time leading scorer in program history
- Spear had another historic scoring season, netting 546 points which ranks sixth in program history for a single season:
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 1 | Dearica Hamby (2013-14) | 683 |
| 2 | Dearica Hamby (2014-15) | 650 |
| 3 | Tracy Connor (1992-93) | 576 |
| 4 | Jewel Spear (2021-22) | 567 |
| 5 | Ivana Raca (2019-20) | 549 |
| 6 | Jewel Spear (2022-23) | 546 |
- Her 93 threes this season ranks third in program history and the Deacs 227 threes as a team are the second most in program history.
| Rank | Threes Made | Season |
| 1 | 275 | 2004-05 |
| 2 | 227 | 2022-23 |
| 3 | 215 | 2005-06 |
| 4 | 195 | 2021-22 |
| 5 | 179 | 2008-09 |
- Spear, who was a preseason All-ACC selection, was also named to the All-ACC Second Team heading into the tournament, marking the second-straight year she has been named as an All-ACC honoree.
- As a team, the Deacs blocked 3.7 shots per game which was close to a school record and ranks 84th nationally. The school record was set in 2010-11 when that squad averaged 4.3 blocks per game. Additionally, Wake Forest's 123 blocks this season ranked in the top five in Demon Deacon single-season history, finishing as the fourth-highest total in program history:
| Rank | Block Total | Season |
| 1 | 136 | 2010-11 |
| 2 | 132 | 2015-16 |
| 3 | 130 | 2017-18 |
| 4 | 123 | 2022-23 |
| 5 | 118 | 2011-12 |
Players Mentioned
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