
Wake Forest Picks Up 66-50 Home Victory Over Winthrop
11/17/2024 4:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Four Demon Deacons recorded double-digit points led by 12 from Elise Williams.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Improving to 2-0 at home to open the 2024-25 campaign, the Wake Forest women's basketball team defeated Winthrop, 66-50, Sunday afternoon in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons (3-1, 0-0 ACC) held the Eagles (2-2, 0-0 Big South) to just 17-of-50 (34 percent) from the floor Sunday night. So far this season, Wake Forest has limited opponents to just 48.8 points per-game which ranked 22nd in the country and third in ACC coming into the contest.
Individually, Wake Forest was once again led by senior guard Elise Williams, who finished the contest with 12 points and is now tied for 24th in program history in career scoring with 1,110. She has now scored double-figures in 12 of her last 13 games and is averaging 17.4 points per game during that span. Williams also added five rebounds and four assists.
Wake Forest also saw double figures from sophomores Madisyn Jordan (12) and Rylie Theuerkauf (10) as well as senior Raegyn Conley (11) on a combined 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the floor. Theurkauf knocked down two of her three attempts from beyond-the-arc and is now 5-of-10 from deep this season.
As a team, the Deacs logged 20 assists on 26 made baskets (76.9 percent) Sunday afternoon. This marked the most assists for Wake Forest since they recorded 24 against Saint Louis on Nov. 20, 2023. Of note, nine of the 10 Demon Deacons that played had at least one assist, with six recording two or more.
Wake Forest hit a season-high 11 threes in the game, coming from six different players. It marks the most threes in a game since they defeated St. Louis on Nov. 20, 2023. Additionally, it is the seventh time in the Gebbia era that the Deacs have had 10 or more threes in a game and the second time this season.
How It Happened
Standout Stats
"It was a rough start to the game. First rough first half. Like I said in the locker room, we hadn't played in a week, so I feel like we weren't firing on all cylinders there. We gathered ourselves at halftime and realized we just need to be us and not try to overdo stuff and to take better shots. Our upperclassmen did a real good job of handling that. When we came out in the second half and got some steals, got us running in transition, which extended the lead. We didn't attack the paint as much as I would have liked, but we still had 26 points in the paint. Our bread and butter is getting the ball inside. We didn't do a great job of that, but we did in transition. We did better there. So happy with the second half effort. I don't like how we closed out the game, but again, these are all learning things for the younger players. Overall, that wasn't Elise's best by any stretch, but she kept a level head the entire game, knowing that things just weren't jiving and still remained focused and knew what needed to happen. She took care of business, especially on the defensive end." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue a six-game homestand against George Mason on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Tipoff from The Joel is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network.
The Demon Deacons (3-1, 0-0 ACC) held the Eagles (2-2, 0-0 Big South) to just 17-of-50 (34 percent) from the floor Sunday night. So far this season, Wake Forest has limited opponents to just 48.8 points per-game which ranked 22nd in the country and third in ACC coming into the contest.
Individually, Wake Forest was once again led by senior guard Elise Williams, who finished the contest with 12 points and is now tied for 24th in program history in career scoring with 1,110. She has now scored double-figures in 12 of her last 13 games and is averaging 17.4 points per game during that span. Williams also added five rebounds and four assists.
Wake Forest also saw double figures from sophomores Madisyn Jordan (12) and Rylie Theuerkauf (10) as well as senior Raegyn Conley (11) on a combined 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the floor. Theurkauf knocked down two of her three attempts from beyond-the-arc and is now 5-of-10 from deep this season.
As a team, the Deacs logged 20 assists on 26 made baskets (76.9 percent) Sunday afternoon. This marked the most assists for Wake Forest since they recorded 24 against Saint Louis on Nov. 20, 2023. Of note, nine of the 10 Demon Deacons that played had at least one assist, with six recording two or more.
Wake Forest hit a season-high 11 threes in the game, coming from six different players. It marks the most threes in a game since they defeated St. Louis on Nov. 20, 2023. Additionally, it is the seventh time in the Gebbia era that the Deacs have had 10 or more threes in a game and the second time this season.
How It Happened
- Forward Demeara Hinds got the Deacs on the board off a feed from senior guard Raegyn Conley for an easy layup.
- Wake Forest held an early 6-5 advantage at the first media timeout of the contest with 4:44 left in the first quarter.
- The Demon Deacons held the Eagles without a point over the final 3:23 of the period to lead 10-8 after 10 minutes of play.
- Senior Guard Elise Williams connected on Wake Forest's first three of the contest to trim the deficit to 15-13 midway through the second quarter.
- Wake Forest connected on four of their last five goal attempts to tie the contest at 25-25 going into the halftime locker room.
- Guard Tamia Jones and Conley both hit shots beyond the arc to help Wake Forest cut into the Winthrop lead.
- The Deacs hit five of their first six shots out of the break to grab a 37-29 advantage, including Conley's and Jone's second triples of the contest.
- Wake pushed their lead out to nine at 39-30, holding the Eagles without a field goal over a 5:42 stretch.
- Williams beat the buzzer with a great offensive rebound and putback to stretch Wake's lead out to 47-36 at the end of the third quarter.
- A quick pair of buckets from Wake Forest in the opening minute of the final quarter pushed the lead to 16 for the Demon Deacons.
- A 13-0 run over 4:12 extended Wake's advantage to as many as 27 with less than four minutes remaining.
- Sophomore guard Riley Theurkauf drilled a pair of shots beyond the arc to spark the run for Wake Forest.
- Wake Forest moved to 3-1 on the season with a 66-50 victory.
Standout Stats
- The Demon Deacons logged 20 assists on 26 made baskets (76.9 percent) Sunday afternoon.
- This marked the most assists for Wake Forest since they recorded 24 against Saint Louis on Nov. 20, 2023.
- Nine of the 10 Demon Deacons that played had at least one assist, with six recording multiple.
- Elise Williams has now scored double-figures in 12 of her last 13 games as she finished with a team-high 12 points Sunday afternoon.
- She is averaging 17.4 points per game during that 13-game span.
- She also tallied five rebounds and four assists for the Deacs.
- She finished 2-of-2 from the stripe Sunday afternoon and holds a .775 free throw percentage for her career, which ranks eighth in program history.
Rank | Player | Career FT Percentage |
1. | Nicole Levesque (1991-94) | .830 |
2. | Jewel Spear (2020-23) | .827 |
3. | Lisa Brookes (1981-84) | .823 |
4. | Alice Neal (1986-89) | .805 |
5. | Heidi Coleman (1995-99) | .800 |
6. | Beth Davis (1989-91) | .792 |
7. | Porsche' Jones (2004-06) | .778 |
8. | Elise Williams (2021-Present) | .775 |
9. | Ivana Raca (2017-21) | .765 |
10. | Amber Campbell (2014-18) | .755 |
- Additionally, with her 12 points in the game, Williams is now tied for 24th in program history in scoring and is 39 points away from moving into 23rd with Alex Sharp (2016-20) at 1,149:
Rank | Player | Career Points |
22. | Beth Davis (1988-91) | 1,172 |
23. | Alex Sharp (2016-20) | 1,149 |
T24. | Elise Williams (2021-Pres.) | 1,110 |
T24. | Raeanna Mulholland (1993-97) | 1,110 |
26. | Sicily Ray (2008-12) | 1,099 |
27. | Ariel Stephenson (2015-19) | 1,079 |
28. | Tonia Brown (2000-04) | 1,073 |
29. | Erin Ferrell (2001-05) | 1,044 |
30. | Gina Conti (2017-21) | 1,037 |
31. | Barbara Buchanan (1980-84) | 1,023 |
- Graduate transfer Tamia Jones has now recorded multiple steals in three-consecutive games and now has 10 on the year following her three on Sunday.
- Jones finished the contest with seven points in addition to five assists and three rebounds.
- Sophomore Madisyn Jordan chipped in a season-high 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and has now scored in double-digits in two of the first four outings following her 11 points performance in the opener.
- Raegyn Conley also added season-highs in points (11) and rebounds (5) and finished 4-of-7 from the floor.
- Sophomore Rylie Theuerkauf was an incredibly efficient 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond-the-arc Sunday afternoon and finished with 10 points.
- This season, she is shooting 5-of-10 (50 percent) from three.
"It was a rough start to the game. First rough first half. Like I said in the locker room, we hadn't played in a week, so I feel like we weren't firing on all cylinders there. We gathered ourselves at halftime and realized we just need to be us and not try to overdo stuff and to take better shots. Our upperclassmen did a real good job of handling that. When we came out in the second half and got some steals, got us running in transition, which extended the lead. We didn't attack the paint as much as I would have liked, but we still had 26 points in the paint. Our bread and butter is getting the ball inside. We didn't do a great job of that, but we did in transition. We did better there. So happy with the second half effort. I don't like how we closed out the game, but again, these are all learning things for the younger players. Overall, that wasn't Elise's best by any stretch, but she kept a level head the entire game, knowing that things just weren't jiving and still remained focused and knew what needed to happen. She took care of business, especially on the defensive end." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue a six-game homestand against George Mason on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Tipoff from The Joel is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network.
Team Stats
Win
WF
FG%
.340
.481
3FG%
.313
.458
FT%
.786
.750
RB
29
32
TO
16
15
STL
4
13
Game Leaders
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