Wednesday, November 27
Winston-Salem, N.C.
2 p.m.
Wake Forest University
4-3,0-0ACC
65
vs
72
Fairfield
4-2,0-0MAAC
1
2
3
4
F
Fairfield
13
18
19
22
72
Wake Forest
20
14
15
16
65
Wake Forest Drop Close Result to Defending MAAC Champs Fairfield
11/27/2024 4:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore guard Rylie Theuerkauf netted a career-high 15 points and four Demon Deacons finished in double figures.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Battling against a team that had 30 wins and made the NCAA Tournament team a season ago, the Wake Forest women's basketball team dropped a close result to defending MAAC champions Fairfield, 72-65, Wednesday afternoon at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons held the lead for much of the game and led by as much as seven points at the end of the first quarter. The Deacs (4-3, 0-0 ACC) held the Stags (4-2, 0-0 MAAC) to a season-low 20 attempts from three and also held leading scorer Meghan Andersen to just six total points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Senior guard Elise Williams led the Deacs with a season-high 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.
She is averaging 10.1 points this season and is tied for the team lead with 25 assists.
Sophomore Rylie Theuerkauf once again dropped double-digit points for the fourth-consecutive game and for the fifth time this season, as she finished with a career-high 15 points in addition to three rebounds and two assists. She earned her second start of the season and fifth of her career after a strong start to the season. She is now averaging 10.3 points per game, a seven-point increase from her freshman season.
Graduate transfer Tamia Jones has now recorded multiple steals in six-consecutive games and now has 19 on the year following Wednesday, the most on the team. Offensively, the guard chipped in 11 points and four assists, marking her fifth game of the season with double-digit points. She also leads the team with 11.6 points per game.
Redshirt junior Malaya Cowles was the fourth Demon Deacon in double figures, scoring 10 points on a 5-of-7 effort from the floor.
This season, the Demon Deacons are holding opponents to just 53.1 points per game and came into the game ranked 14th in the country and second in ACC.
How It Happened
Standout Stats
From Gebbia
"We didn't do what we needed to do on the defensive end to win this game especially at the end. We executed fairly well offensively but not throughout the entire game. We had some possessions where we missed some critical layups and missed a handful of open threes that would have changed the game. Despite all of that, we were in it with a chance to win the game in the final minutes. We only won the first quarter and that is not a recipe to win the game. We played well for 30 minutes but we have to play well for 40 minutes and finish games. They were the more disciplined team at the end and they made more winning plays. Our individual defense has to be better than what we showed today." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue their homestand Sunday when the Deacs play host to Gardner-Webb.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
The Demon Deacons held the lead for much of the game and led by as much as seven points at the end of the first quarter. The Deacs (4-3, 0-0 ACC) held the Stags (4-2, 0-0 MAAC) to a season-low 20 attempts from three and also held leading scorer Meghan Andersen to just six total points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Senior guard Elise Williams led the Deacs with a season-high 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.
She is averaging 10.1 points this season and is tied for the team lead with 25 assists.
Sophomore Rylie Theuerkauf once again dropped double-digit points for the fourth-consecutive game and for the fifth time this season, as she finished with a career-high 15 points in addition to three rebounds and two assists. She earned her second start of the season and fifth of her career after a strong start to the season. She is now averaging 10.3 points per game, a seven-point increase from her freshman season.
Graduate transfer Tamia Jones has now recorded multiple steals in six-consecutive games and now has 19 on the year following Wednesday, the most on the team. Offensively, the guard chipped in 11 points and four assists, marking her fifth game of the season with double-digit points. She also leads the team with 11.6 points per game.
Redshirt junior Malaya Cowles was the fourth Demon Deacon in double figures, scoring 10 points on a 5-of-7 effort from the floor.
This season, the Demon Deacons are holding opponents to just 53.1 points per game and came into the game ranked 14th in the country and second in ACC.
How It Happened
- Senior guard Elise Williams got the Deacs on the board with a layup at the 8:50 mark of the opening quarter.
- The Deacs tied the game at 5-5 off a nice assist from Madisyn Jordan, finding Rylie Theuerkauf for Wake's first triple of the game as the shot clock was winding down.
- Graduate guard Tamia Jones gave Wake its first lead at 7-5 on a driving layup through the lane and pushed the Deacs advantage to 10-7 with a three on the next trip down the floor.
- Theuerkauf nailed another shot beyond the arc to extend Wake Forest's lead to 17-13 as both teams continued to shoot the ball well in the first 10 minutes.
- Williams poured in the Deacs' fourth three of the quarter off a great find from freshman Aurora Sørbye to give Wake a 20-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
- Theuerkauf was the first player in double figures, starting 4-of-5 from the field, as her layup off an assist from senior Alyssa Andrews gave Wake a six-point edge in the opening minute of the second quarter.
- Back-to-back shots from beyond the arc by Williams and Jordan gave Wake Forest the lead back with less than two minutes left in the opening half.
- A solid defensive stand on Fairfield's last possession gave Wake a 34-31 edge at the half.
- Showcasing her strength, forward Demeara Hinds fought through contact for a huge and-1 to make it 41-35 in the early going of the third quarter.
- Wake Forest continued to work the ball inside with 10 of the first 11 points of the third quarter coming inside of the paint to hold a 45-42 at the third quarter media timeout.
- Setting a new career high, Theuerkauf made a great cut through the lane to bring her to 14 points with Wake holding a three-point advantage with less than four minutes left in the quarter.
- The Stags held a 50-49 edge going into the fourth quarter.
- Needing a big shot, Andrews connected on Wake's first three of the second half to put the Demon Deacons back on top at 56-55 with 6:52 left in the contest.
- Driving through the paint, Williams moved past three Fairfield defenders for an easy lay-up to tie the game at 62-62 with less than two minutes left.
- Wake Forest fell, 72-65.
Standout Stats
- This season, the Demon Deacons are holding opponents to just 53.1 points per game and came into the game ranked 14th in the country and second in ACC.
- Forcing the Stags into 17 turnovers, Wake Forest forced double-digit turnovers for the 49th time in the last 50 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024.
- The 49-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
- The Deacs shared the ball well on Wednesday, finishing with 17 assists on 25 made baskets.
- Through seven games, the Deacs have finished with double-digit assists in six contests, including four games with 16 or more.
- Sophomore Rylie Theuerkauf once again dropped double-digit points for the fourth-consecutive game and for the fifth time this season, as she finished with a career-high 15 points in addition to three rebounds and two assists.
- She earned her second start of the season and fifth of her career after a strong start to the season.
- Theuerkauf also finished with a career-high 38 minutes and played the entire second half of the game.
- She is now averaging 10.3 points per game, a seven-point increase from her freshman season.
- Senior guard Elise Williams led the Deacs with a season-high 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.
- She is averaging 10.1 points this season and is tied for the team lead with 25 assists.
From Gebbia
"We didn't do what we needed to do on the defensive end to win this game especially at the end. We executed fairly well offensively but not throughout the entire game. We had some possessions where we missed some critical layups and missed a handful of open threes that would have changed the game. Despite all of that, we were in it with a chance to win the game in the final minutes. We only won the first quarter and that is not a recipe to win the game. We played well for 30 minutes but we have to play well for 40 minutes and finish games. They were the more disciplined team at the end and they made more winning plays. Our individual defense has to be better than what we showed today." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue their homestand Sunday when the Deacs play host to Gardner-Webb.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
Fairf
WF
FG%
.540
.456
3FG%
.400
.269
FT%
.714
.667
RB
31
25
TO
17
15
STL
3
8
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's BasketballGuard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
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