Sunday, December 1
Winston-Salem, N.C.
2 p.m.
Wake Forest University
5-3,0-0ACC
73
vs
52
Gardner-Webb
2-7,0-0Big South
1
2
3
4
F
Gardner-Webb
10
14
11
17
52
Wake Forest
16
22
16
19
73
Wake Forest Picks Up Dominant Win Over Gardner Webb on Sunday Afternoon
12/1/2024 5:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Freshman guard Aurora Sørbye netted a career-high 15 points and three Demon Deacons finished in double figures.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Behind a career-high 15 points from freshman guard Aurora Sørbye, the Wake Forest women's basketball team won all four quarters and took down Gardner-Webb, 73-52, Sunday afternoon at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
In addition to Sørbye's career-best performance, the Deacs (5-3, 0-0 ACC) had three players finish in double-figures as redshirt junior Malaya Cowles and senior guard Reagyn Conley dropped 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Sørbye and Cowles finished an incredibly efficient 13-of-16 from the floor and the freshman knocked down 3-of-4 of her attempts from beyond-the-arc. Cowles also hauled in a team-best eight rebounds and grabbed three steals.
Conley's 12 points set a new season-high and connected on three triples for the third time this season.
Sophomore duo Rylie Theuerkauf and Madisyn Jordan both earned their third-consecutive starts and added nine points apiece. Theuerkauf currently sits second on the team with 10.1 points per-game.
Redshirt senior Demeara Hinds chipped in eight points, five rebounds and recorded a pair of blocks.
The Demon Deacons had their best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Megan Gebbia era Sunday, finishing with a season-high tying 20 assists to just eight turnovers. The eight turnovers were the fewest by a Demon Deacon team since defeating Saint Louis 94-66 on Nov. 20, 2023 when the Deacs also only had eight turnovers in the game.
The Deacs forced the Runnin' Bulldogs (2-7, 0-0 Big South) into 16 turnovers that led directly to 20 points on the other end. Wake Forest has now forced double-digit turnovers for the 50th time in the last 51 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024. The 50-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
How It Happened
"We won every quarter and that is a huge positive. We had 20 assists to eight turnovers which are numbers we try to hit every game. Malaya was extremely efficient which is huge for us. And Demeara has been great at the free throw line all season which is amazing. We need to clean up some things offensively and shoot better from three. We came out and played a little flat so we need to bring some energy into the next one. We need to rest up and get our bodies ready to go for the next one. We have to keep building on a good win going into an early game on Wednesday against a good Campbell team." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue their homestand Wednesday when the Deacs play host to Campbell.
Tipoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
In addition to Sørbye's career-best performance, the Deacs (5-3, 0-0 ACC) had three players finish in double-figures as redshirt junior Malaya Cowles and senior guard Reagyn Conley dropped 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Sørbye and Cowles finished an incredibly efficient 13-of-16 from the floor and the freshman knocked down 3-of-4 of her attempts from beyond-the-arc. Cowles also hauled in a team-best eight rebounds and grabbed three steals.
Conley's 12 points set a new season-high and connected on three triples for the third time this season.
Sophomore duo Rylie Theuerkauf and Madisyn Jordan both earned their third-consecutive starts and added nine points apiece. Theuerkauf currently sits second on the team with 10.1 points per-game.
Redshirt senior Demeara Hinds chipped in eight points, five rebounds and recorded a pair of blocks.
The Demon Deacons had their best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Megan Gebbia era Sunday, finishing with a season-high tying 20 assists to just eight turnovers. The eight turnovers were the fewest by a Demon Deacon team since defeating Saint Louis 94-66 on Nov. 20, 2023 when the Deacs also only had eight turnovers in the game.
The Deacs forced the Runnin' Bulldogs (2-7, 0-0 Big South) into 16 turnovers that led directly to 20 points on the other end. Wake Forest has now forced double-digit turnovers for the 50th time in the last 51 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024. The 50-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
How It Happened
- The Bulldogs got on the board first at the 7:58 mark, but Hinds responded with a pair of free throws on the following possession.
- Following a steal by Theuerkauf, Jordan gave the Deacs the lead with a triple on an assist from Jones with 6:25 remaining in the first quarter.
- Jordan then answered a Bulldog basket with a layup of her own on the next Wake Forest possession.
- Gardner-Webb took an 8-7 lead at the 4:50 mark with consecutive layups, but Theuerkauf regained the lead for Wake Forest with a three-pointer on a Williams assist.
- After the Bulldogs tied it at 10-10, Wake Forest went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter and took a six-point lead into the second.
- Layups from Cowles and Theuerkauf followed by a pull-up jumper by Sørbye closed out the first-quarter scoring.
- Cowles and Conley extended the run and the lead to 11 with a layup and three-pointer, respectively, on the first two possessions of the second quarter.
- Conley kept it going with another three-pointer with 7:24 remaining in the half to make it 24-10 Wake Forest.
- The visitors cut into the lead with five quick points, but Jordan stayed hot with her third basket of the quarter at the 6:13 mark and reinstated the double-digit lead.
- Hinds made it 28-15 Wake Forest with a layup following a Gardner-Webb turnover at the halfway point in the second quarter.
- The two teams traded free throws over the next four minutes until Cowles ended the field-goal drought with back-to-back layups with under a minute to go in the half to make it 36-22.
- Williams closed out the scoring in the first half with a layup following Bulldog free throws in the final seconds as Wake Forest went into the locker room with a 38-24 lead.
- Cowles led the Deacs in the first half with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting with three rebounds and two steals.
- Williams opened the second-half scoring with a layup at the 8:07 mark.
- Jones found Theuerkauf for a layup with 6:41 to go in the third to make it 42-26 Demon Deacons.
- The Deacs took an 18-point lead following back-to-back buckets from Jones and Jordan.
- Williams dished out a nice assist to Sørbye to extend the lead to 48-28 at the 3:55 mark.
- Cowles reached double-digit points after a couple of layups in the final three minutes of the third quarter.
- Conley closed out the third-quarter scoring with a jumper assisted by Cowles with 1:32 remaining in the quarter.
- Sørbye got the fourth quarter started with a layup at the 9:20 mark.
- The freshman then set her career-high in points following two three-pointers and put Wake Forest up 64-48 with four minutes remaining.
- Hinds extended the lead back to 20 with a layup at the 1:55 mark.
- Conley and Sørbye knocked down two more three-pointers late in the fourth to close out the scoring as Wake Forest earned the 73-52 win.
- The Deacs shared the ball well again on Sunday, finishing with 20 assists on 29 made baskets.
- Through eight games, the Deacs have finished with double-digit assists in seven contests, including five games with 16 or more and a pair of contests with 20 helpers.
- The 20 assists in the game tied a season-high for the Demon Deacons.
- All nine players had at least one assist.
- The eight turnovers were the fewest by a Demon Deacon team since defeating Saint Louis 94-66 on Nov. 20, 2023 when the Deacs also only had eight turnovers in the game.
- Freshman guard Aurora Sørbye led the Deacs with a career-high 15 points on a 6-of-8 effort from the field. She also led the team with a trio of threes made, finishing 3-of-4 from behind the arc.
- It marked the first time in double figures for the Bergen, Norway product through the first eight games of her young Demon Deacon career.
- Redshirt junior Malaya Cowles was an efficient 7-of-8 from the floor, finishing right behind Sørybe with 14 points of her own. She also led the team with eight rebounds.
- Cowles has finished in double figures four times this season, including back-to-back contests for Wake Forest.
- It marked her best shooting percentage of the season. At home this season, Cowles is shooting 64.1 percent overall at LJVM Coliseum (25-of-39 FG).
- Additionally, her seven makes from the field tied her for the most by a Wake Forest player this season in a single game.
- Tamia Jones/Malaya Cowles vs. Queens (11/4) and Tamia Jones at Villanova (11/10).
"We won every quarter and that is a huge positive. We had 20 assists to eight turnovers which are numbers we try to hit every game. Malaya was extremely efficient which is huge for us. And Demeara has been great at the free throw line all season which is amazing. We need to clean up some things offensively and shoot better from three. We came out and played a little flat so we need to bring some energy into the next one. We need to rest up and get our bodies ready to go for the next one. We have to keep building on a good win going into an early game on Wednesday against a good Campbell team." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue their homestand Wednesday when the Deacs play host to Campbell.
Tipoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
GW
WF
FG%
.305
.453
3FG%
.286
.286
FT%
.857
.875
RB
39
35
TO
16
8
STL
3
10
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballMatt Barrie SportsCenter at Wake Forest with Demond Claiborne
Wednesday, September 10
Matt Barrie SportsCenter on Wake Forest Campus (Arnold Palmer Complex)
Wednesday, September 10
Football Media Availability (9/9/25)
Wednesday, September 10
Wake Forest Football vs Western Carolina | Cinematic Recap
Tuesday, September 09