Demon Deacons Comeback Falls Short at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Despite battling back from a double-digit second half deficit to take the lead going into the fourth quarter, the Wake Forest women's basketball team fell, 61-54, on the road Sunday afternoon against Virginia Tech inside the Cassell Coliseum.

With 8:49 left in the third quarter, the Demon Deacons (7-9, 0-5 ACC) trailed by 12 points to the Hokies (12-4, 4-1 ACC), the largest deficit of the game. Wake Forest responded with a 15-1 run to take its first lead since the 8:54 mark of the first quarter.

Led by 11 third quarter points from senior guard Elise Williams, the Deacs took a 46-45 lead into the fourth quarter, but were unable to claim the victory.

Williams ended the night with a team-high 15 points including going 3-of-4 from the free throw line. With her scoring effort on Sunday, the Raleigh, N.C. native moved up three spots on the all-time scoring list and now ranks 19th all-time with 1,207 career points. She needs just 62 more points to move into the top 15 in program history.

Joining her in double figures were redshirt junior Malaya Cowles who had 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting while senior guard Raegyn Conley posted 10 points while knocking down two of the team's three triples.

Cowles also finished the game with four steals and the Demon Deacons had 12 steals and 19 forced turnovers for the game. This helped Wake Forest hold Virginia Tech well below its season average of 78.3 points per game. The 61 points marked the third-fewest the Hokies have scored all season with the other two coming against nationally-ranked Duke and Iowa.

How It Happened

The Demon Deacons got balanced scoring through the first half of the first quarter with four different Deacs accounting for the first 10 points of the game.
- Redshirt junior forward Malaya Cowles had a strong start inside, connecting on two of her first three baskets in the paint.
With 3:18 on the clock, Wake Forest trailed by just one basket at 14-11.
- Senior guard Raegyn Conley tied it at 14-14 at the 2:23, knocking down a right wing three for her first points of the game.
After the opening 10 minutes of play, Virginia Tech held a slim, 17-14 lead.
The Demon Deacons cut it down to one to start the second quarter and then the Hokies proceeded to go on a 4-0 run to extend their lead out to 21-16, going into the media timeout.
- The run ended at 8-0 when Cowles converted on a layup to make it 25-18 with 3:20 to play before halftime.
Wake Forest went into the locker room trailing 32-24.
- Conley led the way with seven points for the Demon Deacons on 3-of-4 shooting and hit the Deacs lone three of the game to that point.
- Cowles added six points and had a team-high three steals to go along with a pair of rebounds.
- Sophomore guard Rylie Theuerkauf, who had three points, also led the team with three rebounds and a pair of assists.
- The Deacs forced 12 turnovers in the first half which resulted in eight points on the other end. Eight of the 12 turnovers forced were steals with Cowles having three and redshirt senior forward Demeara Hinds having two.
Coming out of the first called timeout of the game from Wake Forest with less than two minutes off the clock in the third quarter, the Demon Deacons responded with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 36-29.
With the help of four forced turnovers, Wake Forest continued to cut into the lead.
- A steal from Conley led to an Elise Williams layup at the other end to make it a 37-32 game going into the media timeout at 4:53 in the third.
- The Deacs proceeded to go on a 10-0 run with a jumper at the free throw line from Williams giving Wake Forest the lead at 39-37.
  - At that point, Williams had a team-high 13 points for the Demon Deacons.
With the continued help of the hot hand Williams, Wake Forest took a 46-45 lead into the fourth.
- A key three on the last offensive possession of the half from sophomore forward Madisyn Jordan, gave the Deacs the lead.
The fourth quarter started with both teams trading baskets as Wake Forest held a slim 50-49 lead with 4:00 left in regulation.
Wake Forest again took the lead on a layup from Cowles to make it a 52-51 game.
- Virginia Tech responded with a 5-0 run to take a 56-52 lead with less than a minute to play.
Wake Forest scored just two points in the final 3:28 of the game and fell at Virginia Tech, 61-54.

Standout Stats

Forcing the Hokies into 19 turnovers, Wake Forest forced double-digit turnovers for the 57th time in the last 58 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024.
- The 58-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
- Through 16 games this season, Wake Forest has totaled 152 steals including 12 on Sunday which was the eighth time this season Wake Forest has recorded 10 or more steals in a game.
  - Additionally, the 12 steals tied a conference best as the Deacs also had 12 steals in the loss at Virginia to begin the New Year.
Wake Forest held one of the top offenses in the ACC well below their season average as Virginia Tech came into the game averaging 78.3 points per game. This was the third-lowest scoring output of the season for the Hokies with the only lower ones coming in losses to nationally ranked Duke and Iowa:
- 52 points (vs. Virginia Tech)
- 59 points (at Duke)
- 61 points (vs. Wake Forest )
The Demon Deacons won the battle inside against Virginia Tech, holding a distinct 36-28 advantage with points in the paint while also tying with 28 rebounds each.
- The Deacs' 11 offensive rebounds led to 13 second chance points which was six more than the Hokies.
With her 15 points in the game, senior guard Elise Williams is 19th in program history in scoring, passing Corinne Groves (2005-09), Sandra Garcia (2009-13) and Barbara Durham (1979-83) on Sunday to vault into 19th on the all-time scoring list:

Rank	Player	Career Points
14.	Lakevia Boykin (2009-13)	1,309
15.	Elisa Penna (2015-19)	1,269
16.	Brittany Waters (2007-11)	1,267
17.	Alice Neal (1985-89)	1,214
18.	Alex Tchangoue (2005-09)	1,212
19.	Elise Williams (2021-Pres.)	1,207
20.	Barbara Durham (1979-83)	1,203
21.	Sandra Garcia (2009-13)	1,201
22.	Corinne Groves (2005-09)	1,194
23.	Beth Davis (1988-91)	1,172

From Gebbia
"We fought the entire game and I am proud of the effort but we beat ourselves in this one primarily in the first half. We had some silly turnovers and the foul trouble killed us. We didn't shoot the ball well in the fourth quarter. We were down 12 in the second half and were able to fight back and take the lead which is something we haven't done yet in ACC play. We just need to get over the hump in the fourth quarter and we just need to make some better decisions. We held them to one of their lowest scoring games of the season and showed up all game on the defensive end of the floor, holding them well below their average. We needed to adjust to what they were doing to us defensively in late game situations. I know this group will not give up and we are close to making our breakthrough. I know how bad this team wants this and we are just a few plays away from having a much different record in league play. We now have to get off the mat and get ready for two games at home against two good teams in Cal and Stanford." - Megan Gebbia

Up Next
The Demon Deacons will be back at LJVM Coliseum as Wake Forest plays host to Stanford on Thursday night.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

Next Event

Team Stats

Elise Williams

Malaya Cowles

Raegyn Conley

Madisyn Jordan

Players Mentioned

Raegyn Conley

Malaya Cowles

Demeara Hinds

Madisyn Jordan

Rylie Theuerkauf

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Athletics