Demon Deacons Fall in Overtime to Louisville

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Despite shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond-the-arc, the Wake Forest women's basketball team dropped a tightly-contested matchup, 81-76, in overtime Sunday afternoon inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Demon Deacons (7-7, 0-3 ACC) were led by a career-high scoring performance from sophomore guard Rylie Theuerkauf who finished the night with 17 points. The Tenafly, N.J. native started the game a perfect 5-of-5 from the field including a perfect 4-for-4 from three.

Theuerkauf ended the game shooting 6-of-9 from the field and hit a career-best five threes on eight attempts. This included the game-tying three with 11 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Wake Forest outshot the Cardinals (10-5, 3-1 ACC) from the field and three as the Deacs converted on a blistering 59 percent of its shots (27-of-46 FG) and 53 percent from behind the arc (10-of-19 3FG).

Wake Forest assisted on 21 of its 27 made baskets (78 percent) against Louisville. 21 assists marks the most this season by the Deacs and most against an ACC opponent since Jan. 19, 2017 in an 80-77 victory over North Carolina. It was the third time this season Wake Forest logged at least 20 assists, with the first two coming against Winthrop and Gardner-Webb (both 20).

Redshirt-junior forward Malaya Cowles finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including eight of Wake Forest's 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Deacs force overtime.

How It Happened

After a pair of Louisville free throws, Hinds got Wake Forest on the board with a layup assisted by Cowles a minute into the contest.
Jones tied it at 4-4 with a layup of her own at the 7:07 mark.
With 5:55 remaining in the quarter, Jones put the Deacs in front with a triple.
The Cardinals took a 10-8 lead before Wake Forest went on a quick 6-0 run capped off by a Conley three-pointer at the 2:40 mark.
Free throws from Hinds and Sørbye closed out the first quarter as Wake Forest led Louisville, 17-12.
- Jones led the Deacs in the first 10 minutes of action with seven points and two steals.
- The Cardinals were held to just 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from the floor in the first quarter.
Sørbye connected on her first field goal of the afternoon with a jumper at the 8:59 mark in the second quarter to make it 19-15 Wake Forest.
Conley knocked down another three and extended the lead to seven (22-15) with 6:18 remaining in the half.
Moore added four quick points as well as a couple of blocks and helped the Deacs maintain a comfortable advantage halfway through the second quarter.
- The freshman then hit a nice turnaround jump shot to make it 29-23 at the 2:56 mark.
Theuerkauf ended a 6-0 Louisville run and re-gained the lead for the Deacs with a deep three with under a minute to go in the half.
Wake Forest went into the locker room with a 32-31 lead.
The two teams opened the second half trading buckets, with Hinds opening the third quarter with a layup followed by five points on consecutive possessions from Theuerkauf.
Cowles became the ninth Demon Deacon to score on Sunday as she finished a layup at the 6:33 mark.
Williams connected on a three-pointer and Cowles went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe as Wake Forest took a 46-43 lead with under four to go in the quarter.
Wake Forest stayed hot from beyond-the-arc as Theuerkauf knocked down two in a row as she extended the lead to 54-47.
After three quarters of play, Wake Forest led Lousivlle, 56-54.
Wake Forest ended a 9-0 Louisville run as Theuerkauf dished out a perfect assist to Cowles down low for a layup and cut the deficit to 59-58.
Cowles answered with another layup, this time from Williams, to keep it a one-point game with 4:39 to go.
As the game entered its final minutes, Cowles added her third and fourth baskets of the quarter and kept Wake Forest within a field goal.
With one minute to go, Williams connected from deep and gave Wake Forest a 67-66 advantage.
Trailing by three, Theuerkauf knocked down a game-tying three from way out to force overtime at 70-70.
Jones tied it at 72-72 with a layup with just over three minutes left in overtime.
With 42 seconds left, Cowles converted an and-one to bring the Deacs to within two points.
A Louisville three-pointer with 17 seconds left put the game out of reach as Wake Forest fell, 81-76, in overtime.

Standout Stats

Sophomore guard Rylie Theuerkauf recorded a career-high 17 points Sunday afternoon, highlighted by an exceptional day from beyond-the-arc, as she finished 5-of-8 from three-point range.
- It marked the first time in the HerHoopStats era (since 2008-2009) that a Demon Deacon finished with five-or-more triples while shooting above 60 percent from three.
- Theuerkauf also set a career-high in assists, dishing out five against the Cardinals.
- Her last-second three from the logo sent the game into overtime.
Forcing the Cardinals into 21 turnovers, Wake Forest forced double-digit turnovers for the 55th time in the last 56 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024.
- This marked the fifth time this season that Wake Forest forced 20-or-more turnovers and the second-consecutive game doing so.
- The 56-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
- 21 turnovers ties the most in a game this season for Louisville, with the other instance coming against UT Martin on Nov. 12.
- Wake Forest added 26 points off turnovers against the Cardinals.
Wake Forest assisted on 21 of its 27 made baskets (78 percent) against Louisville.
- 21 assists marks the most this season by the Deacs and most against an ACC opponent since Jan. 19, 2017 in an 80-77 victory over North Carolina.
- It was the third time this season Wake Forest logged at least 20 assists, with the first two coming against Winthrop and Gardner-Webb (both 20).
The Demon Deacons connected on 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) attempts from three-point range.
- It marked the third time this season Wake Forest knocked down double-digit threes and is the highest percentage from beyond-the-arc since it went 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) on the road against Duke on Feb. 8, 2024.
- Additionally, it was the first time since at least the 2008-2009 season that the Deacs made 10-or-more three pointers while shooting at least 50 percent from deep.

From Gebbia
"We are obviously upset that we lost today, but there are a lot of positives we can take out of this one and this is a huge step in our process. We played with really good effort and they hit some big shots to take this one from us. We played like a different team today and now we just need to build off this one. It shows we are capable of putting up points. Now that has to be the standard and take that forward. I am proud of the way we played. We need to clean up the turnovers and make some more free throws. We won basically every other category in the game. Those little things are the difference in winning against a good ACC team like Louisville and hopefully we learned that lesson tonight. There are so many positives coming out of this one, but we need to eliminate mental mistakes. I am excited for this group and ready to get back in the gym with them tomorrow as we prepare for one of the best teams in the country in Notre Dame." - Megan Gebbia

Up Next
The Demon Deacons will be back on the road home as Wake Forest travels north to play Notre Dame on Thursday, Jan. 9.

Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

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Team Stats

Rylie Theuerkauf

Malaya Cowles

Elise Williams

Tamia Jones

Players Mentioned

Malaya Cowles

Rylie Theuerkauf

Wake Forest Athletics