Demon Deacons Drop Road Game at No. 3 Notre Dame

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In a game that saw three separate Demon Deacons reach 15 points, the Wake Forest women's basketball team fell, 100-64, on the road Thursday evening against Notre Dame inside the Purcell Pavilion.

The Demon Deacons (7-8, 0-4 ACC) got strong play from both players in redshirt senior Demeara Hinds and redshirt junior Malaya Cowles as both finished in double figures.

Cowles finished in double figures for the seventh time in the last eight games. Additionally in four ACC games this season, she has averaged 11.8 points per game. Cowles also did a strong job on the glass, posting 10 rebounds Thursday night. She was well on her way to her third double-double of the season after the first 20 minutes of play, pulling down six boards in the first half alone.

Hinds ended the night with a season-high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting while also finishing with six rebounds. She ended the night just one point off her career high.

Forcing the Fighting Irish (13-2, 4-0 ACC) into 11 turnovers, Wake Forest forced double-digit turnovers for the 56th time in the last 57 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024. The 57-game stretch goes back to January of 2022. Through 15 games this season, Wake Forest has totaled 140 steals.

For the second-straight game since coming back from injury, senior guard Elise Williams posted double-digit points. The Raleigh, N.C. native finished the night shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. She also had a perfect night at the free throw line, connecting on 7-of-7 free throws.

Williams is now 19-of-21(.905) from the free throw line this season and is now shooting 78.1 percent for her career which is seventh in program history.

This marks the first time since 2021 that three Demon Deacons have finished with 15 or more points in the same game. The last instance was on Dec. 15, 2021 in a 94-40 win against South Carolina State.

How It Happened

After a 10-0 run from Notre Dame to open the contest, Wake Forest got on the board with consecutive baskets from Jones and Cowles, both coming after offensive rebounds.
The Deacs once again capitalized on a second-chance opportunity as Sørbye found Hinds for a layup and cut the deficit to 12-6 at the 4:10 mark.
Both offenses caught fire near the end of the first quarter, as Hinds finished another layup before back-to-back threes by Williams in the final minute kept the Deacs within 10 points (25-15) headed into the second quarter.
Cowles opened the second quarter by hauling in another offensive rebound and putting it back up to cut the deficit to eight just 26 seconds in.
Sørbye got on the board and ended a 10-0 Notre Dame run with a pull-up jumper from the elbow at the 6:54 mark.
A minute later, Williams picked off a pass from Hidalgo, which resulted in a layup from Cowles on the other end.
Sørbye recorded her second basket of the night with a layup off an assist from Hinds with five minutes left in the half.
A nice pass from Williams set up Cowles in the paint at the 3:17 mark.
Williams went a perfect 3-for-3 from the line after a shooting foul beyond-the-arc.
Cowles reached double-digits with 30 seconds to go in the half as she connected on another layup.
Wake Forest went into the locker room trailing, 51-31.
- Cowles led the team with 10 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block through the first two quarters.
Theuerkauf got the second-half scoring started with a driving layup assisted by Cowles at the 9:21 mark.
Williams found Hinds down low for another assist with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter.
The Demon Deacons went on a 10-0 run over a two-minute span that got started with a Jordan triple at the 5:24 mark.
After a second-chance layup from Hinds, Jordan knocked down another three-pointer.
Hinds capped off the 10-0 run with a block followed by a finish on the other end.
Williams connected on four more free throws and knocked down a pull-up jumper as she scored six-consecutive Wake Forest points.
Cowles scored the first five points of the fourth quarter for Wake Forest, finishing two layups and converting from the free throw line.
Hinds became the third Deac to reach 15 points Thursday evening with two-consecutive layups in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Wake Forest fell to Notre Dame, 100-64.

Standout Stats

Forcing the Irish into 11 turnovers, Wake Forest forced double-digit turnovers for the 56th time in the last 57 games, with the lone game coming against Syracuse on Jan. 11, 2024.
- The 57-game stretch goes back to January of 2022.
- Through 15 games this season, Wake Forest has totaled 140 steals.
With Elise Williams (18), Malaya Cowles (15) and Demeara Hinds (17) all scoring at least 15 points, it marked the first game that three Demon Deacons did so since Dec. 15, 2021 in a 94-40 win against South Carolina State.
In just her second game back from injury, senior guard Elise Williama led the team with a season-high 18 points on an efficient 4-of-6 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.
- This season, Williams is an incredible 19-of-21 (.905) from the free throw line.
- She holds a .781 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.	Elise Williams (2021-Present)	.781
8.	Porsche' Jones (2004-06)	.778
9.	Ivana Raca (2017-21)	.765
10.	Amber Campbell (2014-18)	.755

Additionally, with her 18 points in the game, Williams is 22nd in program history in scoring and is now two points away from moving into 21st with Corinne Groves (2006-2009).

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.	Barbara Durham (1979-83)	1,203
20.	Sandra Garcia (2009-13)	1,201
21.	Corinne Groves (2005-09)	1,194
22.	Elise Williams (2021-Pres.)	1,192
23.	Beth Davis (1988-91)	1,172

From Gebbia
"I am proud of the fight we showed and we continued to battle all night. We made a couple of runs to cut down the lead a few times in the second half. We need to take this and build on it. We need to improve our transition defense and this is a much different game. We had good production from our seniors. Elise played really well with 18 points and both of our posts played really well in Malaya and Demeara. We need to make that a constant throughout the rest of the season. We did well in a number of different areas and I am really proud of the effort we showed especially on the road. We have to learn to be more consistent with shooting percentages. We had to start this one a little sharper, but we have grown each game in 2025. Now we have to get over this quickly and get onto Sunday at Virginia Tech." - Megan Gebbia

Up Next
The Demon Deacons will be back on the road as Wake Forest travels north to play Virginia Tech on Sunday.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

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Team Stats

Elise Williams

Demeara Hinds

Malaya Cowles

Madisyn Jordan

Players Mentioned

Malaya Cowles

Demeara Hinds

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Athletics