Thursday, November 13
Winston-Salem, N.C.
6 p.m.
Wake Forest University
4-0,0-0ACC
66
vs
61
Mercer
2-2,0-0SoCon
1
2
3
4
F
Mercer
17
12
19
13
61
Wake Forest
16
16
15
19
66
Oliver Reaches Career-High, Propels Deacs to Best Start Since 2021-22
11/13/2025 9:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore forward Grace Oliver finished the night with a career-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting as the Demon Deacons improved to 4-0 on the season with a win over Mercer at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C – The Demon Deacons improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2021-22 season with a 66-61 victory over the Mercer Bears, Thursday night at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum.
The Bears (2-2) jumped to an early lead and pressured the Demon Deacons (4-0) as Mercer led by as many as seven points in the first quarter, the largest lead by any team the entire game. Despite Mercer's efforts, Wake Forest continued to fight back with standout performances from sophomore guard Grace Oliver and junior guard/forward Mary Carter.
Oliver finished the night with a career-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field while also having seven rebounds in the win. She finished the first half with a team-best 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting while also going 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Oliver has now increased her point total in each of the last three games and scored double-figure points in back-to-back games.
Carter, who also scored double-digit points in the first half, ended the night with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting while also having a team-best three three-pointers made in the win.
Additionally, freshman forward Opal Bird collected a season-high and team-high eight assists in the win to go along with a pair of rebounds and a point at the free-throw line. Her eight assists are the most by a Demon Deacon since Tamia Jones had eight assists against Virginia on Jan. 2, 2025.
The Demon Deacons had another excellent game in the paint, with 42 points posted inside while allowing the Bears to score just 22 points in the paint, a 20-point differential.
Across four games, the Deacs have totaled 172 points in the paint including having over 40 in the last three games.
On defense, Wake Forest forced Mercer to turn the ball over 22 times in the game, resulting in 13 points on the other end of the floor.
How It Happened
"We found a way to win without playing our best. Grace Oliver had a career high with 21 and we also got great performances from Mary Carter, Raven Preston and Emily Johns. This was a physical game and we need to do a better job handling that throughout the game. Our offensive execution needs to be better. It's a product of having a young team and the veteran lineup there at the end were able to execute and get us the win. We didn't practice well going into this one and that showed up tonight. Now we need to have a good week of practice going into the next one and take a learning lesson out of this one. Happy to get the win but definitely work to do going into Thursday against NC Central." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue the season-opening homestand next Thursday when the Deacs play host to NC Central at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
The Bears (2-2) jumped to an early lead and pressured the Demon Deacons (4-0) as Mercer led by as many as seven points in the first quarter, the largest lead by any team the entire game. Despite Mercer's efforts, Wake Forest continued to fight back with standout performances from sophomore guard Grace Oliver and junior guard/forward Mary Carter.
Oliver finished the night with a career-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field while also having seven rebounds in the win. She finished the first half with a team-best 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting while also going 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Oliver has now increased her point total in each of the last three games and scored double-figure points in back-to-back games.
Carter, who also scored double-digit points in the first half, ended the night with 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting while also having a team-best three three-pointers made in the win.
Additionally, freshman forward Opal Bird collected a season-high and team-high eight assists in the win to go along with a pair of rebounds and a point at the free-throw line. Her eight assists are the most by a Demon Deacon since Tamia Jones had eight assists against Virginia on Jan. 2, 2025.
The Demon Deacons had another excellent game in the paint, with 42 points posted inside while allowing the Bears to score just 22 points in the paint, a 20-point differential.
Across four games, the Deacs have totaled 172 points in the paint including having over 40 in the last three games.
On defense, Wake Forest forced Mercer to turn the ball over 22 times in the game, resulting in 13 points on the other end of the floor.
How It Happened
- The Bears pressed hard in the early minutes of the contest and led 10-8 through five minutes.
- Freshman guard Milan Brown began the Wake Forest offense with a second-chance layup.
- Junior guard/forward Mary Carter drilled a three from the far corner to cut the Bears' lead to four.
- Carter found sophomore guard Grace Oliver below the net for a layup with 3:27 remaining.
- Redshirt-junior guard Raven Preston brought the game back within two with a driving layup off the bench.
- Wake Forest began the second quarter trailing 16-17.
- Freshman Caitlyn Jones posted her first points of the night in the paint to make it 20-21.
- The Demon Deacons took their first lead of the night as Carter knocked another three to make it 25-24.
- The Rocklin, Calif.-native reached double digits and extended the Deacs' lead to 31-29 with 0:26 remaining.
- Freshman forward Opal Bird closed out the half with a point from the line.
- Wake Forest entered the locker room leading, 32-29.
- The Demon Deacons remained in the lead with efforts from Carter and Oliver with 4:55 remaining.
- Oliver surpassed a career-high with 2:29 left in the third,
- Wake Forest trailed Mercer, 47-48, entering the fourth quarter.
- Junior guard/forward Madisyn Jordan began the final quarter with a driving layup to regain the lead.
- Graduate forward Emily Johns made it 51-48 with a perfect trip to the charity stripe.
- With six minutes left in the contest, Carter nailed a three to keep the Deacs out front.
- Preston made it 65-59 with 30 seconds remaining following a clean trip to the line.
- Wake Forest defeated the Bear, 66-61.
- Wake Forest tallied 17 total assists on the night on 24 made baskets (71.0 percent). In four games this season, the Demon Deacons have totaled 69 assists on 105 field goals (65.7 percent) which would mark the highest percentage in the Megan Gebbia era.
- Sophomore forward Grace Oliver finished the night with a career-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field while also having seven rebounds in the win.
- This tops her previous career-high of 16 points against Houston while she was a freshman at Colorado.
- She finished the first half with a team-best 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting while also going 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
- Oliver has now increased her point total in each of the last three games and scored double-figure points in back-to-back games.
- Freshman forward Opal Bird collected a season-high and team-high eight assists in the win to go along with a pair of rebounds and a point at the free throw line.
- Her eight assists are the most by a Demon Deacon since Tamia Jones had eight assists against Virginia on Jan. 2, 2025.
- Additionally, the only Deac with a higher single-game assist total in the Gebbia era was Kaia Harrison on Dec. 11, 2022 when she recorded nine assists in a win over Charlotte.
"We found a way to win without playing our best. Grace Oliver had a career high with 21 and we also got great performances from Mary Carter, Raven Preston and Emily Johns. This was a physical game and we need to do a better job handling that throughout the game. Our offensive execution needs to be better. It's a product of having a young team and the veteran lineup there at the end were able to execute and get us the win. We didn't practice well going into this one and that showed up tonight. Now we need to have a good week of practice going into the next one and take a learning lesson out of this one. Happy to get the win but definitely work to do going into Thursday against NC Central." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue the season-opening homestand next Thursday when the Deacs play host to NC Central at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
Mercer
WF
FG%
.358
.453
3FG%
.304
.231
FT%
.857
.682
RB
44
34
TO
22
20
STL
11
13
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
10
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's BasketballGuard/Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballForward
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's BasketballForward
/ Women's BasketballGuard
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