Thursday, November 20
Winston-Salem, N.C.
8 p.m.
Wake Forest University
5-0,0-0ACC
68
vs
65
NC Central
1-4,0-0MEAC
1
2
3
4
F
N.C. Central
15
16
19
15
65
Wake Forest
27
15
16
10
68
Demon Deacons Remain Perfect, Defeat NC Central 68-65
11/20/2025 10:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophomore Grace Oliver led the squad with 19 points and eight rebounds in the win as the Deacs improved to 5-0 on the season.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C – The Wake Forest women's basketball team improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 2021-22 season with a 68-65 victory over the NC Central Eagles, Thursday night at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons (5-0) forced the Bears (1-4) into 21 turnovers on the night, which they turned into 20 points on the other end. Wake Forest also dominated the paint, as it out-scored the visitors 42-to-24 inside.
Individually, the Deacs were led by sophomore forward Grace Oliver, who continued her hot start to the season with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field while also adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win.
Oliver now leads the team with 68 points on the year (13.6 PPG) and is doing so on an incredibly efficient .646 shooting.
Freshman guard Milan Brown had an all-around performance and played a crucial role against the Eagles. Baltimore, Md.-native finished with six points, eight rebounds, seven assists, a rebounds and a steal.
Brown is just the second Wake Forest player in the HerHoopsStats era (2009-10) to finish with that statline or better, joining Brittany Waters (Feb. 27, 2011).
Redshirt junior Raven Preston and junior forward Mary Carter each chipped in double digit points with 13 and 11, respectively.
How It Happened
"Glad we won but we have a lot to fix otherwise we won't be able to keep winning games like this. We had an 18-point lead in the second half and we just didn't execute to put it away. I liked how aggressive we are so far this season. Milan stepped up and made some plays for us late, especially making secondary plays. Grace Oliver paced us there early and the other veterans helped get us to the win as well. 21 turnovers is way too high especially later in the season against good teams. We missed too many free throws again and that's something that needs to improve. There were too many mental errors and we can't accept that especially coming off a week of practice. Now we come ready to go for practice tomorrow in order to get ready for Western Carolina on Sunday." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue the season-opening homestand Sunday when the Deacs play host to Western Carolina at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
The Demon Deacons (5-0) forced the Bears (1-4) into 21 turnovers on the night, which they turned into 20 points on the other end. Wake Forest also dominated the paint, as it out-scored the visitors 42-to-24 inside.
Individually, the Deacs were led by sophomore forward Grace Oliver, who continued her hot start to the season with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field while also adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win.
Oliver now leads the team with 68 points on the year (13.6 PPG) and is doing so on an incredibly efficient .646 shooting.
Freshman guard Milan Brown had an all-around performance and played a crucial role against the Eagles. Baltimore, Md.-native finished with six points, eight rebounds, seven assists, a rebounds and a steal.
Brown is just the second Wake Forest player in the HerHoopsStats era (2009-10) to finish with that statline or better, joining Brittany Waters (Feb. 27, 2011).
Redshirt junior Raven Preston and junior forward Mary Carter each chipped in double digit points with 13 and 11, respectively.
How It Happened
- The Demon Deacons opened the scoring right out of the gate as Moore connected on a layup on an assist from Brown 10 seconds in after winning the tip.
- After the Eagles got on the board for the first time at the 8:08 mark, Wake Forest went on an 8-0 run kickstarted by a Moore triple.
- Back-to-back layups from Carter and Oliver forced the visitors into a timeout with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter as the Deacs led, 11-2.
- Preston got on the board at the 4:26 mark as she finished a tough layup through contact and completed the three-point play at the line.
- On the next possession, Carter extended the lead to double-digits (17-6) for the Deacs as she knocked down a three.
- Free throws from Preston and Bird and three layups from Oliver closed out scoring for the Deacs in the first quarter as they took a 27-15 lead into the second.
- Four Wake Forest players had five-or-more points through the first 10 minutes of play, led by Oliver with nine.
- The visitors opened the second quarter with 13-straight points to take the lead until Preston ended the run with a layup at the 6:25 mark.
- Oliver added two more layups, both on assists from Brown, and put the Deacs up 33-31 with just under four minutes to go in the half.
- The scorer turned provider on the next Wake Forest basket, as Oliver found Carter for a finish inside in the paint.
- Wake Forest held NC Central scoreless over the final 4:10 of the first half and the Deacs extended the lead to 42-31 going into the break.
- Carter led all scorers with 13 on 6-of-8 from the floor in addition to seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Preston also had double-digits going into the locker room, with six of her 10 points coming from the charity stripe.
- Sørbye got the Deacs going in the second half with a triple six seconds in.
- A minute later, Oliver picked up where she left off in the first half with a layup to increase her total to 15 on the night.
- After a couple more baskets from Sørbye and Olvier, Brown got in on the action with a tough finish at the 5:52 mark to make it 53-35 Wake Forest.
- The Deacs continued to own the paint as Bird and Oliver added four more inside before the end of the third.
- Wake Forest held a 58-50 lead as it entered the final frame.
- The visitors cut it to a four-point game, but the Deacs proceeded to go on a 7-0 run from the 6:58 to 3:47 marks and took a 65-54 lead.
- Preston and Carter added buckets inside before Sørbye and Brown chipped in from the stripe.
- Despite a late push from the Eagles, Wake Forest held on for a 68-65 victory.
- The Demon Deacons are now 5-0 for the first time since the 2021-2022 season (7-0).
- Wake Forest tallied 19 total assists on the night on 25 made baskets (76 percent). In five games this season, the Demon Deacons have totaled 88 assists on 130 field goals (67.7 percent) which would mark the highest percentage in the Megan Gebbia era.
- The Deacs did an excellent job of moving the ball last season, as they assisted on 394 of 667 made baskets this season (59.1 pct.). This was the highest assist percentage in the Gebbia era and the assist percentage ranks in the top 70 percent in the nation according to HerHoopStats.
- In 2023-24, the Deacs assisted 404 of 694 made field goals (58.2 percent).
- Sophomore forward Grace Oliver continued her hot start to the season with a team-high 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field while also adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in the win.
- Additionally, she is the third Wake Forest player to finish with 19-plus points and eight-plus rebounds on 60 percent or better shooting in the Gebbia-era, joining Malaya Cowles (Dec. 4. 2024) and Elise Williams (Feb. 4, 2024).
- Oliver now leads the team with 68 points on the year (13.6 PPG) and is doing so on an incredibly efficient .646 shooting.
- Freshman guard Milan Brown had an all-around performance, finishing with six points, eight rebounds, seven assists, a rebounds and a steal.
- She is just the second Wake Forest player in the HerHoopsStats era to finish with that statline or better.
"Glad we won but we have a lot to fix otherwise we won't be able to keep winning games like this. We had an 18-point lead in the second half and we just didn't execute to put it away. I liked how aggressive we are so far this season. Milan stepped up and made some plays for us late, especially making secondary plays. Grace Oliver paced us there early and the other veterans helped get us to the win as well. 21 turnovers is way too high especially later in the season against good teams. We missed too many free throws again and that's something that needs to improve. There were too many mental errors and we can't accept that especially coming off a week of practice. Now we come ready to go for practice tomorrow in order to get ready for Western Carolina on Sunday." - Megan Gebbia
Up Next
The Demon Deacons continue the season-opening homestand Sunday when the Deacs play host to Western Carolina at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Team Stats
NCCU
WF
FG%
.411
.397
3FG%
.313
.143
FT%
.636
.556
RB
39
42
TO
21
21
STL
13
8
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Women's BasketballGuard/Forward
/ Women's Basketball
Forward
/ Women's BasketballForward
/ Women's BasketballGuard
/ Women's Basketball
Guard
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