Demon Deacons Drop Road Test Against Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – For the second-straight game, redshirt senior forward Demeara Hinds led the way offensively as the Wake Forest women's basketball team fell to Syracuse, 62-50, Sunday afternoon inside the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

The Demon Deacons (8-15, 1-11 ACC) started the game strong against the Orange (10-13, 4-8 ACC), leading by as much as 12 points in the second quarter. The Deacs had the lead for the entire game until Syracuse took their first lead with 7:39 remaining in the game.

Hinds reached double figures in the first half for the second-straight game, netting a team-high 12 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. She was 6-of-10 from the field in the first half.

She finished the game with a team-high 14 points on seven field goal makes while also grabbing six rebounds in the loss.

Sophomore guard Rylie Theuerkauf also had a strong start to her afternoon with nine points in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting including a buzzer-beating turnaround jumper to give the Demon Deacons a 31-26 lead going into halftime. Theuerkauf, for the sixth-straight game and the 14th time overall this season finished the game in double figures, posting 11 points Sunday afternoon.

Also finishing in double figures was redshirt junior forward Malaya Cowles. She also led the team with seven rebounds to go along with 10 points on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting.

Of note, freshman guard Aurora Sørbye ended the afternoon with six assists while also pulling down a career-high six rebounds.

How It Happened

Wake Forest got on the board first as Sørbye found Hinds for a layup just under 30 second into the contest.
After a two-point basket from the Orange, Theuerkauf knocked down her first triple of the afternoon off of an assist from Cowles at the 8:21 mark.
Sørbye found Hinds down low on back-to-back possessions for a pair of layups.
- At the first media timeout, the two teams were level at 9-9 with five minutes remaining in the quarter.
Cowles got on the board with a layup following a dish from Theuerkauf right out of the timeout.
Sørbye continued to distribute with an assist on a Theuerkauf layup, as the Norwegian picked up her fourth assist in under six minutes of play.
Hinds and Theuerkauf made it an 8-0 Wake Forest run as both took advantage of Syracuse turnovers and finished at the rim.
- The Demon Deacons led, 17-9, with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter.
The Orange ended a four-minute scoring drought before the end of the first as Wake Forest held a 17-11 advantage after 10.
- Hinds and Theuerkauf combined for 15 of Wake Forest's 17 first-quarter points.
After a defensive start to the second quarter, Hinds answered a Syracuse layup with one her own with an assist credited to Theuerkauf at the 7:58 mark.
Conley connected on back-to-back three-pointers and extended the Wake Forest lead to 25-13 and forced Syracuse into a timeout with seven minutes to go in the half.
Hinds stayed hot as she brought her total to 12 points on the afternoon following a layup with an assist to Williams.
Theuerkauf ended a 9-0 Syracuse run with a jumper at the buzzer.
- Wake Forest went into the locker room with a 31-26 lead.
Hinds picked up where she left off as she opened the second half with a finish inside on a Theuerkauf assist.
Cowles helped maintain a healthy advantage with a pair of layups over the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Andrews made it 39-34 with her first basket of the game at the 4:33 mark in the third.
After Syracuse tied it at 39-39, the Deacs regained the lead with a Theuerkauf layup to close out the quarter.
- The Demon Deacons led, 41-39, headed into the fourth quarter.
The Orange toko the lead for the first time at the 7:39 mark in the fourth, but Andrews knocked down a massive three and tied it back up at 46-46.
Cowles put Wake Forest up 48-46 out of the final media timeout.
Syracuse went on a 11-0 run and took a 57-48 lead with under a minute to go.
The Demon Deacons were unable to cut back into the deficit and fell to Syracuse, 62-50.

Standout Stats

Wake Forest logged 15 assists on 22 made baskets (68 percent).
- This season, the Demon Deacons have assisted 323 of 539 field goals (59 percent).
- Additionally, the Deacs have recorded at least 15 assists in 10 games so far this campaign.
Freshman guard Aurora Sørbye set a career high with six rebounds and tied a career-high with six assists.
- She is averaging five assists per-game over the last three outings.
Redshirt senior forward Demeara Hinds reached double figures for the fourth-consecutive game as she finished with 14 on 7-of-14 from the floor in addition to hauling in six rebounds.
- She has scored 32 points and grabbed 19 rebounds over the last two outings.
Senior guard Elise Williams also finished the game with four steals and surpassed Lisa Stockton (1983-86) for ninth in program history in career steals (208) and is now just two behind Cotelia Bond-Young (2003-06) in eighth.

From Gebbia
"The frustrating thing about this one is that the same things keep beating us. It was turnovers, fouls and some execution things down the stretch. We played well in the first half but we didn't do the things we needed to do to win the game in the second half. We fought at times but didn't make the 50-50 plays to win this one. We were able to execute against their zone but we didn't execute on offense against man-to-man. Hopefully we use this one as a learning lesson cause this was one we should have won today. We need to get back to work tomorrow cause we have a really good Duke team coming to our place on Thursday. We need some wins down the stretch and start to turn things into a positive direction in the last couple weeks of the season to push for postseason play." - Megan Gebbia

Up Next
The Demon Deacons, after being away from home for the last two games, return to Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday, Feb. 13 as the Deacs take on in-state rival Duke.

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

Next Event

Team Stats

Demeara Hinds

Rylie Theuerkauf

Malaya Cowles

Raegyn Conley

Players Mentioned

Malaya Cowles

Demeara Hinds

Rylie Theuerkauf

Elise Williams

Wake Forest Athletics