Deacs Drop Road Game at No. 9 Louisville

Thursday, February 12

Louisville, KY

7 p.m.

Wake Forest University

13-13,3-11ACC

Louisville

23-4,13-1ACC

Wake Forest

Louisville

2/12/2026 9:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Sophomore forward Grace Oliver, sophomore guard Aurora Sørbye and freshman Milan Brown combined for 44 points in the loss Thursday night in Louisville, Ky.

By: Kaitlyn Stocum and Andrew Kovar

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sophomores Grace Oliver and Aurora Sørbye led the offensive attack as the Wake Forest women's basketball team fell 86-67 Thursday night against No. 9 Louisville at KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Ky.

In her second game back since returning to action, sophomore forward Grace Oliver led the way for the Deacs (13-13, 3-11 ACC), finishing the night with 20 points on 8-of-11 from the field. It marked the most points for the Norwell, Mass. native since her career-high 30-point performance against Gardner-Webb that helped her earn ACC Player of the Week honors.

So far this season, Oliver has been one of the most efficient players in the country, leading the ACC and ranking in the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage. Going into the game at nationally-ranked Louisville (23-4, 13-1 ACC), Oliver was shooting 58.9 percent from the field.

Oliver nearly completed her second double-double of the season, finishing with a game-high nine rebounds.

Joining her in double figures were freshmen guard Milan Brown and Sørbye.

Brown has now reached double figures in the last six games, finishing the night with 12 points, all coming in the second half. In the final 20 minutes of the game, Brown shot 5-of-7 from the field.

Sørbye tallied 12 points, matching Brown's 5-of-9 shooting from the field.

How It Happened

The Demon Deacons kept the Cardinals in close range, as Louisville led 6-2 through the first four minutes of the quarter.
- Sophomore guard Aurora Sørbye began the Wake Forest offense with two in the paint.
At the 2:49 mark Sørbye added another bucket to the total.
Sophomore forward Grace Oliver knocked back three with less than 30 seconds to go to tie things up in the first.
Louisville led the Deacs 19-9 into the second quarter.
Graduate student Emily Johns connected with freshman guard Caitlyn Jones for a layup two minutes in.
Oliver grabbed a layup at the six minute mark.
Wake Forest trailed the Cards, 43-18 at the half.
Freshman guard Milan Brown came out of the break with a layup thirty seconds in.
At the 8:11 mark, Oliver added an and-one to the tally.
- The sophomore continued to lead all scorers on both squads with a bucket in the paint followed by three a minute and a half later.
With two minutes in the third quarter remaining, junior guard/forward Mary Carter knocked back three.
Louisville led the Deacs 70-39 before the fourth quarter.
Less than 10 seconds in, freshman forward Opal Bird launched three.
Johns found Oliver for a layup at the 7:46 mark.
The Demon Deacons went on a 10-0 run in the final three minutes of the game.
- Brown began with a jumper to start things off.
- Jones and sophomore forward Kennedy Moore posted back-to-back threes.
- Moore closed out the run with a jumper off a Cardinals turnover.
Wake Forest fell, 86-67 on the road.

Standout Stats

In her second game back since returning to action, sophomore Grace Oliver led the way for the Deacs finishing the night with 20 points on 8-of-11 from the field. Alongside her stellar shooting, the forward tallied nine boards, the most of the Deacs.
- It marked the most points for the Norwell, Mass. native since her career-high 30-point performance against Gardner-Webb that helped her earn ACC Player of the Week honors.
The Demon Deacons had another excellent game in the paint, with 36 points posted inside, while allowing Louisville to score 30, a six-point deficit.
Wake Forest finished with 15 assists on 27 made baskets for the contest (55.6 percent). In 26 games this season, the Demon Deacons have totaled 436 assists on 654 field goals (66.7 percent) which would mark the highest percentage in a single season within the Megan Gebbia era.
- The Demon Deacons are averaging 16.8 assists, fourth in the ACC.

From Gebbia
"I am proud of the way we competed and we finished this game strong. This team has fight and competitiveness and that showed in the second half. We won the second half and won points in the paint. We made some adjustments and there is some good to take away from this game. We needed to do a better job of taking away the three. We just needed to do some of those good things in the first half to make this a competitive game. Grace, Aurora and Milan played well and Aurora probably played one of her best games of the year and really did a lot for us in the first half. Even though the score doesn't show it were some positives we can take from this and now we need to use this bye to our advantage before hosting a good Notre Dame team at home in a week." - Megan Gebbia

Up Next
The Demon Deacons are off over the weekend for the second bye of the conference season before returning to the court when they host Notre Dame on Thursday, Feb. 19 at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The game will also serve as the annual Black History Month Spotlight Game.

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