Deacs Fall in ACC Tournament First Round

Wednesday, March 4

Duluth, Ga.

1:30 p.m.

Wake Forest University

14-17,4-14ACC

Cal

19-13,9-9ACC

Wake Forest

California

3/4/2026 3:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Score Postgame Notes Season Stats Career Stats

The Demon Deacons were led by junior guard Mary Carter with 13 points and five rebounds.

DULUTH, Ga. – For the first time in the last six ACC Tournaments, the Wake Forest women's basketball team dropped its first game of the tournament, falling 75-52 to Cal in the first round Wednesday afternoon at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga.

The Demon Deacons (14-17, 4-14 ACC) were led by junior guard/forward Mary Carter who finished the night with a team-high 13 points to go along with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. The Rocklin, Calif.-native knocked down three of her four attempts from beyond-the-arc.

Carter has been playing her best basketball as of late with double-figure scoring in each of the last four games. This included a season-best 19-point performance in a road victory at Boston College. Over the last four games, Carter is averaging 15.0 points per game.

ACC All-Freshman Team selection Milan Brown finished the afternoon with a team-best nine rebounds to go along with seven points in the game. Brown finished the regular season in the top five out of the ACC freshmen in rebounding, assists and steals while also ranking sixth in scoring.

Joining Carter in double figures scoring was sophomore forward Grace Oliver. The Deacs leading scorer for the season, finished the afternoon with 10 points on 4-of-6 from the field. She has been one of the most efficient players in the country this season, going into the tournament ranked eighth nationally in field goal percentage.

Freshman guard Grace Galbavy chipped in with nine points on an efficient 4-of-5 from the floor and grabbed a pair of rebounds. This marked her second most points in a game this season following her 11-point outing against NC State on Jan. 15.

This marks the third neutral game against Cal (19-13, 9-9 ACC) in program history and the first time the Deacs have played the Bears in the ACC Tournament since they joined the league ahead of the 2024-25 season.

How It Happened

Oliver opened the scoring at the 9:14 mark with a layup off an assist from Bird to give Wake Forest an early 2–0 lead.
California answered with six consecutive points to take a 6-2 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the first quarter before the Deacs battled back.
Galbavy tied the game at 6–6 with a three-pointer at the 2:21 mark, sparking a late-quarter push by Wake Forest.
After the Golden Bears pushed their advantage to five, Brown halted a 5-0 Cal run with a jumper in the paint before Galbavy added another basket in the closing seconds to cut the deficit to 11-10 heading into the second quarter.
Sørbye opened the second-quarter scoring for Wake Forest with a layup at the 8:58 mark before Galbavy followed with a jumper to give the Deacs a 14-13 lead with 8:34 remaining in the half.
With 6:49 left in the second quarter, Carter got on the board and knocked down a three-pointer to put Wake Forest back in front at 17-15.
Carter connected on another three at the 3:23 mark and ended a 10-0 Cal run.
Oliver added one more from the charity stripe before the break as the Golden Bears took a 32-21 lead into the break.
- Galbavy led the Deacs with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor in the first half.
- ACC All-Freshman selection Milan Brown brought in six rebounds and chipped in three points.
The west coast squad extended its lead to 39-21 before back-to-back layups from Carter and Oliver got Wake Forest on the board in the second half with seven minutes to go in the third.
Carter made her third three-pointer of the afternoon halfway through the third before capping off the quarter with a layup.
Cal led 61-33 headed into the fourth quarter.
Wake Forest got on the board first in the fourth as Bird made a three off an assist from Sørbye.
- She connected on another triple at the 7:22 mark.
With 4:22 left, the Deacs sparked an 8-0 run starting with layups from Oliver and Brown before Galbavy and Moore connected on jumpers.
Cal took the ACC first round contest, 75-52.

Standout Stats

Wake Forest finished with 14 assists on 21 made baskets for the contest (66.7 percent). In 31 games this season, the Demon Deacons have totaled 530 assists on 775 field goals (68.4 percent) which would mark the highest percentage in a single season within the Megan Gebbia era.
The Demon Deacons are averaging 17.1 assists, which ranks third in the ACC behind only Duke (17.2) and Virginia (17.5). Additionally, the Deacs are on pace to have the second-most assists in program history and the 17.1 assists per game currently ranks fourth in program history:

Season	Total Assists	Total Games	Assists/G
1987-88	563	31	18.2
1988-89	484	28	17.3
1986-87	466	27	17.3
2025-26	530	31	17.1
1989-90	469	28	16.8

The Deacs 530 assists this season is now ranked second most in school history:

Rank	Total Assists	Year
1.	563	1987-88
2.	530	2025-26
3.	489	2004-05
4.	488	1989-90
5.	484	1988-89

From Gebbia
"Not our best performance. We were disappointed in how we played especially on the offensive end, early in the game. We did a fairly good job getting some stops in that first quarter. We finished the first quarter 11 to 10. Then in the second quarter, we gave up some things that we shouldn't have given up in our defense. And then we really kind of stalled offensively. Mary came in playing fairly well and we got her some shots. She made shots, the ones that she got. Overall, it was a really good experience for a young team that's never been here before, and I felt like Cal leveled up. We did not level up in the second half. And you do that in situations like this, but I do think it's all the experience you can't replace that. So having the experience of being here, knowing that what it takes to win games at this level, just in general, but also in the tournament, takes a lot of effort and energy and cohesion, and at times, I felt like we were cohesive, and other times it didn't feel that way. We have things to work on, and we'll take the experience from this game and work on it." - Megan Gebbia