Feb. 6, 2005

Stats |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery

Winston-Salem, N.C. -- - The Wake Forest women's basketball team struggled offensively in the first half, but picked it up in the second, bringing the game down to the final moments, but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets pulled it out, 40-37, Sunday afternoon in Joel Coliseum. The Demon Deacons fall to 13-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC, while Georgia Tech improves to 13-7 and 4-5 in the conference.

The game marked the fourth straight time that the two teams have taken the game into the final moments. During the 2003-04 season the two teams met three times and all of the games were brought down to the final minutes, including a 61-59 ACC tournament victory for the Deacs.

Senior Jennifer Johnson was on fire under the basket and pulled down a career-high 13 boards, while junior Liz Strunk scored the game-high 14 points, including eight of the Deacs 14 in the first half. Cotelia Bond Young put in eight points along with five steals. and Porsche' Jones added seven points and eight rebounds.

The first half was a rough one for the Deacs, with Wake shooting just 3-21 from the field and committing 11 turnovers. Despite the low percentage from the field in the first 20 minutes, the Deacs did shoot 7-for-8 from the line. Opening the game shooting 0-11 in the first 10 minutes, the only points came from a trio of free throws by Jones after a foul by Jill Ingram. Running the ball back and forth for five minutes, the score stood at 9-3 until Megan Harpring broke the silence with a lay-up at 10:25. Finally putting the ball through the net for Wake, Strunk hit a three and a free throw, helping the Deacs chip away at Georgia Tech's four point lead. Another three by Strunk helped the Deacs at 14-11, but Mitchell answered back immediately with one of her own. In the final two minutes of the half, the Yellow Jackets flew off to a seven point run that put them into the break with a 24-14 lead.

The second half started out like the first, with the Deacs coming out cold under the basket but Erin Ferrell found two about five minutes in that opened up a 15-1 run that knotted the score at 29. Hitting her first three pointer of the game, Bond-Young gave the Deacs their first lead with a little less than six remaining. Quickly answering with two points, the Yellow Jackets brought it back within one. A missed layup that resulted in a jump ball gave the Ramblin Wreck the ball again and a free throw by Harping tied it back up at 32. Swapping points and the lead five times in the final five, a lay-up by Ingram with 33 seconds remaining put the Yellow Jackets ahead 38-37. A pair of free throw by Higgs put the Georgia Tech up by three and a last second three point attempt by Jones fell short and the Yellow Jackets took the game, 40-37.

As a team, the Deacs shot just 21.7 percent from the field to the Wreck's 31.4 percent. Falling short on the boards, Georgia Tech out rebounded Wake 41 to 36.

For Georgia Tech, Higgs was the only player to push double-figures with 10, while Jessica Williams added nine boards.

The Deacs return to the court as they travel to College Park, Md. to face the University of Maryland Thursday night at 7 p.m.

- WakeForestSports.com -