Sports > December 6, 2007

By Andrew LeRay | Staff writer

The Lady Deacons improved their record to 7-1 on the season after a 79-46 blowout of the Rice Owls Dec. 2. The Owls shot only 29 percent from the floor and made just 17 percent of their field goal attempts in the second half.

click to enlarge

Sophomore Alex Tchangoue continued her torrid play by leading the Deacs in scoring with 16 points. Junior Corinne Groves added 13 points, and sophomore Mekia Valentine scored 11, rounding out the top three Lady Deacon scorers in the game.

Wake Forest outworked Rice on the boards as well, pulling down an impressive 47 rebounds compared to just 29 for the Owls. Groves led the way with seven rebounds, and Tchangoue and Valentine each added five.

Sophomore guard Courteney Morris was the defensive star for the Lady Deacs, blocking three shots and earning four steals.

The win was a true team effort, as the Wake Forest bench scored 35 of the team’s total 79 points. Freshman Brittany Waters led the bench in scoring with eight points in only six minutes of action.

At halftime, the Lady Deacons led only by three points at 31-28.

A 10-0 run to start the second half opened up the game for Wake Forest, who scored relentlessly in the second half.

“We just do what we need to do,” Tchangoue said, in response to the Lady Deacs’ impressive early season streak. “All we try to do is hustle and play our game.”

The Lady Deacs successfully extended their winning streak with a 64-46 victory over the Wright State Raiders Dec. 5.

Wright State was not intimidated by facing an ACC team on the road, having already visited both Boston College and Miami.

The Raiders came into the Joel on a two-game winning streak, defeating Canisius Dec. 1 and recording a victory over North Dakota State on Nov. 25.

Groves led the way for Wake Forest in the game, shooting 5-12 from the field, scoring 12 points and pulling down eight rebounds.

Sophomore Tiffany Roulhac led all players with five assists in the game and had nine points in the winning effort.

The Lady Deacs again dominated the boards, recording 46 rebounds to Wright State’s 22. Tchangoue led the team in rebounds with 10, while Valentine and senior Christen Brown each had six.

The solid rebounding by the Lady Deacs led to 12 second-chance points, which helped alleviate 23 turnovers. The Raiders were able to score 22 points off Wake Forest turnovers, making the game even closer than it should have been.

The Lady Deacs continued their trend of strong post play in the game, scoring 30 points in the paint, and shooting 47 percent from the field.

When asked about the mental approach the Lady Deacs take into each game, Tchangoue said, “Lots of teams start off well and fall off. We have to take it one game at a time and stay focused.”

The Lady Deacs return to action Dec. 8 as they travel to Cullowhee, N.C., to take on the Western Carolina Catamounts.

Their next home game is Dec. 16 against Radford.