Sports > February 21, 2008

By Andrew LeRay | Staff writer

The Lady Deacons dropped another regular season game on Feb. 17, falling 56-36 to the visiting N.C. State Wolfpack at the Joel Coliseum. With the loss, Wake Forest slips to 1-11 in the ACC, and now has a 14-13 overall record. The Wolfpack improved to 5-6 in conference play and 17-9 overall.

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Junior Alex Tchangoue defends N.C. State junior Shayla Fields on Feb. 17. The N.C. State uniforms sported the name of their former coach, Kay Yow, who is suffering from breast cancer. (Andrew Imboden/Old Gold & Black)

The game was also the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s second annual “Think Pink” game, in which fans were encouraged to wear pink to raise breast cancer awareness.

Admission to the game was $1, and 100 percent of the proceeds were donated to Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test.

The Wolfpack entered the game coming off back-to-back home ACC wins over Miami and Boston College.

N.C. State senior Kadijah Whittington dominated the Lady Deacs, scoring 16 points and recording 12 rebounds in the win.

Freshman Brittany Waters continued her impressive play, as she recorded a career-high 35 minutes and dished out another career-high five assists in only her third start of the season.

Junior Corinne Groves pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds in the loss.

Turnovers have haunted the Lady Deacs all season, and they added 17 more to their season total against N.C. State.

The Wolfpack converted those 17 turnovers into 18 points, while Wake could only manage five points off 11 N.C. State turnovers.

In addition to the excessive turnovers, the Lady Deacs had a miserable day shooting the basketball, converting only 28 percent of their field goal attempts.

“We had a lot of really good looks at the basket,” senior Christen Brown said. “A lot of our shots just didn’t fall for us.”

Wake compounded their poor shooting from the floor by converting only 27 percent of their free throws.

The Deacons opened the second half down only five points with the score at 27-22 in favor of the Wolfpack.

Junior Alex Tchangoue cut the N.C. State lead to four with a three-point basket four minutes into the second half, but Wake Forest would not get any closer.

With the score 31-27 with 15:51 remaining in the game, the Wolfpack opened up a 16 point lead after completing a 13-1 run. N.C. State continued their tough play the rest of the game to earn the 56-36 victory.

The loss to the Wolfpack is the second of the season, as the Lady Deacs dropped the first matchup 63-38 in Raleigh, N.C. The Wolfpack are now 57-7 all time against the Wake Forest Lady Deacons.

According to Brown, the Deacs have been spending extra time in practice to improve their shooting from both the floor and foul line.

Wake Forest will play their final home game of the 2007-2008 season against Miami at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 24.

“As a team, our goals for the last two games are to win and then hopefully advance to the postseason,” Brown said, the only senior on the roster.

“I just try to be there for my teammates, encouraging everyone to keep their heads up and not to get down.”

The Deacs will finish their regular season on March 2 against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.