Last February, Wake Forest paid a visit to Conte Forum only to suffer a 23-point loss at the hands of Boston College women’s basketball, a team which had won just two of its last five games. This year, the Eagles are in a similar spot, having won just one of their last five games, but the result against Wake Forest could not have been more different.
The Eagles (5-5, 1-5 Atlantic Coast) fell to Wake Forest (6-3, 3-2) 68-48 in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Sunday.
Though the result was lopsided, the game didn’t start out that way. With 7:26 left in the first quarter, the Eagles led the Demon Deacons 6-0. That lead quickly turned into 11-5 with 6:19 left in the quarter. Makayla Dickens, Jaelyn Batts, Taylor Soule, and Cameron Swartz all had points on the board for BC at that point.
From there, however, the game only went down hill for the Eagles. Soule, BC’s leading scorer this season, had already racked up two personal fouls with 3:53 left in the first quarter and did not see the floor until there was 5:00 left in the second quarter. She later fouled out of the game with 4:57 left to play.
As a result of Soule only seeing the floor for 16 minutes and Clara Ford still recovering from an injury she sustained during the Notre Dame game, the Eagles could not get into an offensive rhythm, nor could they stop the Demon Deacons on defense. Ford saw the floor sparingly. She played for about 10 minutes across the first three quarters, contributing two points and two rebounds.
The first quarter ended with a 9-0 run from the Demon Deacons, bringing the score to 11-16 at the first break.
In the second quarter, the Eagles fought to seal the gap and came within one point. Scores from Dickens and Ally VanTimmeren just her third game of college basketball after joining the Eagles earlier in the month—brought the score to 15-16 with 8:59 left in the half.
But any BC hope was short lived, as the deficit only grew with 11 unanswered points from the Demon Deacons, leading to a halftime score of 17-36. Jewel Spear led the Demon Deacons with nine points in the first half, while Dickens led the Eagles with seven.
But, the bleeding didn’t stop at halftime. The gap reached as much as 20 points in the third quarter. The Eagles struggled to close it, with Soule, Swartz, Ford, VanTimmeren, and Dickens scoring only a combined 20 points in the third quarter.
The Eagles’ effort was fruitless, as Wake Forest held tight to its lead. Only with 6:28 left in the quarter and a shot from Soule did the Eagles come within 15 points, the lowest Demon Deacons’ lead for the rest of the game.
In the fourth quarter, Wake Forest continued its offensive pressure until a win was easily at hand. Late in the game, reserves Demeara Hinds, Nevaeh Brown, Aliah McWhorter, and Mckenzie Maier got to see the floor for the last few minutes. Alexandria Scruggs scored a free throw with 4:40 left, increasing the gap to its maximum of 24 points.
Dickens led the Eagles with 14 points, followed by Swartz with 11 and Soule with eight, while Ivana Raca led the Demon Deacons with 16 points, followed by Gina Conti with 13 and Spear with 12. Soule and VanTimmerman both contributed five rebounds, while Raca contributed 11 for the Demon Deacons.
The Eagles finished the night with 36.8 percent shooting, including 18.2 percent from 3-point range and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Demon Deacons ended the night with a 50 percent field goal percentage, 27.3 percent 3-pointer percentage, and a 56.3 percent free throw percentage.
Featured Image by Aneesa Wermers / Heights Staff
