Senior Brooke Thomas breaks the school-record for most assists in a career

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest closed the game on an 11-2 run to seal a 65-55 victory Thursday evening over visiting Florida State at the Joel Coliseum.

With the win, the Deacons improve their record to 14-10 on the season, and 4-7 in the ACC. The Seminoles drop to 13-12 overall, and 5-6 in ACC play. The win broke a 14-game losing streak for the Deacons against FSU.

Senior point guard Brooke Thomas finished the game with eight points and nine assists, breaking the all-time assist record at Wake Forest. She now has 489 career assists, breaking Nicole Levesque’s old mark of 488 which she set from 1990-94.

Junior Lakevia Boykin continued her torrid pace in ACC play, finishing with a team-high 20 points and a career-high nine rebounds. It was her fifth 20-point game this season and the sixth of her career. Senior Secily Ray was the only other Demon Deacon in double-figures with 11 points and she moved into third place all-time on the school’s career rebounding chart with her five rebounds. Ray now 761 career rebounds..

Alexa Deluzio led the Seminoles with 14 points, and Natasha Howard had a double-double, scoring 13 while pulling down 10 rebounds.

The first half was back and forth, with the Deacons not claiming the lead until Boykin scored a reverse lay-up off of a steal to put the Deacons up 10-9 with 12 minutes remaining. After several successful offensive possessions and a number of forced turnovers off the press, Wake Forest went into half time leading 29-24.

Boykin was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the opening half and had 13 points.

The Deacons kept the lead for the majority of the second half, until a 3 pointer by Deluzio tied the game at 51-51 with 4:18 remaining in the game. Wake Forest regrouped after a timeout, and Boykin scored her fourth three-pointer of the night to put the Demon Deacons back up by 54-51 with just under four minutes left.

Wake did not give up the lead for the rest of the game, thanks to some clutch free throw shooting. Thomas was 2-of-2 and Boykin went 4-of-4 in the final minute from the line to allow the Deacs to pull away for a 65-55 victory.

The Deacons will return to action this Sunday when they head to Raleigh, N.C. for a key road ACC test against NC State. The game, which is being televised on ESPN2, is set to tip-off at 5 p.m.

The Wake Forest women’s basketball team volunteered Saturday morning with the Forsyth County Special Olympics 3-on-3 Tournament held at the Hanes Hosiery Recreation Center in Winston-Salem. The players kept score and ran the clock for the games, helped serve lunch and even played a few games with the participants.

Senior Secily Ray leads Wake Forest with 16 points and seven rebounds

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women’s basketball team erased a 16-point second-half deficit and took a one-point lead with 25 seconds remaining. But Kansas guard Keena Mays made a runner in the lane with five seconds left to give the Jayhawks a 74-73 victory Sunday afternoon at the Joel Coliseum.

The loss was the first of the season for the Demon Deacons, who drop to 2-1 overall. Kansas improves to 3-0 on the young season with the win.

Senior Secily Ray was the Deacs’ most aggressive player offensively down the stretch as she scored 14 of her team-high 16 points after intermission. Ray grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as well, and was 8-of-12 from the free throw line.

Junior guard Lakevia Boykin also finished in double-figures with 15 points and a couple of steals. Point guard Brooke Thomas had six points and dished out five assists and had four steals. Sophomore Lindsy Wright and junior Asia Williams each finished with nine points, five rebounds and five steals.

Kansas was led by center Carolyn Davis, who scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-10 from the floor. Point guard Angel Goodrich finished with 10 points, six assists and seven steals.

The first half was played fairly close as Kansas took the early lead but wasn’t able to distance itself anymore than six most of the way. With 2:50 to play in the half, Tania Jackson made a layup which sparked a 6-0 Kansas run, giving the Jayhawks a 33-25 edge with 1:51 to play.

A jumper by Boykin with just under a minute to play followed by a pair of free throws from Chelsea Douglas 30 seconds later brought the Deacs within four at 33-29. Wake then had the last possession of the half and after a botched play, Boykin pulls-up and banks in a three-pointer at the buzzer to pull Wake within one at 33-32.

Kansas came flying out of the gate in the second half and scored 13 of the first 15 points to grab a 46-34 advantage just three and a half minutes into the half. Wake countered with a couple of lay-ins by Wright and another by Williams to trim the margin to six but Kansas went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to take its biggest lead of the game at 56-40 with 12:58 to play.

The Deacs slowly chipped away at the lead but the Jayhawks still clung to a 10-point edge with five minutes remaining. Wright had a free throw and a lay-in on back-to-back possessions and Ray converted 3-of-4 free throws to bring Wake within four at 72-68 with 1:09 to go.

On the ensuing possession, Brooke Thomas took the ball away from Kansas’ Monica Engelman and pushed it ahead to Douglas who finished on the break to make the score 72-70 with just under a minute left. After Lindsy Wright blocked Aishah Sutherland’s shot on the other end, Secily Ray drove the ball down the middle of the lane and finished the lay-in with a foul. She then converted the three-point play to give Wake a 73-72 lead with 25 seconds left.

Kansas ran the clock down and got a driving runner by Mays with five seconds left to regain the lead 74-73. She was also fouled on the play but missed the free throw. Wake was out of timeouts and furiously pushed the ball up the floor but Williams’ desperation heave from midcourt missed the mark.

The Jayhawks shot 51 percent from the floor compared to 40 percent for the Deacs. After making its first 13 free throws, Kansas finished 17-of-22 from the charity stripe for 77 percent while Wake was just 13-of-22 for 59 percent.

The Deacs were the more aggressive team on the defensive end, forcing KU into 28 turnovers and grabbing 21 steals.

Wake will be home for the Thanksgiving holiday as it hosts Mercer on Wednesday, Nov. 23 at Noon and Jacksonville on Friday, Nov. 25 at 6:30. Both game will be at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

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