The Wake Forest and Duke women's basketball teams have met 20 times dating back to the 1993-94 season-Duke has won all 20 games. The Demon Deacons will try to break the streak tonight when they travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a 7 p.m. matchup with the undefeated and No.1 ranked Blue Devils.
Duke enters tonight's game with a 15-0 record overall, three wins coming in ACC action. Alana Beard leads the team in scoring with just under 25 points per game and has received ACC player of the week honors six times on the young season.
The Blue Devils are coming of a 79-59 victory over Georgia Tech in Atlanta this past Monday. Iciss Tillis led the team with 24 points and 14 rebounds, picking up the slack for an uncharacteristic slow first half from Beard.
"I think in the long run it was really good to have Alana struggle," said head coach Gail Goestenkors. "Sometimes when Alana is having a really good game, they watch instead of participating. We do need other people to step up."
The Demon Deacons (14-4, 1-3) are coming off consecutive losses for the first time all season. After a disappointing showing against UNC at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest hosted Maryland Monday but fell to the Terps 75-73. The Demon Deacons tried to come from seven down with 47 seconds remaining but ran out of time on their final possession.
Eafton Hill leads Wake in both scoring and rebounding. The junior forward, averaging just under 13 points per game, has paced her club in scoring in six contests.
Two other Demon Deacons, Cotelia Bond-Young and Tonia Brown are averaging in double figures in points. Bond-Young, a talented freshmen guard, is shooting an impressive .429 percent from three point range.
Duke has gotten off to a slow start in each of its ACC contests, trailing at halftime in all three. If the Blue Devils misfire at the start again, Wake Forest will try to capitalize against the No. 1 team in the nation.
"I am glad we've had the ability to come back, but we understand that that's not going to be the way things work for us all year long," Goestenkors said.
Wake Forest has been strong defensively, forcing an average of 21 turnovers per game. The Duke ball handlers, Beard and Vicki Krapohl, will have to be vigilant when brining the ball up the court.
After a great game against Georgia Tech, Tillis needs just one point tonight to be the 17th women's player to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career.
While Duke has an edge on paper, Goestenkors knows that if her side falters, Wake will be ready to challenge for the victory.
"Hopefully we can regroup a little bit and get ready to play Wake Forest," Goestenkors said in a Tuesday teleconference. "I think all of us in the league knew they were going to be much better this year. They just continue to get better year in and year out, and this is going to be their best season ever."
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