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March 1, 2007
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Wake Forest tied its season-low of 10 turnovers but suffered through a cold shooting day in a season-ending 70-53 loss to Florida State in the opening round of the ACC Tournament Thursday morning at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The No. 12-seeded Demon Deacons end the season with a record of 9-20 overall and 0-14 in the ACC. No. 5-seeded Florida State moves to 22-8 overall with the win. The Seminoles advance to the quarterfinal round against No. 4 seed NC State on Friday morning.
Sophomore Alex Tchangoue led Wake Forest with 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting, while Greensboro native Mekia Valentine added 12 points in her homecoming. Sophomore Yolanda Lavender joined the two in double figures with 11 points.
Tchangoue, Valentine and freshman Courteney Morris each pulled down four rebounds to tie for the team lead.
Morris tied her season-high with seven points off the bench.
Freshman Tiffany Roulhac tied her season-best with a game-high seven assists.
Junior Christen Brown went 2-for-5 from three-point range and scored eight points. Brown tied her career-high with three steals.
While the Demon Deacons took care of the ball better than they have since early December, Wake could not get its shots to fall. The Deacs went 20-for-62 from the floor (32.3 percent), including a 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) mark from beyond the arc.
Florida State, on the other hand, shot 46.9 percent (23-of-49) from the field and was 7-for-15 (46.7 percent) from three-point range. Mara Freshour finished the day a perfect 5-for-5 on three-pointers.
The Seminoles took advantage of their hot shooting in getting out to a 25-11 lead just over nine minutes into the game.
FSU hit a three-pointer with seven seconds left in the first half to take a comfortable 39-26 lead into the locker room.
Wake Forest held Florida State scoreless for the first three minutes of the second-half but could not capitalize. The Deacons scored just two points of their own during the stretch.
"We had really good looks at that point, and the ball didn't go in the basket," said head coach Mike Petersen. "It's been my experience that when a team starts making baskets, everyone feeds off that. And, unfortunately, if a team starts missing some baskets everyone kind of feeds off that, too."
The `Noles pushed their lead to as many as 21 (68-47) in the second period before coming away with the 70-53 victory.
Freshour led FSU with a career-high 18 points, while Jacinta Monroe came off the bench to score 16. Monroe also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and went 10-for-11 from the free throw line.
Florida State out-rebounded Wake Forest 42-25, including a 33-15 advantage on defensive rebounds.
The Deacons won the turnover battle, as the Seminoles committed 16 miscues on the day.
"That game was very similar to a lot of games we've played," said Petersen. "I thought our effort was good, and our execution was alright. We only turned it over 10 times. We just don't make enough shots. That's a pretty important thing to do in this sport -- to make shots."
