Feb. 3, 2002
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team was unable to rally down the stretch and dropped a 64-61 decision to Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Demon Deacons (10-11, 4-7 ACC) were led by Bianca Brown’s career-best 20 points as Wake ended a 24-game ACC road losing streak and a 12-game skid in Atlanta.
“I give Wake Forest credit,” said Tech head coach Agnus Berenato. “They came out today and were very prepared. I thought we took some great shots and they just didn’t go down. Today is a hard loss for us, but Wake is a much-improved team. We need to learn from this and not just let it go.”
The Yellow Jackets (13-8, 6-5 ACC) attempted a comeback after being down six with under two minutes to play, but Milli Martinez’ three-point attempt as time expired was off the mark. That shot by Martinez came after she attempted to miss the second attempt of a two-shot foul but the ball banked in off the backboard with 6.1 seconds left. Wake’s Adell Harris sealed the game with a pair of free throws.
Tech fell behind in the early going, as the Deacons claimed a 7-2 lead just 2:07 into the contest on the strength of five-straight points by Tonia Brown. The Jackets then evened things at 7-7 with a layup by sophomore Fallon Stokes, before going on a 7-4 run to take a 14-11 lead with 11:33 to play on a three-pointer by Nefertiti Walker.
The Jackets would up their advantage to as many as seven at 25-18 with 6:22 to play, as Stokes added two more of her game-high 11 first half points on a fast-break layup. Wake would not go away, as it staged an 11-6 run of its own to close the score to 31-29 with 1:59 remaining in the half. That rally was led by three points from LaChina Robinson, including a layup to end the run. Stokes then closed out the scoring in the period for Tech as another layup made for the 35-33 margin at intermission.
In the second half, Tech looked poised to take control as it scored the period’s first six points to take a 41-33 lead just 1:51 into the half. The two teams then traded baskets for the next 7:11 with the Jackets’ lead standing at 49-44 with 10:58 left on a layup my Milli Martinez. For Tech, that would be the last field goal before the 1:23 mark, as Martinez would end the drought with another layup that made the Deacons’ lead 60-56.
During the drought for Tech, Wake took its first lead since the opening minutes at the 6:47 mark on a jumper by Erin Ferrell to make the score 54-52. The Demon Deacons took the lead for good just 30 seconds later, as Bianca Brown drove the lane for a layup at 6:17 to make the score 56-54. The Jackets then added cold free throw shooting to its struggles from the field, as Tech missed six in a row from the charity stripe down the stretch, while Wake made 5-of-7 from the line to preserve the win.
“We finished the game 11-for-23 at the free throw line and that’s where we lost the game,” said Berenato. “We struggled at the line and when we tried to miss one at the end, it went in.”
Georgia Tech was led in the game by Stokes and Martinez, both of whom had 13 points in the game, with Stokes recording her first double-double of the year with 11 rebounds and Martinez adding eight boards of her own. Mallory also scored in double digits for the seventh-straight game as she had 12 points to go alogn with 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.
Wake was led by Bianca Brown’s 20 points, as she finished a perfect 4-for-4 from both three-point range and the free throw line, while going 6-for-7 overall from the field. Joining Brown in double figures for the Deacs was Adell Harris, who finished the game with 11 points.
The Jackets will have a few days off before returning to action on Thursday, February 7, when they host ACC foe NC State beginning at 7 p.m. at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
