March 5, 2004
Greensboro, NC – Cotelia Bond-Young had a game-high 18 points and seven rebounds to lead No. 9 Wake Forest (12-16, 4-12 ACC) to a 61-59 victory over No. 8 Georgia Tech (14-15, 5-11 ACC) Friday morning at the Greensboro Coliseum. The win marked the third time this season that the Demon Deacons have defeated Georgia Tech, with all of the Jackets losses coming by a two-point margin.
“Cotelia, Erin Ferrell, and Liz Strunk have all been consistent this season,” said Tech head coach MaChelle Joseph, “but Cotelia had that extra desire today, and she wanted to take those shots.”
Fallon Stokes led the Jackets with 17 points in the final game of her career. She also had six rebounds and two steals in the game. Sophomore Jessica Williams was the only other Yellow Jacket in double-figures, as she scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the contest.
The Demon Deacons tied the game at 58-58 with a minute remaining on a jumper by Bond-Young, who scored 13 points in the second half of the game. Tonia Brown converted on a pair of free throws with 19.8 seconds remaining to give Wake Forest a two-point lead and Fallon Stokes had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 6.6 seconds remaining after she was fouled on the Jackets’ return trip down the court. After making the front end of the 1-and-1, Stokes’ second shot bounced off the front of the rim and Melissa Washington pulled down the rebound for the Deacs.
“The free throw was not the difference,” said Joseph, “there were several things that happened over the course of the second half that made a difference. The thing that I told the team afterwards was that I wanted the seniors to know that we really appreciated what they did for us this season.”
Wake Forest tied the game at 48-48 with 7:49 remaining in the game using a 15-2 beginning with a Melissa Washington jumper and concluding with back-to-back three-pointers from the Deac’s Bond-Young and Tonia Brown. Tech’s Alex Stewart hit a layup at 6:16, the Jackets’ first in over four minutes of play, to make the score 50-48 before Liz Strunk tied the game with a jumper at 5:41, which began a 5-2 run for the Deacons. Down by three, the Jackets’ Jessica Williams hit a free throw and a jumper on the next possession, and Megan Harpring converted on a three-point play to give Tech a 58-55 lead with 1:19 remaining in the contest.
Following a Wake three-pointer by Bond-Young to open the game, Georgia Tech wnet on a 16-0 run with buckets by Stokes, Kasha Terry, Megan Isom, and Jessica Williams. Stokes scored the Jackets first four buckets of the contest and concluded the half with 14 points on 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Terry converted on a pair of baskets while pulling down five rebounds and blocking three shots in 10 minutes of play. Wake pulled within six points of the Jackets on a Bianca Brown jumper with 3:10 remaining in the half, but the Jackets took a 32-24 lead into the locker room after Jessica Williams hit the Jackets’ final buckets in the frame.
Senior Alex Stewart scored eight point for the Jackets and had five assists and four rebounds in the game, while senior Megan Isom had eight points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals to her credit.
