Earlier this afternoon, the Wake Forest Women’s Basketball team lost to the No. 25-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in a rather lopsided matchup, as the Demon Deacons fell 84-56 against their longtime rival. While the odds were certainly stacked against Wake Forest, despite this contest taking place in their home arena, there was still hope that the Deacs would pull out a win.
However, the underlying meaning of this game was far more important than just a regular season matchup between two women’s basketball teams, as another initiative took center stage at the Joel on Sunday. For this particular contest, Wake Forest would participate in Play4Kay, a movement that honors the life and memory of former NC State head coach Kay Yow.
After Yow’s passing in 2009, the Play4Kay Cancer Fund was established to honor cancer survivors in their fight against the disease. During halftime and several timeouts, the Demon Deacons celebrated both the foundation’s work as well as Women and Girls in Sports Day by honoring cancer survivors and members of all Wake Forest women’s teams. Despite the loss against the Tar Heels, the real win came from the awareness spread by Wake Forest.
After succumbing to another brutal loss against the Duke Blue Devils last weekend, their eighth consecutive defeat, Wake Forest found their way against another ACC opponent in SMU on Thursday. While the Mustangs have struggled mightily this season, currently sitting at 8-16 on the season, a win against any opponent would give the Demon Deacons a much-needed sigh of relief heading into Sunday.
While Wake Forest showed early intensity following a recent victory, it was clear from the opening tip that the game would be a challenge. For the Tar Heels, every aspect of their game was firing on all cylinders. The rebounds were there. The playmaking was superb. Even their defense shined, with the pair of Elina Aarnisalo and Nyla Harris combining for two steals in the first.
On the other side of the ball, Wake Forest did practically everything they could to hang on with North Carolina; however, they were unable to produce much in any capacity. While the offense was up to their normal standards, particularly in the paint, it was the turnovers that haunted the Demon Deacons. Even with the Tar Heels committing plenty of turnovers themselves, 13 to be specific, Wake Forest’s 18 unforced errors proved to be the killer this afternoon.
“This is not the team that we are. We were capable of playing much better today,” Head Coach Megan Gebbia said following play on Sunday. “We didn’t execute the way we needed to. Second-chance points, points off turnovers and threes accounted for a majority of their points.”
Despite there being minimal bright spots for the Demon Deacons, it’s hard to overlook today’s performance from Freshman guard Milan Brown. Following a solid performance against SMU, where she notched 15 points, Brown played a solid game against the Tar Heels with a team-leading 13 points.
For Brown, this was her fifth consecutive game with double-digit points and her fourth straight with at least one steal. The freshman has emerged as a future cornerstone for the Demon Deacons, driving Wake Forest with her recent play.
Though the result of today’s game was surely a disappointment for Gebbia’s team, the improvement from last year is quite impressive. With the Demon Deacons now sitting at a respectable 13-12, they can be sure to call this year’s season a major success after finishing 9-20 in the 2024-2025 campaign. For now, though, Wake Forest will look to finish off this season on a high note with five more ACC matchups to close out the year.
“We take this one personally because we were flat and I’m not happy with how we played today against a Big 4 team,” Gebbia said. “We need to correct these things quickly cause we go to a really good Louisville team on Thursday. That starts tomorrow at practice.”
