Hokies Dash Deacons' Holiday Spirit 73-52

Maybe next year, Wake Forest will think twice about a two-week break from competition before entering ACC play.

A well-rested Wake Forest basketball team traveled to Blacksburg on Saturday with visions of sugarplums and ACC wins dancing in their heads. Instead, the lady Hokies left a lump of coal under the Deacs' Christmas tree with an easy 73-52 win to open the conference season. Junior Monet Tellier dropped in 23 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Hokes who improved to 5-5 on the season (1-0 in conference). The Deacons were led by Lakevia Boykin's 14 points, while Sandra Garcia added 13 of her own.

Heralded junior college transfer Uju Ugoka debuted with a flourish, scoring a game-high 28 points along with 8 rebounds. Wake Forest coach Jen Hoover was not surprised at the performance, noting that her staff had watched some film on the newcomer, and were aware of the type of player she could potentially be.

Hoover was visibly frustrated afterwards, saying:

"They didn't run anything that was different from anything we practiced last week and we just didn't do a good job of getting through screens and we allowed ourselves to get screened too many times. We'll regroup; we'll watch film, learn from it and move forward."

Hoover was also disappointed with the Deacs' response (or lack thereof) to the Hokies' physicality:

"I thought they were really physical with us and I don't think we responded very well to that. I thought we got a couple of easy looks early that we didn't finish and we kind of got a little bit down on ourselves."

Thankfully, the Lady Deacons don't have to wait another two weeks before trying to erase the memory of this game. The Deacs finish out the non-conference slate with home games against Campbell on December 29 and Nevada on New Year's Eve. Both games are scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off at Joel Coliseum.