UM women, playing first game in 25 days, fall short 47-46 to Wake Forest in ACC opener
The University of Miami women’s basketball team, which had not played in 25 days, shook off the rust and clawed back from a 19-point hole but came up short, 47-46, against Wake Forest Thursday night.
It was Miami’s ACC opener. The Hurricanes were the only team in the conference that had not played a league game after having three games postponed due to COVID.
The Hurricanes fell to 7-4 and the Demon Deacons improved to 12-3.
Freshman guard Ja’Leah Williams made back-to-back layups in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 43-43 with 2:52 to go. A layup by Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi closed the gap to one point with 2:07 remaining. The Hurricanes pulled down a few big rebounds in the closing minute, but Djaldi-Tabdi missed a layup with two seconds on the clock and the Canes had to settle for the loss.
“We were dead there in the first half, just a really bad performance, and toward the end of the first half the small-ball lineup really brought us back,” said UM coach Katie Meier. “We were down 19 and weren’t scoring many points. That’s a real hole. So, you saw a ridiculous amount of effort on the defensive end and we generated everything.”
The Canes held the Demon Deacons to 13 points in the second half. Miami was in position to win with the ball in the closing minutes but could not get a few critical shots to fall.
“You work that hard, hold a team to 13 in the second half when you were down 19 in the first, you come back to take the lead and we have to have someone we can ride and make the big-time shots for us,” Meier said. “You hold an ACC team to six points in the fourth quarter on your home court, that needs to be a `W.’’’
Jewel Spear, the top scorer in the ACC, led Wake Forest with 15 points, five shy of her season average. Miami’s Kelsey Marshall and Karla Erjavec went 4 for 21 from the field, but Marshall made seven free throws and finished with 12 points. Williams scored 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
UM plays No. 3 Louisville at home Sunday at noon.
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 9:51 PM.