Mustangs Fall 66-49 At Wake Forest

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From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Fall 66-49 At Wake Forest
SMU opens C-USA action Thursday at Tulane

Jan. 3, 2011

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The SMU women's basketball concluded non-conference play with a 66-49 loss at Wake Forest Monday night. The Demon Deacons out-rebounded the Mustangs 53-34, including a 20-12 advantage on the offensive end.

"We were out-hustled, out-played and we didn't make plays," head coach Rhonda Rompola said. "I was disappointed with our effort tonight and our lack of physical play."

Wake Forest doubled the Mustangs in the paint, 36-18, and the SMU bench was out-scored 25-5. The Mustangs trailed by nine at halftime, but pulled to within six points midway through the second half. However, Wake Forest was able to fend off the rally down the stretch for the 66-49 victory.

At the second media timeout with 11:47 left in the first half, Brittany Waters had 10 points for the Demon Deacons and the Mustangs had just nine as a team, trailing 17-9.

It took the Mustangs five and a half minutes to climb back into the game, but Delisha Wills<http://www.fansonly.com/schools/smu/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/wills_delisha00.html> scored to cut the lead to 19-17 with 6:27 to play before the break.

Wake Forest stretched the lead to as many as 10 over the last five minutes of the half, leading 33-24 at the break. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Demon Deacons had 28 rebounds compared to SMU's 16 and made 14-of-39 field goals against 9-of-27 from the field for the Mustangs. SMU was 3-of-6 from 3-point range, while Wake Forest made just one in 12 attempts.

Christine Elliott led the Mustangs with 11 points and eight rebounds, and Raquel Christian finished with 10 points, all in the second half. SMU shot 28.3-percent from the field for the game, going 6-of-21 from behind the arc.

Wake Forest finished 41.5-percent from the field, led by Waters' 22 points. Lakevia Boykin and Sandra Garcia scored 13 points each.

The Mustangs will open Conference USA action at Tulane on Thursday at 7 p.m. The road game is the sixth in a row for the Mustangs, who haven't played a home game since Dec. 7.