Women's basketball preview: Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

WHO: Notre Dame (8-14, 3-7 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (12-10, 5-6).

WHERE: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (14,665), Winston-Salem, N.C.

WHEN: Thursday, 7 p.m.

TV/WEB: ACC Network Extra.

RADIO: Pulse (103.1 / 96.9 / 92.1 FM).

NOTING: The Irish are shooting for their first two-game winning streak since their Nov. 20 and 23 victories. They’re 4-12 since. … Wake Forest leaders are 6-2 junior forward Ivana Raca (16.6 points, 6.9 rebounds per game), 6-1 senior guard Alex Sharp (12.1 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 25-of-61 on 3s for 41%), 5-10 sophomore guard Gina Conti (10.1 ppg, 5.2 assists) and 6-2 sophomore forward Christina Morra (8.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg). … The Demon Deacons rank 21st in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-8.2 per game, while Notre Dame is 318th among 349 Division I teams at minus -6.9. … Wake’s results against currently ranked opponents include losses of 75-61 at Louisville and 59-45 at North Carolina State. ND lost at home to Louisville 86-54 and at home to N.C. State 90-56. … The Deacons, coming off road losses at Pittsburgh and Boston College, are 8-3 at The Joel. … The Irish coming off a 59-51 win at Georgia Tech, are paced by Sam Brunelle (13.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Katlyn Gilbert (13.9 ppg, 2.0 steals), Destinee Walker (13.5 ppg), Mikki Vaughn (11.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Marta Sniezek (5.5 assists, 2.0 steals, school-record 26 drawn charges). … Vaughn, coming off a career-high 20 points against the Yellow Jackets, is averaging 14.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in road games, compared to 8.8 and 5.0 at home. … Notre Dame’s never won by fewer than 20 points across seven all-time meetings against Wake Forest, including three games in Winston-Salem.

QUOTING: “They’re (almost) all back, so the more we can get out of them now, and the learning experience that we’re going through, that’s what we’re looking at. Just individually, how can we get better?” — Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame coach, on where the emphasis lies with the chance of an at-large NCAA Tournament bid largely gone.

— Anthony Anderson