2017-18 Women's Basketball - Year In Review | |
| Coaching Staff Sue Semrau, Head Coach Danielle Atkinson, Assistant Coach Melissa Bruner, Director of Operations Dave Plettl, Strength and Conditioning Lance White, Associate Head Coach Brooke Wyckoff, Assistant Coach  Click here to see individual mug shots |
 |
Kiah Gillespie, 6-2, F, Meriden, Conn.
Sayawni Lassiter, 5-10, G, Dorchester, Mass.
Savannah Wilkinson, 5-11, G, London, England
2017-18 Roster - By Name
L
T PY
R No Name Pos Hgt Cl Ltr Hometown (Prior School)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 4 A.J. Alix G 5-6 Sr-R Houston, Tex. (Bellaire/Texas Christian)
* 25 Ama Degbeon C 6-2 Sr *** Grunberg, Germany (Grunberg)
* 12 Nicki Ekhomu G 5-9 So * Bolingbrook, Ill. (Joliet Catholic Academy)
15 Kiah Gillespie F 6-2 So-R Meriden, Conn. (Capital Prep/Maryland)
3 Sayawni Lassiter G 5-10 Fr Dorchester, Mass. (Newton North)
* 11 Iho Lopez F 6-2 Fr-R Blanes, Spain (IMG Academy)
* 20 Shakayla Thomas F 5-11 Sr *** Sylacauga, Ala. (Sylacauga)
* 50 Chatrice White C 6-3 Sr * Shelby, Neb. (Shelby-Rising City/Illinois)
* 31 Savannah Wilkinson G 5-11 Fr London, England (Barking Abbey)
* 13 Nausia Woolfolk G 5-9 So * Fort Valley, Ga. (Peach County)
* 32 Imani Wright G 5-9 Sr-R * Hooks, Tex. (Liberty Eylau/Baylor)
2017-18 Roster - By Number
L
T PY
R No Name Pos Hgt Cl Ltr Hometown (Prior School)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Sayawni Lassiter G 5-10 Fr Dorchester, Mass. (Newton North)
* 4 A.J. Alix G 5-6 Sr-R Houston, Tex. (Bellaire/Texas Christian)
* 11 Iho Lopez F 6-2 Fr-R Blanes, Spain (IMG Academy)
* 12 Nicki Ekhomu G 5-9 So * Bolingbrook, Ill. (Joliet Catholic Academy)
* 13 Nausia Woolfolk G 5-9 So * Fort Valley, Ga. (Peach County)
15 Kiah Gillespie F 6-2 So-R Meriden, Conn. (Capital Prep/Maryland)
* 20 Shakayla Thomas F 5-11 Sr *** Sylacauga, Ala. (Sylacauga)
* 25 Ama Degbeon C 6-2 Sr *** Grunberg, Germany (Grunberg)
* 31 Savannah Wilkinson G 5-11 Fr London, England (Barking Abbey)
* 32 Imani Wright G 5-9 Sr-R * Hooks, Tex. (Liberty Eylau/Baylor)
* 50 Chatrice White C 6-3 Sr * Shelby, Neb. (Shelby-Rising City/Illinois)
5/10/2017 - A'Tyanna Gaulden transferred to Arkansas.
2017-18 Conference Awards
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shakayla Thomas Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference - 1st Team
Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Tournament Team - 2nd Team
Imani Wright Atlantic Coast Conference - All-Conference - 1st Team
All-Conference - 2
2017-18 All-Americans
Name Organization
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shakayla Thomas Associated Press - All-American - Honorable Mention
Women's Basketball Coaches Association - All-American - Honorable Mention
Imani Wright Associated Press - All-American - Honorable Mention
Women's Basketball Coaches Association - All-American - Honorable Mention
All-Americans - 2
2017-18 Schedules and Results
GAME |
SCORE |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Florida | |||||
| Jacksonville State | |||||
| Florida | |||||
| Grambling State | |||||
| Sacred Heart | |||||
| Samford | |||||
| Iowa ACC/B1G Challenge |
|||||
| James Madison | |||||
| Stetson | |||||
| Arizona State | |||||
| Texas | |||||
| Creighton | |||||
| Jacksonville | |||||
| North Carolina | |||||
| Clemson | |||||
| Syracuse | |||||
| Miami | |||||
| Virginia Tech | |||||
| Wake Forest OT |
|||||
| Louisville | |||||
| Notre Dame | |||||
| North Carolina State | |||||
| Pittsburgh | |||||
| Virginia | |||||
| Miami | |||||
| Clemson | |||||
| Duke | |||||
| Boston College | |||||
| Georgia Tech | |||||
| Miami ACC, Greensboro, N.C. |
|||||
| Notre Dame ACC, Greensboro, N.C. |
|||||
| Arkansas-Little Rock NCAA |
|||||
| Buffalo NCAA |
EOY StatsRef Overall Home Away Neutral ------------------------------------------------ FSU record is 26- 7 14- 2 11- 4 1- 1 vs ACC 12- 4 7- 1 5- 3 0- 0
2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Results 1t Louisville 15- 1 36- 3 1t Notre Dame 15- 1 35- 3 3 Florida State 12- 4 26- 7 4t Duke 11- 5 24- 9 4t North Carolina State 11- 5 26- 9 6t Miami 10- 6 21-11 6t Virginia 10- 6 19-14 6t Syracuse 10- 6 22- 9 9t Virginia Tech 6-10 23-14 9t Georgia Tech 6-10 20-14 11 Wake Forest 5-11 14-17 12 North Carolina 4-12 15-16 13t Boston College 2-14 7-23 13t Pittsburgh 2-14 10-20 15 Clemson 1-15 11-18
2018 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, Greensboro, NC Date Score Comments ========== ================================================== ================================== 02/28/2018 (12)North Carolina 69, (13)Boston College 64 Round 1 02/28/2018 (10)Georgia Tech 61, (15)Clemson 52 Round 1 02/28/2018 (11)Wake Forest 72, (14)Pittsburgh 38 Round 1 03/01/2018 (5)North Carolina State 77, (12)North Carolina 64 Round 2 03/01/2018 (9)Louisville 85, (8)Syracuse 70 Round 2 03/01/2018 (7)Virginia 60, (10)Georgia Tech 58 Round 2 03/01/2018 (6)Miami 68, (11)Wake Forest 60 Round 2 03/02/2018 (5)North Carolina State 51, (4)Duke 45 Round 3 03/02/2018 (1)Louisville 73, (9)Louisville 70 Round 3 03/02/2018 (2)Notre Dame 83, (7)Virginia 47 Round 3 03/02/2018 (3)Florida State 73, (6)Miami 69 Round 3 03/03/2018 (1)Louisville 64, (5)North Carolina State 59 Round 4 03/03/2018 (2)Notre Dame 90, (3)Florida State 80 Round 4 03/04/2018 (1)Louisville 74, (2)Notre Dame 72 Round 5
2017-18 EOY Stats
--3 Point--- ----REBOUNDS----- Name GP GS Min FGM FGA PCT FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT PTS AVG OFF DEF TOT AVG PF DQ AST TO BLK STL =================================================================================================================================== Shakayla Thomas 33 31 874 251 485 .518 0 4 .000 84 139 .604 586 17.8 72 148 220 6.7 69 0 21 52 13 31 Imani Wright 32 32 1062 189 464 .407 103 269 .383 42 58 .724 523 16.3 14 78 92 2.9 53 1 70 50 4 30 A.J. Alix 32 32 949 131 300 .437 65 177 .367 38 48 .792 365 11.4 24 61 85 2.7 59 0 201 89 5 46 Nicki Ekhomu 33 5 888 102 232 .440 13 38 .342 115 141 .816 332 10.1 71 115 186 5.6 79 3 86 66 5 34 Chatrice White 33 31 788 100 232 .431 13 41 .317 84 106 .792 297 9.0 91 163 254 7.7 84 1 23 40 54 28 Nausia Woolfolk 32 2 785 103 256 .402 22 91 .242 47 67 .701 275 8.6 49 105 154 4.8 65 2 63 69 6 48 Ama Degbeon 33 32 872 85 131 .649 0 0 .000 43 65 .662 213 6.5 101 115 216 6.5 79 1 29 40 21 18 Savannah Wilkinson 24 0 218 22 48 .458 13 30 .433 2 4 .500 59 2.5 13 24 37 1.5 10 0 2 12 1 3 Iho Lopez 24 0 180 7 21 .333 0 0 .000 8 12 .667 22 0.9 14 28 42 1.8 25 0 4 18 9 8 Team 66 59 125 0.0 4 ============================================================================================================== FSU 33 990 2169 .456 229 650 .352 463 640 .723 2672 81.0 515 896 1411 42.8 523 8 499 440 118 246 Opp 33 772 1987 .389 209 646 .324 368 505 .729 2121 64.3 353 729 1082 32.8 580 11 423 514 75 212
Florida State Women's Hoops Racks up 109 Points in Opening Rout.
The Seminoles defeated UNF 109-51 behind five double-figure scorers on Friday
night.
TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Chatrice White had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and Imani Wright added 17 points and eight assists to help Florida State beat North Florida 109-51 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
AJ Alix hit 5-of-8 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and Shakayla Thomas had 16 points and nine rebounds for Florida State. Nicki Ekhomu scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half and finished with 13 rebounds.
Wright found White for a layup within five seconds and Degbeon scored five points during a 9-2 opening run and the Seminoles never trailed. A jumper by Thomas gave the Seminoles a 10-point lead late in the first quarter and Alix hit three of Florida State's six second-quarter 3-pointers to make it 43-16 at halftime.
North Florida made just three of its first 16 field-goal attempts and finished shooting 30 percent, hitting just 4 of 21 from 3-point range.
Florida State outrebounded the Ospreys 62-22, including 23-7 on the offensive end, and scored 30 second-chance points. The Seminoles set a school record for points in a quarter with 36 in the third.
Keonna Farmer led North Florida with 17 points.
POST-GAME NOTES:
AJ Alix, Redshirt Senior Guard
On her FSU debut:
"It was fun, I had fun. I like playing with this team, they
give me confidence, and I try to do the same for them. My main focus is to get them the ball and to take my shots when I'm open, but my main focus on this team is to find my teammates when they're
open."
On how much the pair of threes got her going:
"The first one when I shot it I missed it, and usually my teammates are usually like, "keep shooting," but I usually am looking for
my teammates to score the ball, and to score 20 points a game. I'm satisfied with zero points a game as long as my teammates get to score."
On how the history of transfers to FSU impacted her
decision to play here:
"With Tree [Chatrice], just seeing her transfer and seeing her win [ACC] Sixth Player of the Year, like that's big. Why not? Why not come here, why not play for Coach
Sue? It was easy, transferring here was easy for me to decide, and I feel like I wouldn't want to play for any other coach in the country."
Chatrice White, Senior Center
On getting
her first double-double of the season in the first game:
"It's great, first game out, a double-double is pretty cool. I think that it is just the standard that my coaches hold me to and expect
day in and day out, so just to start off with a first game on that right note is a really great expectation for the rest of the season."
On improvements that have been made from last year to
this year:
"Still working on playing through and playing through fouls and scoring through contact and stuff, but I've also worked a lot on my outside perimeter shooting, and just getting in
the gym and shooting more shots and then crashing the boards from there."
On how having AJ improves FSU's transition game:
"It's great. Her vision for the rest of the court is great, so
it makes me want to run the court even harder, because I know that she is going to reward me when I do. It's really fun to be able to get out and run and for the rest of our team to want to get up and
go because we know when AJ gets the ball, she's just going to push it up to us."
On adapting to this new speed of play and transitions with AJ:
"I guess, I mean you see it there and you
gotta get it there. Also as the season progresses, we're going to get more patient, and seeing what is our best pass and what's going to be our best shot as a team, and moving forward I think that
those passes are going to be there, even though they're quicker, but we're going to be ready for them."
Head Coach Sue Semrau
Opening statement
"It was really nice to get back
on the court and to see some things that we were able to do in a Division I game. We challenged them, and I thought that they responded pretty well. The stats are what I love. We outrebounded a team
by 40. Defensively I still think that we have a lot to work on, but when you hold a team to 30 percent that's important. I though Farmer was great for them. She's a fifth year senior and we had seen
her before at UAB and she's a great addition. Looking at Darrick and the way that they're building that program, I'm very excited for him. The other stat I really love is the balance we had scoring
the ball, and that's something that's been a trademark of the program that we've built."
How much more pleasing is this compared to last year's season opener?
"I think this team is very
different than last year's team. We're obviously not as deep so each player knows that they're going to be relied on. Sometimes that's good and sometimes they don't feel that sense of competition that
this group has. The other thing they know is that we haven't arrived yet by any stretch."
What's it like having a point guard like AJ and the way she's able to pass the ball?
"She's
special. It's not just coaching a point guard who has skill, it's coaching a point guard who has a heart and passion and can shoot the ball. That's a lot of stuff that she does for us, and that's why
she came to Florida State. That's what she knew we needed her to come in and do and she knew that the people around her could make her a better point guard."
When AJ and Chatrice transferred
over to FSU, did you expect them to make this immediate of an impact?
"Yes. No question. We don't just take anyone or any transfers. There are a lot of characteristics that they need to have.
It's very specific who we'll take and who we won't. We knew what these guys could be on the court, but off the court is so much more important. They're so much better off the court than they even are
on the court and that says a lot."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 31 6 10 5 8 0 0 17 0 1 1 1 5 1 0 4
20 Shakayla Thomas f 23 8 15 0 1 0 0 16 5 4 9 4 1 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 19 3 3 0 0 2 3 8 4 3 7 2 2 0 1 0
32 Imani Wright g 31 6 14 4 8 1 2 17 2 3 5 1 8 3 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 25 6 11 1 2 8 8 21 5 7 12 2 1 3 2 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 27 7 13 0 2 6 7 20 4 9 13 1 3 1 1 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 25 1 8 1 6 3 4 6 1 8 9 1 2 2 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 19 2 4 0 1 0 0 4 2 1 3 2 1 2 0 1
Team 3 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 39 78 11 28 20 24 109 23 39 62 14 22 13 4 7
Opp 200 20 66 4 21 7 8 51 7 15 22 21 4 15 0 6
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Florida | |||||
| Florida State |
Second-Half Defense Leads Seminoles to Road Win.
No. 18/14 Florida State Women's Basketball uses a 20-0 third quarter to defeat Jacksonville State
75-51 in Shakayla Thomas' homecoming game.
JACKSONVILLE, AL -- Shakayla Thomas scored 23 points for her 17th career 20-point game, and No. 18 Florida State used a 20-0 third quarter to beat Jacksonville State 75-51 on Sunday.
Jacksonville State's second-half scoring drought ended at 12 minutes, 59 seconds.
Nicki Ekhomu added 14 points and eight rebounds, and AJ Alix had 13 points and seven assists for Florida State (2-0), which is coming off its fourth-highest scoring game (109) in program history.
"We made some adjustments at halftime," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said after the game. "Having them execute those adjustments was huge. Jacksonville State was shooting contested jumpers in the second half and we rebounded the ball very well."
The Seminoles have only lost twice in their last 12 road openers.
Gretchen Morrison made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points for Jacksonville State (1-1), which was held to 29 percent shooting and turned it over 17 times.
JSU made nine of 16 3-pointers in the first half to stay within 38-35 of Florida State. The Seminoles were just 1 of 8 from distance in the half but still made 52 percent of their field goals.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 31 5 9 2 5 1 1 13 0 3 3 1 7 0 2 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 27 10 19 0 1 3 6 23 3 3 6 4 0 3 0 1
25 Ama Degbeon f 29 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 2 3 5 2 0 1 1 1
32 Imani Wright g 32 3 9 0 3 0 0 6 2 3 5 0 2 2 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 17 2 6 1 2 0 0 5 1 4 5 5 0 1 1 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 32 6 10 0 1 2 2 14 0 8 8 0 4 3 1 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 21 1 5 0 2 3 3 5 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 2
31 Savannah Wilkinson 11 3 4 1 2 0 0 7 1 3 4 1 0 0 0 0
Team 3 2 5 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 30 62 4 16 11 16 75 12 31 43 15 13 11 6 9
Opp 200 17 59 10 27 7 10 51 13 23 36 16 13 17 5 2
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Jacksonville State |
Seminoles Get Largest Road Win Ever at Florida.
Another breakaway third quarter propels No. 17/14 Florida State Women’s Hoops to an 84-54 win at
the Gators.
GAINESVILLE, FL -- AJ Alix scored 26 points, guard Nicki Ekhomu had her second double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 17 Florida State beat rival Florida 84-54 on Friday night in the 77th meeting.
Florida State went on a 19-0 run, spanning halftime, to take a 47-26 lead with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Ekhomu scored 12 points in the first half and Alix added 11 as the Seminoles led 38-26 at halftime after closing on a 10-0 run. The Gators didn't score in the final 4:30 of the second quarter.
Florida was held to eight points in the second quarter and 13 in the third as the Gators were outscored 48-21.
Shakayla Thomas added 12 points and eight rebounds for Florida State (3-0), which had a 50-32 advantage on the glass. Imani Wright had 11 points and five assists.
Funda Nakkasoglu led Florida (1-2) with 18 points. The Gators shot just 32 percent, including 7 of 28 from distance.
FSU has won seven of the last nine meetings.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 28 9 13 6 10 2 4 26 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 5 9 0 0 2 2 12 1 7 8 2 0 0 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 23 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 3 1 1 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 23 4 11 3 10 0 0 11 0 4 4 3 5 1 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 26 3 6 1 3 1 2 8 1 10 11 2 0 1 1 0
11 Iho Lopez 9 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 30 5 10 0 2 4 4 14 3 8 11 2 2 1 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 23 3 8 1 3 0 0 7 3 2 5 0 3 0 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 12 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 3 0 0 1 0 0
Team 2 2 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 32 64 11 28 9 12 84 11 39 50 12 14 7 2 0
Opp 200 21 65 7 28 5 13 54 9 23 32 9 10 6 0 3
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Florida |
Wright's Six 3-Pointers Lift Florida State over Grambling State.
Redshirt senior guard Imani Wright knocked down a career-high six treys in her
"homecoming" game as No. 17/14 Florida State Women's Hoops defeated Grambling State 96-53.
GRAMBLING, LA - Playing at a school where both her parents starred, redshirt senior guard Imani Wright made the most of her trip back to Louisiana.
With several family and friends in attendance, Wright knocked down a career-high six 3-point field goals in a 96-53 rout over Grambling State on Sunday night. The six triples fall one short of the individual school record of seven held by three different players.
"This was very special to bring Imani back to a place where both her parents excelled at," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said. "We wanted to make it a good trip for her, and she really delivered with a great performance tonight."
Wright led six Seminoles in double figures with 22 points (8-of-23). Her father, Larry Wright, was one of the top players in the country while playing basketball at Grambling. He went on to enjoy a 12-year professional career which included a 1978 NBA Championship with the Washington Bullets.
Wright's mother, Bridgette Forte-Thomas, played a couple years at the University of Houston before also having a strong career when she transferred to Grambling.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 33 4 11 1 5 1 2 10 1 0 1 1 11 2 0 7
12 Nicki Ekhomu g 23 4 7 1 1 8 8 17 6 3 9 2 2 2 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 7 11 0 0 4 5 18 4 4 8 2 0 1 1 1
32 Imani Wright g 34 8 23 6 16 0 0 22 1 6 7 0 2 2 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 22 4 7 1 2 2 4 11 2 4 6 3 2 1 1 1
11 Iho Lopez 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 21 4 8 0 2 2 2 10 4 4 8 2 1 4 0 4
25 Ama Degbeon 21 2 3 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 4 1 1 1 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 11 2 3 0 0 0 0 4 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 0
Team 3 5 8
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 73 9 26 17 21 96 23 30 53 16 19 14 5 14
Opp 200 19 58 6 26 9 15 53 11 17 28 18 9 19 5 10
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Grambling State |
Thomas’ 28 Leads No. 13/11 Florida State Past Sacred Heart.
Senior forward Shakayla Thomas took over Friday’s game to pace the Seminoles to a
101-52 win.
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Shakayla Thomas had 28 points and eight rebounds, Chatrice White and Ama Degbeon each had a double-double, and No. 13 Florida State breezed by Sacred Heart 101-52 on Friday.
Thomas' 18th career 20-point game helped Florida State to its first 5-0 start since the 2012-13 season.
“I feel like my teammates put me in good position to make easy shots (today),” Thomas said after the game. “They made easy passes for easy buckets. I feel like this one goes out to them.”
White finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds, and Degbeon had 11 points and 13 boards. Imani Wright added 20 points for Florida State, which had 24 assists on 38 field goals and outrebounded Sacred Heart 56-35. AJ Alix was three assists shy of the program's single-game record of 15.
Florida State scored its most first-quarter points of the season with 29 and had 60-plus in a half for the second time this season in taking a 31-point lead.
Erin Storck led Sacred Heart (2-3) with 16 points and four 3-pointers. Adrianne Hagood added 12 points for the Pioneers, who were 15-of-56 shooting.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 27 2 7 2 5 0 0 6 0 2 2 1 12 1 1 3
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 13 23 0 0 2 3 28 2 6 8 2 2 3 0 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 20 4 5 0 0 3 6 11 9 4 13 1 1 3 1 0
32 Imani Wright g 29 8 14 4 8 0 0 20 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 22 4 10 0 3 7 7 15 3 13 16 4 1 1 2 0
11 Iho Lopez 22 3 6 0 0 0 0 6 3 2 5 4 0 2 1 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 28 1 7 0 0 5 7 7 1 3 4 1 4 1 0 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 26 3 7 0 1 2 3 8 1 6 7 2 4 1 0 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 38 79 6 17 19 26 101 19 37 56 16 24 14 5 12
Opp 200 15 56 8 29 14 25 52 9 26 35 20 8 25 0 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacred Heart | |||||
| Florida State |
Seminoles Reach Best Six-Game Start Since 2012.
Senior forward Shakayla Thomas' 29 points help No. 13/11 Florida State defeat Samford 87-62; first
6-0 start since 2012-13.
TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Shakayla Thomas scored 29 points, Ama Degbeon had a double-double and No. 13 Florida State rolled to an 87-62 win over Samford on Sunday.
Imani Wright and Nausia Woolfolk added 14 points apiece for the Seminoles (6-0). Thomas was 12-of-17 shooting and Degbeon had 11 points and 11 rebounds plus three blocks.
"We've been good at halftime adjustments this season," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said following the game. "We needed to get back to the fundamentals. We had to be more patient on offense and aggressive on defense."
Hannah Nichols scored half of her 20 points in the first half and the Bulldogs (2-4) overcame 3 of 12 shooting in the first quarter to trail 37-29 at the half. Then Thomas took over, going 8 of 11 from the field and making all four of her field goals for 20 points. She had 12 points in the fourth quarter including 10 in row with two 3-point plays to finish three points shy of her career high. FSU shot 20 of 37 in the second half.
FSU's last 6-0 start was five years ago.
Samantha Fitzgerald added 14 points for Samford.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 26 2 8 1 5 0 0 5 0 4 4 2 5 3 0 5
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 12 17 0 0 5 8 29 3 2 5 1 0 3 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 31 5 7 0 0 1 2 11 3 8 11 3 2 1 3 1
32 Imani Wright g 32 6 12 2 6 0 0 14 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 24 3 8 0 2 2 3 8 4 2 6 3 0 2 1 0
11 Iho Lopez 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 26 2 7 0 0 2 2 6 1 3 4 2 4 2 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 25 5 7 1 1 3 4 14 1 4 5 0 0 1 0 3
31 Savannah Wilkinson 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Team 1 2 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 68 4 15 13 19 87 14 27 41 14 13 14 4 11
Opp 200 21 50 12 27 8 12 62 3 19 22 21 16 18 1 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samford | |||||
| Florida State |
No. 13/11 Seminoles Come Back to Defeat Iowa.
The Seminoles overcome a 12-point deficit with seven minutes left to top the high-scoring Hawkeyes
94-93.
IOWA CITY, IA - Shakayla Thomas scored 31 points, 17 in the fourth quarter, and Imani Wright added 26 points as No. 13 Florida State erased a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Iowa 94-93 on Wednesday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Megan Gustafson, who scored 34 points on 15-of-18 shooting, scored the first six points of an 8-0 run to end the third quarter and the first four points of the fourth quarter to put Iowa (7-1) ahead 75-63. Thomas, who also had 10 rebounds, ended the run and then had the first basket and the last 11 points in a 15-2 run that put the Seminoles up 80-79 with 3:13 to play.
"It was do or die," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said of the game. "We had to make a choice and I believed in them. This was a big win for us.
"This game was about what Shakayla did on the defensive end in the fourth quarter," Semrau added. "I know she can do that other stuff and play well offensively. She really cut it loose defensively."
The teams traded the lead with big 3s and free throws, with Gustafson tying the game at 85 with a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to go. Wright answered with a 3 and after a steal by Thomas, A.J. Alix made two free throws with 24.7 for a 91-86 lead. Tania Davis knocked down a 3-pointer for the Hawkeyes with 17.2 seconds to go.
Both teams then went 1 of 2 from the line before Thomas made it a two-possession game with two foul shots with five seconds left. Davis ended it with a 3 at the buzzer.
FSU (7-0) is 9-2 in the challenge with its current six-game winning streak, the longest of any school.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 34 4 10 1 4 2 2 11 1 1 2 3 8 3 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu g 27 1 6 0 0 3 4 5 1 0 1 4 5 1 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 30 14 23 0 0 3 4 31 5 5 10 2 0 0 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon c 29 5 6 0 0 2 4 12 6 3 9 1 1 2 1 2
32 Imani Wright g 36 8 23 7 17 3 4 26 0 4 4 3 4 0 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 22 2 9 1 4 0 0 5 3 3 6 1 1 1 0 5
31 Savannah Wilkinson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
50 Chatrice White 21 1 6 0 2 2 2 4 0 3 3 4 3 0 0 2
Team 3 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 83 9 27 15 20 94 19 19 38 18 22 7 2 14
Opp 200 36 59 7 16 14 15 93 5 31 36 12 28 21 4 3
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Iowa |
Big Second Half Helps No. 13/11 Florida State Get Past James Madison.
Senior Shakayla Thomas continues her torrid stretch with 26 points as FSU
Women's Hoops defeats the Dukes 79-63.
HARRISONBURG, VA - Shakayla Thomas scored 26 points and No. 13 Florida State beat James Madison 79-63 on Sunday.
Thomas scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the third quarter when the Seminoles went from a one-point halftime deficit to a 10-point lead.
Lexie Barrier and Kamiah Smalls hit 3-pointers for the Dukes to open the fourth but Thomas responded with a pair of baskets for an eight-point lead. After the teams exchanged baskets, another Barrier 3-pointer with 5:12 to go cut the lead to five but the Dukes didn't score again.
Thomas reached 20 points for the fifth time this season. She was 13-of-22 shooting. Nausia Woolfolk and AJ Alix scored 12 points each and Imani Wright added 11.
The Seminoles are 8-0 for the first time since the 2009-10 season and the third time in program history.
Kelly Koshuta scored 19 points and Smalls 16 for James Madison (2-5).
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 31 4 8 2 5 2 4 12 0 1 1 4 9 3 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 34 13 22 0 0 0 0 26 2 2 4 3 2 1 0 1
25 Ama Degbeon f 21 1 2 0 0 3 3 5 0 3 3 4 1 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 35 3 8 1 4 4 6 11 0 4 4 2 1 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 25 3 8 0 2 3 4 9 3 5 8 2 1 2 2 0
11 Iho Lopez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 19 1 1 0 0 2 3 4 0 1 1 3 2 3 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 30 5 12 1 4 1 3 12 1 6 7 2 3 1 1 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0
Team 5 4 9
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 30 61 4 15 15 23 79 12 26 38 21 19 14 3 3
Opp 200 21 65 8 27 13 18 63 17 23 40 22 12 16 0 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| James Madison |
Noles Power Past Stetson.
AJ Alix's 19 points lead five FSU double-figure scorers in 84-39 win over the Hatters.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - AJ Alix hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points and No. 13 Florida State cruised to an 84-39 win over Stetson on Thursday night.
Nicki Ekhomu added 16 points off the bench, Imani Wright had 13, and Chatrice White and Ama Degbeon added 12 points apiece for the Seminoles (9-0). White also had 11 rebounds and five blocks.
Shakayla Thomas, who averaged 28.5 points in the previous four games, only scored eight on 4-of-12 shooting but moved into third on the FSU career field goal list with 686.
Ekhomu and Alix hit back-to-back 3-pointers as the Seminoles closed the first quarter with a 10-0 run to lead 19-8. Alix then opened the second quarter with back-to-back 3s and the Hatters never challenged. It was 38-21 at the half with FSU shooting 52 percent, including 5 of 9 3-pointers. Stetson shot 30 percent, going 3 of 13 from distance. Alix had 14 points, on 5-of-6 shooting, including 4 of 4 treys.
FSU finished the game 9 of 18 from long range and shot 54 percent overall with a 46-26 rebounding advantage. Alix was 7-of-9 shooting and had six assists.
Brittney Chambers scored 19 points for Stetson (6-5).
POST-GAME NOTES
Head Coach Sue Semrau
On how Florida State
has been like a family:
"I think that's what Florida State is. That started with coach [Bobby] Bowden years ago. We have all gone out of our way to be about each other and about family. I love
what our players do. It is fun to be a part of that."
On the performance of the team before halftime:
"I didn't have to say anything to them. They knew that they weren't playing their
best. I think that there has been a kind of anxious excitement about what is coming up on Sunday. This is a team that doesn't overlook their opponents but they also know what they can do and what we
need to do to do that. I think we just made some careless mistakes but we corrected that in the second half."
On the focus of the team as final exam week approaches:
"This team is very
business-like. They are a group that gets along very well and are really a cool group of people. I think that we aren't going to be thinking a lot about finals until Sunday comes up. They'll take care
of what they need to. They do that all the time in the classroom but Sunday is a big game for us."
On the defense holding Stetson to 24 percent shooting from the field:
"That's our goal.
In the first half, that didn't feel like the case. It was 35 percent in the second quarter. But they turned it around. In the third quarter it was 20 percent and in the fourth quarter it was 16
percent. [Florida State] is that talented."
Redshirt Senior Point Guard AJ Alix
On the sense of family since coming to FSU:
"I got it when I was getting recruited, so that was
amazing to me. To just be able to call the coaches here and talk about life and just see what's going on with them. So I feel like, yes, since I stepped on campus it's just been a family atmosphere
and I love it."
On feeling comfortable shooting:
"It starts with my teammates, I'm looking to get them the ball all the time, and when I'm looking to get them the ball my shot starts to
open up. So just being around them, and them giving me confidence, and telling me 'shoot the ball, shoot the ball,' I think that's a pretty good feeling."
On going down with an apparent injury
in the third quarter:
"I just got a little elbow to the face. I needed to take a little breather for a second. Yeah it was just a little elbow to the face, I tried to get over a screen, just
an elbow, but I'm fine though."
Sophomore Guard Nicole Ekhomu
On stepping up more in her sophomore season:
"The coaches told me I've kind of been lax lately, so they tell me
to just find that aggression again and keep doing better."
On mindset coming off the bench:
"Just be in attack mode and just be an impact player. I have great scorers around me at all
times, so that makes it easy for me because I know if I'm attacking on AJ's side, her man can't really help off her because she is such a great shooter. It's just easy to play with them because
everybody is great."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 25 7 9 5 6 0 0 19 0 2 2 1 6 2 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 25 4 12 0 0 0 0 8 2 8 10 1 0 0 1 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 27 6 6 0 0 0 2 12 3 4 7 0 1 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 25 5 14 2 7 1 2 13 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 28 5 8 0 1 2 3 12 3 8 11 1 1 2 5 2
11 Iho Lopez 19 2 3 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 2 1 0 2 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 31 6 10 2 2 2 2 16 1 6 7 2 4 5 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 20 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 4 0 0 1 0 0
Team 2 2
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 65 9 18 5 9 84 13 33 46 7 15 11 8 7
Opp 200 14 57 3 20 8 10 39 8 18 26 10 3 13 3 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stetson | |||||
| Florida State |
Big Start Leads No. 13/10 Seminoles to Win over Arizona State.
A 27-11 advantage through the first quarter coupled with 22 points from Imani
Wright brings Florida State Women's Basket. by Steve Stone
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Imani Wright scored 22 points, Shakayla Thomas and AJ Alix had double-doubles and No. 13 Florida State used a big first quarter to turn back Arizona State 77-66 on Sunday.
Thomas had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Seminoles (10-0) and Alix 14 points with 11 assists. Imani had her fourth 20-point game and with three 3-pointers reached 100 for her career. FSU is 10-0 for the third time ever, and two shy of its best start ever.
Reili Richardson led the Sun Devils (7-3) with a career-high 18 points, Robbi Ryan added 15 and Kianna Ibis 11 with nine rebounds.
Alix had the first five points of the game as the Seminoles jumped on to an 8-0 lead and made three free throws with 41 seconds left for a 27-11 lead after one quarter. ASU cut it to 46-37 at the half but a 10-2 run late in the third quarter helped Florida State to a comfortable 65-51 lead entering the fourth quarter.
A 3 and layup by Ryan got the Sun Devils within eight early in the fourth quarter but an 0 for 5 dry spell over 3:07 late stopped the threat.
The defensive minded teams came into the game allowing 53.6 (ASU) and 57.6 points (FSU).
POST-GAME NOTES
Florida State Forward Shakayla Thomas
On the physicality of the game:
“We came out there and we had our mindset on what we had planned, so we just
attacked them the way we knew how.”
On the mindset of the team after the big first quarter lead:
“Just to keep the same energy that we had, keep that same energy that we had throughout
the whole game, and we can play with anybody. So we needed the same energy, the same intensity, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Florida State Guard Imani Wright
On the Texas game
coming up:
“Last year we felt that one got away from us, and I’m excited to go back, especially with the group of girls we have now and just compete at a high level. I love games like this so
I’m excited for it.”
On her performance in Sunday’s game:
“Having the confidence to take those shots when they were open and my teammates being able to find me, and having the confidence
in me. I think I get some of my energy from them just telling me to keep shooting and keep playing hard.”
On her teammate AJ Alix:
“AJ’s a really great point guard and she does really
great things for us, she keeps us calm in those moments when things kind of get hectic, and just her presence makes us a much better basketball team.”
Coach Sue Quotes:
Opening
Statement:
“This was a great basketball game for us; we have so much respect for Arizona State and the way they defend. I thought it was going to be a great matchup and it was. I think the one
thing we can do is, Brittany Brown was watching this game and her teammate is Quinn Dornstauder from Arizona State. So they were roommates and it was kind of a matchup between the two, so hopefully we
did Brittany proud a bit too.”
On building a lead in the first quarter:
“They have been starting well in practice, and I think that’s been a change that we’ve seen over the last couple
of days. They’ve paid a lot of attention to detail and you can tell. They came out and they were focused and knew what they needed to do and had the courage to go do it.”
On the improvement of
Imani Wright since her transfer from Baylor:
“Everybody says ‘Imani’s a three-point shooter,’ but Imani’s a player. Imani defends, she doesn’t rebound, we don’t let her rebound on the
offensive end. But she provides our transition defense, a lot of communication. You can see now she’s turning some of those threes down to go to her pull-up jumper, she can get to the rim, she’s just
a really special player.”
On importance of regaining momentum when ASU cut into lead:
“Well I thought two things, I thought Shakayla hadn’t scored much in the first half, and I knew
Imani could score if she could stay out of foul trouble. So when we’re not playing our best, and that’s happening, then I know that we can turn it. We have a lot of weapons on the offensive end and
coming up with some key defensive rebounds and pushing the ball the way that we were able to, I thought that was huge. To have two kids having double doubles, one with assists, I think that’s special
too.”
On team’s response to ASU’s toughness:
“I have to credit our scout guys; they did an amazing job two days in practice to prepare us for this. Now the next game is going to be even
tougher. And that’s what we wanted to do is just continue to step up our game to be able to compete with the best in the country.”
On what’s next for the team:
“We’re going to really
focus on our finals here the next couple of days. That’s the most important thing they do here, they’re great students. So they have to have some time to really focus on that. I’ve found that finals
week can be a really interesting time for exam brain. But we’ll make sure we keep in shape, stay sharp with our rhythm, but we’ll give them some time away to make sure they study and get ready. I
think we did what we needed to do to take that step forward, but we still have to take that next step. We’re not going to just blow this week off, we’ve got a big game next weekend and towards the end
of the week we’ll make sure we are prepared for that.”
On if they came up with a strategy to limit ASU Guard Reili Richardson:
“Not really. We came in with a plan to shut down their post
game. They really love to pound it in the post and Reili hasn’t been scoring as much when you look at her percentages. She stepped up and did a great job picking up the slack, but when you look, our
game plan was to limit scoring in the paint and it was 40 to 16, so we executed our game plan and that was huge.”
On instilling Florida State’s mindset into transfer players:
“I don’t.
It’s them. They made the choice to be here and they make it special for each other. It’s not about me, it’s not about them, they make it special. This group is really fun. Really fun to coach and that
one possession, oh my gosh that one possession that we just threw the ball, how many passes was that? It was like five or six and Nausia Woolfolk finishes it off with a three. This team is so selfless
and it’s really fun that that’s what they’re competing for is the name on the front and not the name on the back.”
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 34 5 9 1 5 3 3 14 0 3 3 2 11 3 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas f 33 7 13 0 0 1 2 15 2 8 10 1 0 2 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 31 4 5 0 0 1 2 9 3 2 5 2 0 0 0 1
32 Imani Wright g 30 9 17 3 5 1 1 22 0 3 3 3 2 0 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 21 2 6 0 1 0 0 4 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 1
11 Iho Lopez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 30 2 7 0 1 3 4 7 3 3 6 4 3 4 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 16 2 6 1 2 1 1 6 0 3 3 0 0 1 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 2 2 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 31 63 5 14 10 13 77 11 26 37 14 16 10 1 7
Opp 200 25 63 9 22 7 8 66 10 19 29 11 10 10 0 4
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona State | |||||
| Florida State |
No. 12/10 Florida State Falls at No. 8 Texas.
Redshirt senior guard AJ Alix scores 21 points in the 87-72 loss.
AUSTIN, TX – Brooke McCarty returned from a hip injury to score a season-high 24 points, leading No. 8 Texas over No. 12 Florida State 87-72 Sunday.
McCarty, a senior guard, missed one game. She appeared just fine against Florida State, making 10 of 13 shots and adding six assists.
Ariel Atkins had 17 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Texas (9-1). Lashann Higgs had 15 points and four steals, and Jatarie White added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
AJ Alix led Florida State (10-1) with 21 points, including 5 3-pointers, and had eight assists. Shakayla Thomas scored 19.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 37 8 13 5 8 0 0 21 0 1 1 2 8 7 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 34 8 17 0 0 3 4 19 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 27 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 6 3 1 1 0 1
32 Imani Wright g 37 4 12 2 7 0 2 10 0 6 6 3 2 2 1 1
50 Chatrice White c 24 1 3 1 2 0 0 3 1 5 6 2 0 0 5 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 24 3 8 1 3 0 0 7 2 0 2 5 1 3 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 17 4 8 2 5 0 0 10 3 0 3 3 1 3 0 1
Team 5 5
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 29 64 11 25 3 6 72 9 23 32 20 14 17 7 3
Opp 200 35 76 5 15 12 16 87 19 27 46 10 16 11 2 9
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Texas |
Creighton Runs into 'White Christmas' on Thursday Night.
Senior center Chatrice White notches a double-double in her home state to help send
Florida State Women's Hoops with a win before the holidays.
OMAHA, NE - Chatrice White returned to her home state and had 19 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 13 Florida State beat Creighton 92-82 on Thursday night.
The Seminoles (11-1) bounced back from an 87-72 loss to No. 8 Texas on Sunday. Creighton (6-4) had its three-game win streak snapped despite hitting 17 of 35 (49 percent) from 3-point range.
White, a Shelby-Rising City prep star and the first Nebraska high school female to be named a McDonald's All-American in 2014, scored two points and had three rebounds as the Seminoles outscored Creighton 18-9 in the third quarter, and opened the fourth on a 5-0 spurt for a 71-60 lead.
Temi Carda made a layup and Audrey Faber a 3-pointer to pull the Bluejays to 71-65 but they didn't get closer.
AJ Alix scored nine of her 17 points in the second half for Florida State. Imani Wright added 16 points and made three 3-pointers as the Seminoles had six players finish in double-figure scoring.
Faber scored 30 points and made seven 3-pointers to lead Creighton.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 34 6 10 1 2 4 5 17 2 4 6 2 6 0 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 17 3 7 0 0 0 0 6 1 4 5 3 1 1 0 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 29 6 9 0 0 0 0 12 4 2 6 3 1 0 2 0
32 Imani Wright g 37 6 11 3 6 1 1 16 0 3 3 3 3 0 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 27 7 13 1 1 4 5 19 7 4 11 1 0 1 1 0
11 Iho Lopez 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 24 4 8 0 0 2 4 10 1 6 7 5 1 4 1 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 25 3 11 0 3 4 5 10 1 3 4 3 1 1 0 2
31 Savannah Wilkinson 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Team 1 1 2
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 70 5 12 17 22 92 17 27 44 20 13 8 4 5
Opp 200 28 66 17 35 9 13 82 12 22 34 17 23 10 4 2
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Creighton |
Balanced Scoring Helps No. 13 Seminoles Defeat Jacksonville.
Four double-figure scorers, led by Imani Wright's 24, push Florida State Women's
Basketball to 12-1 following an 82-50 win over the Dolphins.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Imani Wright scored 24 points, leading four into double figures, as 13th-ranked Florida State defeated Jacksonville 82-50 on Thursday night -- the 11th time in 13 games four or more have reached double-figure scoring for the Seminoles.
Shakayla Thomas scored 18 points, Chatrice White and Nicki Ekhomu added 14 apiece and Florida State (12-1) shot 50.8 percent for the game -- 58 percent in the final quarter -- while holding Jacksonville (9-5) to 35-percent shooting and scoring 26 points off 23 turnovers. The Seminoles are 4-0 against other Florida schools this season.
Thomas, shooting 7 of 12 from the floor, is tied with Natasha Howard for second in the FSU record books with 711 career field goals made. AJ Alix had 11 of Florida State's 15 assists.
Florida State hosts North Carolina on Sunday to open ACC play at 2 p.m.
The Dolphins, the top defensive team in the Atlantic Sun Conference, held FSU to its fewest points against an ASUN opponent this season after the Seminoles scored 109 on North Florida and 84 on Stetson.
Jasmyn Brown led Jacksonville with 12 points.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 29 2 7 0 2 1 1 5 2 3 5 3 11 4 0 3
20 Shakayla Thomas f 24 7 12 0 0 4 6 18 1 2 3 3 0 1 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 25 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 4 7 2 1 1 1 1
32 Imani Wright g 29 9 17 3 8 3 4 24 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 24 6 10 0 1 2 2 14 3 1 4 1 1 1 3 1
11 Iho Lopez 10 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 28 5 6 2 2 2 2 14 3 1 4 2 1 1 0 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 21 2 6 0 1 0 0 4 2 1 3 2 1 2 0 3
31 Savannah Wilkinson 10 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0
Team 3 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 32 63 5 15 13 17 82 17 18 35 14 15 12 6 13
Opp 200 19 55 6 18 6 10 50 17 14 31 15 11 23 1 8
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville | |||||
| Florida State |
Imani Wright's Eight 3's Top Tar Heels.
The redshirt senior records a new school record from beyond the arc in a 103-65 win.
TALLAHASSEE, FL -- Imani Wright sank a school record eight 3-pointers and finished with a career-best 33 points to propel No. 13 Florida State to a 103-65 win over North Carolina in an Atlantic Coast Conference opener Sunday.
Wright missed just four of her 12 shots from behind the arc and finished with 11-for-18 shooting overall as Florida State (13-1) dominated from long range, sinking 10 of 20 while holding North Carolina to just 1 for 13.
Shakayla Thomas added 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Nicki Ekhomu had 19 points and Nausia Woolfolk got 13 for the Seminoles, who also controlled the glass 47-22.
After a tight first quarter, Florida State opened the second quarter with an 18-3 run to make it 41-24 and took a 57-36 advantage into the halftime break. Wright had three 3-pointers during the breakaway run and Ekhomu had one.
Janelle Bailey and Paris Kea led North Carolina (10-4) with 17 points apiece and Jamie Cherry added 10 points.
POST-GAME NOTES
Coach Sue Opening Statement:
"The thing I'm most proud of is the way we
played with so much intensity. You can always see that on the boards, as we always want to get 45 percent of our offensive rebounds and we got 57 percent of those rebounds today. We always want to try
to get 75 percent of defensive rebounds and today we got 87 percent of them. That was the difference maker today, and it was great to see Shakalya going to the offensive glass and Imani protecting the
defensive glass. To see Imani get a record high 3-pters in a game was really fun to watch and to see our team celebrate with her is really awesome."
On the team's performance:
"We have
to continue to grow and get better, and certainly we aren't satisfied with the things we did in a lot of areas today, so we can celebrate this one for a while, as it was obviously a great win over a
storied team like North Carolina. But now we have to put this game behind us and get ready for the next game. Our team prepared very well for today and now we have to prepare for Clemson."
On
the Importance of having Imani and Shakalya:
"I think having the inside out punch is very special. And then having players come in and give us a ton of energy and find these two is something
special. They are our scorers and when we are finding them it's fun to coach."
Imani Wright
On Career high game:
"I think it's working hard in practice and putting in those
reps at full speed is something I'm trying to work on. It's amazing to know that you can shoot it and we are going to get it back if it doesn't go in. Being able to rebound and all the work they are
putting in on the glass, it's very impressive."
On the mindset of making eight 3-pointers in the game:
"I went through regular pregame warmups as usual and then during the game I started
to feel like this is going to be fun. And then I started having confidence and my teammates were able to find me and that to me was the best part of it."
On a change from last year when it comes
to shooting:
"My confidence is the biggest thing. My teammates give me so much confidence and I know they are behind me, which makes it a lot easier to play hard and take those shots. AJ Alix
does an amazing job when it comes to finding us and getting the team into its set and there's just a lot of confidence in having AJ out there to distribute the ball."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 21 4 8 0 4 0 0 8 1 2 3 2 4 4 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas f 30 10 21 0 0 2 2 22 7 6 13 1 1 1 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 14 0 2 0 0 2 4 2 3 2 5 4 0 3 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 35 11 18 8 12 3 4 33 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 24 0 2 0 1 4 4 4 1 4 5 4 1 0 2 1
11 Iho Lopez 11 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 3 3 4 0 3 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 32 6 13 1 1 6 7 19 5 3 8 3 5 0 1 3
13 Nausia Woolfolk 23 5 9 1 2 2 2 13 2 1 3 5 2 4 1 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 2 3 5
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 36 73 10 20 21 25 103 22 25 47 24 14 16 4 10
Opp 200 23 55 1 13 18 23 65 6 16 22 22 14 21 0 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | |||||
| Florida State |
Woolfolk, Wilkinson Help Noles Take Down Tigers.
Sophomore Nausia Woolfolk (18 points) and freshman Savannah Wilkinson (14 points) establish
career highs in 69-47 win at Clemson.
CLEMSON, SC - Stepping up in a big way on Thursday night, sophomore guard Nausia Woolfolk and freshman guard Savannah Wilkinson guided No. 11/12 Florida State Women's Basketball (14-1, 2-0) to a 69-47 win on the road at Clemson in FSU's ACC road opener at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Woolfolk recorded a career-high 18 points, providing FSU some much-needed offense in a game where both defenses reigned. Wilkinson, a freshman guard from London, England, came up big off the bench with 14 points and four 3-point field goals in 24 minutes.
Senior forward Shakayla Thomas recorded her 90th double-figure game of her career with 11 points while moving into third on Florida State's all-time scoring list. Redshirt senior point guard AJ Alix added nine points and added eight assists to just three turnovers.
Clemson's Alexis Carter led the Tigers with 16 points in the loss.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 34 3 12 1 7 2 2 9 0 1 1 4 8 3 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu g 21 0 3 0 0 5 6 5 1 1 2 4 0 4 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas f 22 4 10 0 0 3 4 11 2 3 5 4 2 2 1 1
25 Ama Degbeon f 31 2 4 0 0 4 6 8 4 3 7 3 1 3 1 2
50 Chatrice White c 23 2 7 0 0 0 0 4 3 2 5 3 1 1 1 0
11 Iho Lopez 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 7 0 0 2 1 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 34 6 14 3 8 3 3 18 4 2 6 3 0 2 0 3
31 Savannah Wilkinson 24 5 7 4 5 0 0 14 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 1
Team 6 2 8 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 22 59 8 20 17 21 69 22 22 44 21 12 18 4 12
Opp 200 18 47 1 5 10 13 47 9 17 26 23 9 22 3 6
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Clemson |
No. 11/12 Florida State Falls at Syracuse.
The Seminoles drop to 2-1 in the ACC after losing to the Orange, 76-69, on Sunday afternoon.
SYRACUSE, NY - Miranda Drummond scored a career-high 38 points, including 11 straight late in the fourth quarter that lifted Syracuse to a 76-69 win over No. 11 Florida State on Sunday.
Drummond's 3-point play put the Orange (14-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) on top 58-56, the 13th lead change, with 7 1/2 minutes to go. She followed that with a layup and then hit a pair of 3-pointers for a 66-56 lead at the 2:42 mark.
The Seminoles (14-3, 2-1), who had won four straight, got four quick points but Drummond nailed her seventh 3-pointer and the Orange made 7 of 10 free throws in the last 69 seconds to finish the upset.
Drummond's 38 points were the third-most in school history, three behind Vaida Sipaviciute in 2005, and the seven 3s are one shy of the record. Drummond did break the school record of 36 points Nichole Michael scored in the Carrier Dome in 2009, but she was two points shy of Carrier Dome record of 40 by Florida State's Natasha Howard four seasons ago.
Imani Wright had 20 points for Florida State with AJ Alix and Shakayla Thomas adding 12 apiece. The Seminoles trailed 21-8 late in the first quarter but cut the deficit to 34-33 at the half and led by one entering the fourth quarter.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 33 5 14 2 8 0 0 12 0 1 1 3 7 4 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 19 6 14 0 0 0 3 12 5 3 8 2 0 0 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 31 2 4 0 0 2 4 6 5 7 12 2 0 2 2 1
32 Imani Wright g 36 7 21 3 11 3 5 20 1 1 2 5 4 2 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 23 2 6 0 0 0 2 4 4 3 7 1 1 4 1 0
11 Iho Lopez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 25 2 6 0 2 2 2 6 3 4 7 3 1 4 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 26 3 7 2 3 0 2 8 1 4 5 1 3 1 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 6 0 1 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Team 5 2 7
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 27 73 7 25 8 20 69 24 25 49 19 16 17 3 6
Opp 200 25 59 13 36 13 17 76 9 28 37 17 23 17 1 9
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Syracuse |
Seminoles Blow Past Hurricanes in Record Fashion.
No. 13/12 Florida State Women's Hoops defeats rival Miami 105-67, marking their largest win over
the Hurricanes.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Nausia Woolfolk scored a career-high 23 points and No. 13 Florida State routed in-state rival Miami 105-67 on Thursday night.
Imani Wright had 17 points, Chatrice White 14, Shakayla Thomas 12 and AJ Alix 10 for the Seminoles (15-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who tied the school record with 12 3-pointers in bouncing back from a Sunday loss at Syracuse.
A 9-0 run gave Florida State a 21-7 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter and the lead stayed in double figures the rest of the way. Miami's largest deficit of the season was 15 points but the Seminoles surpassed that in the first quarter. They scored the last 11 points of the first half to lead 57-31.
Enida Banks led Miami (11-6, 1-3) with 14 points. The last time the Hurricanes gave up 100 points was Jan. 10, 2007, when top-ranked Maryland scored 111.
Florida State shot a season-best 56 percent (29 of 70), going 12 of 26 from distance. Miami shot 35 percent.
POST-GAME NOTES
Opening Statement:
"This was a great game, I thought we competed hard and after the disappointing loss up at Syracuse we really challenged our team and I thought they really rose to the
occasion and held each other to a higher standard. You could see it in Chatrice in practice. I knew she was a different player the last few days in practice. Nausia is so special and when she'll
believe that, she's gonna be one of the all-time greats. Everybody's told her that and tonight I think she started to believe it a little bit."
On what was most impressive tonight, offense or
defense:
"You know I'm gonna say defense. That's where it all starts. It just so happened that we were shooting the ball well in addition to [the defense]. But if we don't shoot the ball well,
we have to be able to defend. So I was really pleased with the vision that we had, and I told them that we have to be in the right position and then if we're not then we have to cover. But tonight we
were in the right position and it made it a lot easier on all of us."
On the production from the bench:
"People question our depth a lot and I think this team started to question their
own depth. Whether how hard they could go for as long as they needed to. I think they answered a lot of questions tonight. When we play at the kind of tempo that we need to play, anybody on this team
can score, and that's a fun thing to have as a coach."
On the special dynamic of Nausia and Nicki coming off the bench:
"They've been special since the beginning in a lot of ways.
They're just dynamic. As they get more and more fundamental, they see a lot of things around them. They were great players in high school, but they didn't have a lot of great players around them. Now
they've got great players around them, and the fact that they've learned to play within that has been really fun to watch."
On wanting to see the same energy from tonight moving forward:
"I know I'm going to [see the energy] if I've seen it at practice. It's hard, it's a grind, and for them to come back tomorrow after playing this game, I know we've got to be so focused on the next
opponent. It's not easy and they've got a lot of other things going on, but I think this group is mature enough to continue to have good practices and that will help us to be a better team."
Senior Center Chatrice White:
On the difference of the team in practice:
"Yeah, for sure. We were challenged in practice to compete against each other and when the stakes were
higher we rose to that. Especially yesterday in practice, it was just a lot of fun. We were going after each other just like you saw in tonight's game, it really carried over. Each practice we got
better and built off that and then it carried into today's game."
On Sophomore Guard Nausia Woolfolk:
"I love the energy that Nausia brings today and in all of our games. I was just
telling her that at the end of the game, she was diving on the floor and smiling and that gave me energy because I knew she was out there giving to her team. In the past we've struggled with that with
Nausia, but today and these last few days at practice she's really stepped up and it's really fun to play with her."
On playing her best games against Miami:
"I think it's a good matchup
for me and for our team and the in-state rivalry adds some excitement to it as well. But their inside presence is really fun for me to go against. I just find it so fun playing against them, it just
gives me energy and I love hearing the crowd screaming when I make big plays and when my teammates knock down threes. It's huge for us so it's fun."
On wanting to get to the 100-point
mark:
"I mean we always want to get as many points as we can, but when Nicki knocked down that free throw I knew it was going in."
Sophomore Guard Nausia Woolfolk:
On finding a
different gear after previously struggling with injury:
"Yeah I do. My injury was a motivation for me. This year was all about getting better and showing my teammates, even though I said it
last year, that I could be a good player and fit in with the group. It was kind of a struggle, but this year I feel like I have improved a lot and I feel confident in myself."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 27 3 12 2 8 2 2 10 0 2 2 1 6 3 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 17 6 9 0 0 0 0 12 5 3 8 3 1 1 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 23 2 2 0 0 0 1 4 2 1 3 2 2 3 0 2
32 Imani Wright g 24 6 11 4 6 1 2 17 0 1 1 4 3 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 24 6 9 1 3 1 3 14 2 6 8 3 1 0 1 2
11 Iho Lopez 14 0 2 0 0 1 2 1 2 1 3 1 0 2 1 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 31 5 8 1 2 6 8 17 2 5 7 3 5 1 0 3
13 Nausia Woolfolk 27 9 13 2 4 3 4 23 1 4 5 2 2 4 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 13 2 4 2 3 1 2 7 1 2 3 2 0 1 0 0
Team 1 4 5
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 39 70 12 26 15 24 105 16 29 45 21 20 17 2 11
Opp 200 21 60 6 18 19 26 67 12 16 28 23 7 20 1 9
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | |||||
| Florida State |
Seventh Heaven: No. 13/12 Noles Rout Virginia Tech.
For the first time in program history, Florida State Women's Hoops finishes with seven
double-figure scorers in 107-62 win over the Hokies.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Shakayla Thomas scored 21 points, Ama Degbeon had a double-double and No. 13 Florida State tied a school record en route to a 107-62 win over Virginia Tech on Sunday.
Degbeon had 10 points and 13 rebounds for her third career double-double and a school-record seven players scored in double figures as the Seminoles (16-2, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) tied the 1990-91 team with their fifth 100-point game of the season. With the largest crowd of the season -- 4,983 -- on hand for alumni weekend, FSU earned its largest win ever over the Hokies (13-5, 2-3).
Florida State scored the first 16 points of the game en route to a 28-8 lead after one quarter. The Seminoles made their first five shots while the Hokies missed their first eight and finished 3 of 19 for the quarter.
Imani Wright made 7 of 9 shots, 3 of 4 behind the arc, in the first half, scoring all 18 of her points. Nicki Ekhomu had 16 points as seven Seminoles scored in double figures. FSU finished the game 8 of 14 behind the arc, shot 60 percent overall and had a 48-30 rebounding advantage.
Taylor Emery scored 17 points for the Hokies, who shot 31 percent (22 of 72).
POST-GAME NOTES
Opening Statement:
"I know
that Imani really doesn't care if she has that record [for most threes in a single season.] What Imani cares about is whether we win or lose and that's the difference in this basketball team. I've got
a lot of players that have really stepped up and started to compete. You see it at a high level, that kind of margin against an ACC team is generally something we don't even talk about, we don't think
about that. Once again, the start was really impressive, they were locked in, they came out with a game plan really solid in their minds and did a great job."
On finding flaws after the last two
wins:
"Oh there's plenty, there's plenty. Shooting the ball is great, but we know from experience that that's not always going to be the case. So at halftime [Virginia Tech] had eight
offensive rebounds, that's not what we do. We defend, we rebound, and so we challenged them at halftime. They stepped up, held them to three offensive rebounds in the second half. We have been working
on our press offense, turned the ball over only ten times. That's much better, the growth that we've seen. So we'll continue to work on the little things and I don't believe this team is satisfied
with where they are right now."
On if the Syracuse loss "woke the team up:"
"I think so. We tried to talk a lot in practice about competing, but sometimes it takes something to really
wake us up, and there's a lot of times in the beginning of the season where you have to teach, but now we can compete. We can compete every day in practice because if I tell them, 'look we're gonna
switch on the ball screens,' then they know what to do. We don't have to walk through and teach it. So there's a lot less teaching, a lot more competition, and I think they're holding themselves
accountable to that."
On if she liked the strong finish from the team:
"Very much so, especially with the young players in. Them getting a chance to have some quality minutes, that's
hard to do in the ACC when you've got such a veteran team. But Nicki, Nausia, Iho, Savannah, all four of them had great quality minutes."
On the "brutal" stretch of upcoming games:
"It's
not brutal; it's exactly what we've been going through. We've played a lot of games so far this season where it's been back to back road games, and so this is what the ACC is all about. This is what
these guys came here to do, compete at a high level."
REDSHIRT SENIOR GUARD IMANI WRIGHT
On maintaining a "not satisfied" mentality…
"Like coach just said, by coming to
practice and working hard every day. I think there's been a change for us in practice and so for us to just continue to work hard and then for it to translate over into the game is huge for us."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 27 5 9 1 3 0 0 11 0 4 4 2 7 3 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu g 31 5 6 0 0 6 6 16 2 4 6 0 2 1 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 24 4 6 0 0 2 2 10 3 10 13 0 1 3 2 0
32 Imani Wright g 28 7 14 3 6 1 2 18 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 20 4 7 0 0 2 2 10 1 6 7 3 1 1 0 0
11 Iho Lopez 14 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 5 5 3 0 0 1 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 24 6 9 2 3 0 0 14 0 2 2 1 3 0 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas 22 8 14 0 0 5 7 21 0 3 3 2 3 2 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 10 2 2 2 2 0 0 6 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0
Team 1 3 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 41 68 8 14 17 21 107 8 40 48 11 18 10 3 4
Opp 200 22 72 7 25 11 13 62 11 19 30 17 13 12 3 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Tech | |||||
| Florida State |
Florida State Comes Back to Top Wake Forest in Overtime.
Guided by Imani Wright and Shakayla Thomas, FSU comes back from 15 down in the fourth
quarter to defeat the Demon Deacons.
WINSTON SALEM, NC - Imani Wright made nine 3-pointers and scored 31 points, Shakayla Thomas added 28, including all six of Florida State's points in overtime, and the 12th-ranked Seminoles rallied from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to defeat Wake Forest 81-79 on Thursday night.
Wright's career-high ninth triple came with nine seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 75. Ariel Stephenson, who led Wake Forest with 21 points, missed a close-range shot at the end of regulation.
With Thomas and Wright scoring six points apiece, Florida State (17-2, 5-1 ACC) had a 17-2 run early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 59 with 6 1/2 minutes left.
Once they got to overtime it was a struggle. Thomas scored on FSU's first two possessions but the Seminoles missed the next seven shots before Thomas scored with 33 seconds left.
The Demon Deacons (10-9, 2-4) went 1 of 5 in the extra session and had two turnovers. However, after Thomas' final basket made it a three-point game and both teams had empty possessions, Wright fouled Ivan Raca on a 3-point attempt with a second left. She made her first free throw but missed the second, forcing her to miss the third on purpose.
Thomas had 11 rebounds for FSU and Ama Degbeon also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Ona Udoh made her first nine shots before missing her last one and had a career-high 19 points for Wake Forest.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
13 Nausia Woolfolk g 40 1 9 0 5 2 5 4 1 2 3 3 6 4 0 3
20 Shakayla Thomas f 33 10 21 0 0 8 13 28 4 7 11 1 2 3 0 1
25 Ama Degbeon f 37 4 5 0 0 2 2 10 5 5 10 3 1 1 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 44 11 20 9 17 0 0 31 0 3 3 3 2 3 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 21 0 5 0 0 2 2 2 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 1
11 Iho Lopez 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 38 0 4 0 0 3 4 3 4 7 11 3 5 3 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 7 1 3 1 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 2 1 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 225 27 67 10 25 17 26 81 18 28 46 14 19 14 0 7
Opp 225 30 62 8 19 11 21 79 9 26 35 22 20 17 5 9
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | ||||||
| Wake Forest |
Noles Play Their Cards Right, Knock Off No. 2 Louisville.
No. 12/11 Florida State Women's Basketball wins a 50-49 nail-biter at Louisville, tying
for the highest-ranked win in program history.
LOUISVILLE, KY - AJ Alix made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining and Nicki Ekhomu added a free throw with 7.8 seconds left, helping No. 12 Florida State hand No. 2 Louisville its first loss of the season, 50-49, Sunday.
The Seminoles (18-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 22-9 after the first quarter before rallying, taking their first lead at 37-36 in the third quarter. They won despite shooting just 28 percent overall.
Arica Carter's 3-pointer put Louisville (20-1, 6-1) ahead with 1:54 to go. Alix answered from long range, then Ekhomu made the second of two from the line.
Louisville missed one shot and committed two turnovers in the final 30 seconds before Myisha Hines-Allen hit a layup as time ran out.
Hines-Allen finished with 13. The Cardinals made just 7 of 30 shots after halftime.
Shakayla Thomas had 14 points and 11 rebounds while Imani Wright scored 10 points for Florida State. The Seminoles have won four in a row and eight of nine.
BIG PICTURE
Florida State: The Seminoles couldn't have started worse, missing 14 of their first 17 shots and 22 of 32 in the first half. And yet, they trailed just 32-26 at the break and got within 32-29 early in the third quarter as the shots began falling. They created chances through an effective zone that slowed the Cardinals and made Asia Durr work harder for shots. Alix then made the big shot that stood behind several defensive stands.
Louisville: Coach Jeff Walz has said all along that his team wouldn't go undefeated, and a Cardinals offense that relies on Durr's shooting to get things going had to rely on others to fill the void as she struggled from the field. The Cardinals found a way in the first quarter but stumbled after that, particularly in the third quarter. Carter's 3 was the only basket they got when needed as possessions ended either in missed shots or turnovers.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
The Cardinals could drop a few spots but remain in Top Five with their first loss. FSU could break into the Top 10 after its signature win.
POST-GAME NOTES
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 33 2 7 1 3 0 2 5 0 4 4 2 2 7 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu g 26 1 10 0 1 3 4 5 1 1 2 3 1 1 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 31 7 17 0 0 0 0 14 2 9 11 3 0 0 1 1
25 Ama Degbeon c 25 2 4 0 0 1 2 5 5 5 10 2 0 1 0 1
32 Imani Wright g 37 3 16 2 8 2 2 10 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
11 Iho Lopez 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 25 3 10 0 1 1 2 7 1 4 5 1 0 1 0 1
50 Chatrice White 21 1 4 0 0 2 2 4 9 7 16 2 0 2 0 2
Team 2 2
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 19 68 3 13 9 14 50 20 32 52 14 3 12 1 6
Opp 200 22 63 2 15 3 6 49 11 31 42 14 11 16 2 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Louisville |
No. 5 Notre Dame Too Much for Eighth-Ranked Noles.
The Fighting Irish defeat Florida State 100-69; Florida State Women's Hoops sets program record
with 9,498 fans at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - The last time Notre Dame faced a Top 10 team on the road, it had its worst game since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013.
The fifth-ranked Fighting Irish's game against No. 8 Florida State on Sunday was a complete reversal.
Notre Dame had a double-digit lead eight minutes into the game and didn't let up en route to a 100-69 victory over the Seminoles. Since their 100-67 loss at Louisville on Jan. 11, the Fighting Irish have won their last five games by an average margin of 32.2 points, including four by 29 or more.
"It was a great game for us from start to finish," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "We shot the ball well and were able to go inside."
The Fighting Irish (20-2, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) shot 56.8 percent from the field (42 of 74) and dominated the paint, outscoring the Seminoles 66-24. Six of the nine Notre Dame players who saw action scored in double figures, led by Kathryn Westbeld's 21 points and 12 rebounds.
With the exception of an Imani Wright 3-pointer, which gave the Seminoles a 3-2 lead for 19 seconds, Notre Dame led throughout. It was up 29-14 at the end of the first period after shooting 14 of 22 from the field and forcing five turnovers. Florida State shot 23.8 percent from the field (5 of 21) the first 10 minutes and was 25 of 75 for the game.
Arike Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard each scored 19 points for the Fighting Irish, who led 48-29 at halftime and were up by as many as 34 (91-57) late in the fourth quarter.
After a one-point win at Louisville on Jan. 21, Florida State was looking for its second straight win over a Top 5 program. Instead, it allowed 100 points for the first time since Jan. 27, 2002, when it lost to Duke (102-80).
"It was a disappointing effort for us, especially on the defensive end," coach Sue Semrau said. "They are a great offensive team and we didn't do a good job of passing. It is always tough to come back after a week off. We showed we were not mature enough to handle it."
Imani Wright led Florida State (18-3, 6-2) with 23 points, including five 3-pointers and Chatrice White added 14 points.
BIG PICTURE
Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish remain tied with Louisville and Virginia atop the conference. It is 70-3 since joining the league in 2013-14.
Florida State: The Seminoles drew a school-record crowd of 9,498, surpassing the old mark by nearly 3,000. "I feel disappointed we were not able to play better," Semrau said. "That is not the team we have been."
POST-GAME NOTES (COMPILED BY FSU SPORTS INFORMATION)
HEAD COACH SUE SEMRAU
Opening statement…
"That was a great atmosphere and an extremely energetic crowd. Just a disappointing effort on our part especially
on the defensive end. We felt like we needed to be able to rebound the ball and from the beginning I felt like we didn't go follow our shots. A couple things I would say is first of all Notre Dame is
a great offensive team and they've done a tremendous job with the players that they have defensively to put together a zone that makes it hard to see things, so I thought we didn't do a good job of
passing the ball. They did a great job of taking away those passing lanes and just credit to them. They had a great game plan."
On Shakayla Thomas' shooting and the team's play early on…
"I didn't expect that. Really, it's always tough to come from a week off and you don't have that rhythm and we tried our best to maintain a rhythm during practice but obviously we're not mature enough
to handle that week off the way we needed to."
On the all-time great crowd…
"Unbelievable support from Tallahassee and that just meant so much to me. I was without words at the beginning
of the game and I feel disappointed that we didn't give them a better show. That's not the team that we've been and hopefully we'll be more entertaining the next time."
On moving
forward…
"Notre Dame is a great team and now we've just finished half of ACC play. Now we've got to re-group and get ready for a great NC State team up at their place and we've got to have
short memories but at the same time we need to do a better job of getting back to offensively moving the ball. You can't win a lot of game with 10 assists."
On how well-balanced the top-tier of
the ACC really is…
"I think it really comes down to any given night and that's a tough thing as a coach. But certainly, it's going to be an exciting ACC Tournament."
On the team moving
forward mentally…
"There's no question, I mean we have five seniors. They've been here before and they know that there's lots of games and quite frankly when we looked at this stretch
realistically early on they thought they'd be 6-2. It's not like we're really away from what we wanted to do, but we've got some work to do now because I think we're a better team than 6-2."
REDSHIRT SENIOR GUARD IMANI WRIGHT:
On her team's struggles:
"Like Coach Sue said, Notre Dame's zone was very, very good. The things they did got us out of our rhythm, so it was
more so us. I think that we needed to settle down more and be more confident. That's something tonight that didn't show up."
On Notre Dame's performance inside the paint:
"I just think
that we needed to be more aggressive defensively, and pressing the ball in, and getting in their faces, and making those passes that they had hard and contesting shots. But I think it was us more so.
We needed to have the confidence on both ends and be the Florida State team you've seen us be this year. It was just something that we struggled with today."
On the difference playing in front
of a record breaking crowd:
"We just went to Louisville and they had however many fans, and we played up to our potential. Credit to the fans. I was super excited for them to come out and
support us, and I just wanted to play well for them. But I think it's something that's a learning experience for us. Going forward, no matter what night it is, or however many fans are in the stands,
we have to play Florida State basketball and we didn't do that today."
NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH MUFFET MCGRAW
Opening Statement:
"I was very pleased with the way we executed
today. I thought Kathryn Westbeld was phenomenal. She was an All-American, double-double, she was not going to let us lose this game today. I thought the difference in the game was we scored in the
paint. We got great shots, we shot the ball well, we were able to go inside. I thought our defense on Thomas was outstanding. Overall just a great game from start to finish.
On what went into
limiting Shakayla Thomas:
"She's a great player. We tried to double team her as much as possible when she got the ball on the block. I think she just missed some shots she normally makes also,
but then I think the double team forced a few turnovers. We had great awareness of where she was all the time."
On the atmosphere in the Tucker Center:
"We like playing in front of a
crowd. It doesn't matter if they are for us or not. It was a great environment for women's basketball, it was a great game to have on TV. I thought they weren't really a factor because we were able to
give them a knock-out punch early."
On the depth of the ACC:
"We have three great teams in the top ten and all of us are playing great basketball. I think the ACC is an incredibly tough
conference, if not the toughest in the country and certainly one of them."
On the team's demeanor:
"Well Kathryn is in charge of that. She is the glue for us. If they press or give us
trouble in the back court, she ran the offense quite a bit tonight and I thought she did a really great job of making decisions. She is the calming presence for us and I thought on the road in front
of this crowd we showed a lot of poise."
On Coach Sue Semrau:
"I think in the last few years they have really stepped up to an elite level. I think they have really benefitted from
recruiting and the transfers they have had come in. To have five seniors, I'm not sure any top ten team in the country has five seniors starting. She's really built it up and she's well respected in
our profession."
On the game in the paint against Chatrice White and Shakayla Thomas:
"I think Jessica Shepard is pretty good too. I think we had a mis-match in our favor and we were
able to go inside to her quite a bit. I think she's a tough matchup for everyone and she really played like an All-American today."
KATHRYN WESTBELD
On making a statement after loss
to Louisville:
"I think we definitely learned from the Louisville game but we have definitely moved on from that. I think this game we were really focusing on setting the tone and not letting
the other team set the tone for us. So I think that start to the game really got us going."
On wearing Florida State down in the paint:
"I think we were just following the game plan. You
know coach is a Hall of Famer for some type of reason. I think this was the first game that we really played four quarters and followed the game plan. Obviously getting inside was a part of that and I
think that's was we did and executed that well."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 22 3 11 2 9 0 0 8 1 1 2 0 5 3 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 3 18 0 0 2 2 8 3 7 10 2 1 3 0 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 28 1 4 0 0 2 2 4 5 2 7 3 1 1 1 0
32 Imani Wright g 39 9 17 5 12 0 0 23 1 1 2 2 0 4 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 28 5 11 0 0 4 5 14 4 5 9 2 1 1 1 1
11 Iho Lopez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 30 3 8 0 3 3 5 9 1 4 5 1 1 1 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 26 1 6 1 4 0 0 3 1 1 2 4 1 4 0 0
Team 3 1 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 25 75 8 28 11 14 69 20 22 42 14 10 17 2 4
Opp 200 42 74 5 14 11 16 100 14 33 47 15 22 12 3 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame | |||||
| Florida State |
No. 10/11 Seminoles Fall in Defensive Battle at NC State.
Florida State Women's Hoops loses second straight, falling on the road to the Wolfpack
65-56.
RALEIGH, NC - Akela Maize scored eight of her 18 points in the final five minutes as North Carolina State beat No. 10 Florida State 65-56 on Thursday night.
Kiara Leslie added 16 points for the Wolfpack (18-5, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their sixth consecutive game.
Maize was helped off the court after twisting her right ankle early in the third quarter, but she returned and scored in the lane to break a 47-47 tie with 4:14 to play in the game.
Maize added another basket and four consecutive free throws to help N.C. State build a 58-50 lead with 1:53 remaining.
Kaila Ealey scored 14 points and Chelsea Nelson had 11 for the Wolfpack.
Imani Wright scored 13 points to lead Florida State (18-4, 6-3), which lost for the second game in a row.
Nausia Woolfolk and Shakayla Thomas added 10 points each for the Seminoles.
POST-GAME NOTES (COMPILED BY FSU SPORTS INFORMATION)
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 36 2 9 1 5 0 0 5 2 3 5 1 4 2 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 18 5 11 0 1 0 0 10 0 2 2 4 1 3 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 34 4 6 0 0 1 1 9 3 5 8 5 0 0 1 2
32 Imani Wright g 35 5 17 3 10 0 0 13 1 1 2 4 1 2 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 26 2 10 2 6 3 4 9 3 4 7 3 0 1 1 1
11 Iho Lopez 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 19 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 3 3 1 1 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 26 4 10 0 3 2 4 10 1 6 7 4 2 5 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 3 2 5
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 22 66 6 26 6 9 56 14 25 39 24 9 14 2 6
Opp 200 20 46 5 8 20 25 65 3 31 34 10 12 13 7 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| North Carolina State |
AJ Alix’s 25 points Lift 10th-ranked Noles Past Pitt.
The redshirt senior point guard delivers her best performance in ACC play to help FSU earn a
key 66-59 road win.
PITTSBURGH, PA – A.J. Alix scored 25 points to lead No. 10 Florida State to a 66-59 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday.
After a back-and-forth game that featured 14 lead changes, the Seminoles pulled ahead with an 8-0 run over 2:07 late in the fourth quarter to end Pitt's upset bid.
It was Alix that started the run with a 3-pointer to give Florida State a 53-49 lead with 4:27 to play. Alix, who is second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in assists per game, instead did most of the scoring herself, finishing 8 for 13 from the floor and 7 for 9 from 3-point range.
Her 25 points were one off her career and the highest total she's scored in ACC play. Alix was a graduate transfer from TCU before this season. She also had four assists.
Forward Shakayla Thomas had 19 points while Imani Wright scored 14 points, but was an uncharacteristic 2 of 12 from 3-point range. Wright's pair of threes was good enough to give her the Florida State single-season record with 79.
Alayna Gribble scored 13 points to lead the Panthers (10-14, 2-9 ACC) while Yacine Diop recorded 12 points and eight rebounds. Diop has scored in double digits in nine of Pitt's last 10 games.
Florida State (19-4, 7-3) improved to 5-0 all-time against Pitt, despite the Panthers leading at the end of each of the first three quarters.
POST-GAME NOTES (COMPILED BY FSU
SPORTS INFORMATION)
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 35 8 13 7 9 2 2 25 3 3 6 2 4 3 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 32 7 14 0 0 5 10 19 2 7 9 1 0 2 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon c 28 0 1 0 0 2 2 2 3 3 6 1 3 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 37 4 17 2 12 4 4 14 0 0 0 2 2 5 0 2
50 Chatrice White f 20 0 2 0 0 4 4 4 1 4 5 3 1 0 1 2
11 Iho Lopez 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 21 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 4 1 2 2 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 20 1 8 0 5 0 1 2 2 4 6 2 2 2 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
Team 4 1 5
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 20 60 9 28 17 23 66 17 25 42 12 15 15 2 7
Opp 200 21 51 11 23 6 10 59 5 25 30 20 14 17 5 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Pittsburgh |
No. 12 Noles Get Key Win Over Cavaliers.
Shakayla Thomas' 20 points help Florida State Women's Hoops vault up in the conference standings
following a 77-62 win over Virginia.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Shakayla Thomas scored 20 points, AJ Alix added 17 and No. 12 Florida State turned back Virginia 77-62.
Imani Wright added 14 points for the Seminoles (20-4, 8-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who reached 20 wins for the 12th time under coach Sue Semrau.
Felicia Aiyeotan had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Cavaliers (15-9, 8-3) and Aliyah Huland El added 13 points. Jocelyn Willoughby grabbed 10 rebounds as Virginia outrebounded the Seminoles, who are third in the country at plus-12.2 boards, 43-32.
Chatrice White had a 3-pointer and seven points in an early 12-0 for the Seminoles, who led 19-9 after one quarter. A 20-2 run in the second quarter, started by a pair of Alix 3s followed by a Wright 3, led to a 42-21 lead at the half.
Down 19 entering the fourth quarter, the Cavs got within eight before FSU made 7 of 8 free throws in the last 1:17.
POST-GAME NOTES:
Opening statement…
"That's a great Virginia team and our players were really locked in at practice and really followed the game plan, especially on the defensive end, and I
thought that really got us going on the offensive end."
On the defense in the first quarter…
"Well we knew they were a ball screen team and so we really worked on that in practice and I
thought that the way we defended ball screens really took them out of rhythm. You could see they went away from that in the second half. I just credit the players for really locking in on that."
On the offense…
"77 points, it was fun to put the ball in basket again. That was the most points anyone has put up on them. Us and Louisville have put 77 up. I think again that's the way
that we move the ball, the way that we attack the basket, the way that we continue to push was the difference for us offensively."
On Chatrice White's performance tonight battling
inside…
"Man, that girl was something else tonight and it started from the get go. When you're guarding the tallest active women's player in the country and you feel dwarfed, you have got to
really exert some energy. I thought she did a great job, but her teammates did a great job helping and that put us in a good position. She shot the ball with confidence, she got us going early,
Shakayla got us going early, AJ got us going early and I thought that was the difference for us."
On having such a balanced offense…
"Once you have to take something away, it leaves
something else. Whether it's starting with an outside threat and then going inside or vice versa, we like to have that balance. But, I just like to have Shakayla Thomas on my team. I got Shakayla and
other people don't."
On the effort in forcing turnovers…
"Again, it was just that defensive effort. It wasn't that they were just guarding the action, they were aggressively guarding the
action. That starts with their focus at practice."
On recruiting Shakayla…
"I knew that she could be one of the best players that's ever been here, and she is. Again, what she's able to
do is really incredible. She's not 6'3" and she has really worked her way into being one of the elite collegiate players in the country."
Senior forward Shakayla Thomas
On what it
means to reach second all-time in scoring…
"It's never been about me. I feel like my teammates really put me in a position to get to the rim, get the ball in my hand, and search for good
shots. Same thing with Natasha (Howard), people would get her the ball, so I feel like it's almost the same team."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 31 5 10 3 7 4 4 17 0 1 1 3 3 3 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 32 7 14 0 0 6 8 20 0 4 4 0 0 1 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 28 1 4 0 0 1 2 3 2 3 5 3 0 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 35 5 13 3 6 1 2 14 0 4 4 1 3 0 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 24 4 6 1 2 0 0 9 2 4 6 2 1 3 3 2
12 Nicki Ekhomu 26 4 5 0 0 3 4 11 0 2 2 3 2 2 0 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 24 1 5 1 3 0 0 3 3 3 6 1 3 2 0 1
Team 1 3 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 27 57 8 18 15 20 77 8 24 32 13 12 11 3 6
Opp 200 23 66 5 19 11 14 62 16 27 43 19 12 16 2 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | |||||
| Florida State |
Woolfolk's Near Triple-Double Highlights FSU Win at Miami.
Sophomore guard Nausia Woolfolk recorded 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a
91-71 victory over the Hurricanes.
CORAL GABLES, FL - Imani Wright scored 21 points, Nausia Woolfolk missed a triple-double by a rebound and No. 12 Florida State defeated rival Miami for the sixth straight time on Sunday, 91-71.
Woolfolk finished with 18 points, a career-high 10 assists, nine rebounds and four steals. Shakayla Thomas added 19 points for the Seminoles (21-4, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Chatrice White scored 14.
Wright's 3-pointer -- she had four to give her 86 this season -- in the final minute of the first quarter gave FSU a 28-18 lead. Thomas and White had 3-point plays and five points in a 14-0 run early in the second quarter that had the lead at 24.
The Seminoles shot 55 percent (34 of 62) and had a 43-29 rebounding advantage.
The Hurricanes (17-8, 7-5), who shot 42 percent (25 of 59), got 21 points and 12 rebounds from Erykah Davenport.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 21 2 5 1 3 0 0 5 0 1 1 2 4 2 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 24 9 17 0 0 1 2 19 0 5 5 2 0 2 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 29 4 6 0 0 1 2 9 2 5 7 4 1 1 1 1
32 Imani Wright g 36 7 14 4 9 3 3 21 0 3 3 2 3 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 25 6 9 1 2 1 3 14 3 2 5 4 1 4 1 3
11 Iho Lopez 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 1 1 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 21 1 3 0 0 3 6 5 3 4 7 2 2 2 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 33 5 8 0 2 8 10 18 2 7 9 3 10 5 1 4
31 Savannah Wilkinson 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Team 1 2 3 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 34 62 6 16 17 26 91 11 32 43 22 22 20 4 13
Opp 200 25 59 5 14 16 24 71 7 22 29 23 13 20 2 10
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Miami |
Florida State Roars Past Tigers.
No. 12 Seminole Women's Basketball pummels Clemson 91-43 on 'Paint it Pink' night at the Donald L. Tucker
Center.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Shakayla Thomas scored 19 points, Imani Wright had 16 and No. 12 Florida State (22-4, 10-3) defeated Clemson (11-16, 1-13) for the 18th straight time, 91-43 on Thursday night.
Thomas, who reached double figures for the 100th time, is the first Seminole to have three seasons making 200 field goals. Wright went 4 of 8 from distance, making it 17 straight games with multiple 3-pointers.
Florida State, which has won four straight, had six players in double figures. AJ Alix had 11 points and 11 assists and Chatrice White had 10 points and 16 rebounds. The Seminoles shot 52 percent for the game, had a 48-27 rebounding advantage and went 20 of 23 from the line.
Clemson (11-16, 1-13), which has lost eight straight, was led by Kobi Thornton with 17 points on 8-of-25 shooting. The Tigers shot 32 percent, went 0 for 5 behind the arc and 3 of 6 at the line.
POST-GAME NOTES:
Opening statement…
"I was really pleased with our second half. I thought defensively we challenged them a little bit and they came out and did a much better job. Offensively, we didn't
shoot the ball great the first couple quarters and we just said just keep shooting. We re-established ourselves on the glass and that was really important."
On Shakayla Thomas becoming the first
Seminole to have three seasons with 200 or more made FGs…
"That's why we recruited her. I know Steve (Stone) had mentioned she was close, but that's an amazing accomplishment if you think
about it. Before we talk about the game, this was a little kid that we recruited who we knew could do great things. She put a tweet out the other day that touched my heart which was 'I'm living what
I've prayed for' and to be living that kind of dream takes a lot of work. It's not just about being a talented young lady; it takes a lot of hard work so congrats."
On the defense…
"There were some things that I thought maybe we could do better and we talked about those at the timeouts and I really liked the way we responded to it. I thought Kayla in the second half did a really
good job on [Kobi] Thornton, and she's a really good player, to make it harder for her to catch the ball rather than just let her catch the ball and then try to guard her."
On tonight's
performance…
"We moved the ball. We didn't wait to set something up, we played basketball. I thought it was really fun basketball to watch. I think it was probably really fun to play and then
to have two players have double-doubles, AJ Alix with 11 and 11 assists and Chatrice with 10 and 16 rebounds. Sixteen rebounds is a pretty big deal around here."
On finishing strong in the
fourth quarter…
"It would have been easy for them to maybe just see what else was going on. There were some people that had family here and they narrowed in. You only have so much time and you
need to focus during that time and put your energy there and I thought they did a great job of that."
On the tradition of the Paint It Pink game…
"I think you have to credit Florida
State with their vision with TMH [Tallahassee Memorial Hospital] and that partnership is huge. The late Kay Yow was a great friend of mine and she had a vision to get some money donated for early
detection which is huge. And you know Cheetah Delgado, who holds the record for single-season assists, did it on this night and her mom passed away from breast cancer. So it really goes back to so
many different stories and what we can do with the platform we have.
On bottling up the momentum for the few remaining games in the regular season…
"I think the fact that we go on the
road and play a very tough opponent has our attention. I don't think it's about the momentum as much as it is about how hard we work to get ready for that and this team knows that. We'll take tomorrow
off, we'll play Monday and come back at it ready to really work."
Senior Forward Shakayla Thomas
On fueling the momentum into the second half…
"Well we knew what we had to do,
and we harped on defense all week. So to take that momentum we were just like we need to keep doing what we're doing because if we keep this then it's going to carry over into the next game then into
the next game. So I feel like our momentum and our mindset was that this game should be just about defense and offense will come but we really need to harp on defense."
On her third
quarter…
"Coach Sue told me at halftime that I only had four points and it kind of stayed in my head. I was kind of like 'Only four points? That's crazy,' and I feel like that's not what I do.
So, I feel like my teammates put me in a great position like always to score and they knew to throw the ball up and I would go get it."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 27 3 9 1 6 4 4 11 0 2 2 0 11 2 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas f 26 9 15 0 0 1 1 19 2 1 3 1 1 1 0 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 28 4 4 0 0 5 5 13 1 4 5 3 0 1 1 0
32 Imani Wright g 26 6 13 4 8 0 0 16 2 2 4 1 2 1 1 0
50 Chatrice White c 28 3 5 0 0 4 7 10 1 15 16 1 1 1 3 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 27 2 5 0 1 6 6 10 4 4 8 0 2 0 1 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 18 3 6 0 1 0 0 6 0 3 3 2 1 1 1 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 20 2 5 2 5 0 0 6 1 2 3 1 0 2 0 0
Team 4 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 32 62 7 21 20 23 91 11 37 48 9 18 9 7 5
Opp 200 20 63 0 5 3 6 43 8 19 27 20 10 14 4 6
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson | |||||
| Florida State |
No. 20 Duke Defeats No. 9 Florida State.
Despite out-shooting the Blue Devils, the Seminoles fall to 10-4 in the ACC with a 79-66 loss on the
road.
DURHAM, NC - Lexie Brown scored 30 points, and No. 20 Duke upset No. 9 Florida State 79-66 on Monday night.
Rebecca Greenwell added 22 points with three of her six 3-pointers coming during the decisive run, and Leaonna Odom had 15 points to help the Blue Devils (21-7, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) earn their most significant victory -- at least, by the rankings -- of the season.
Nicki Ekhomu had 15 points and AJ Alix had 13 points for the Seminoles (22-5, 10-4), but top scorer Shakayla Thomas had seven -- nearly 11 below her average -- on 2-of-10 shooting.
Still, Florida State held Duke scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes in the fourth quarter and Imani Wright pulled the Seminoles to 62-58 after hitting three free throws with 5:51 left.
Greenwell hit a 3 with about 5 minutes remaining to start the 13-4 run that essentially put the game away. She hit another one a minute later, and capped the burst with a 3 that pushed the lead to 75-62 with about 2 minutes left.
POST-GAME NOTES:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 28 5 11 3 9 0 0 13 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk g 32 4 9 1 4 1 2 10 1 4 5 3 4 5 1 2
25 Ama Degbeon f 29 3 4 0 0 0 0 6 1 4 5 1 1 2 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 33 3 14 2 8 3 3 11 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 19 2 4 0 0 0 1 4 2 5 7 4 0 0 2 1
11 Iho Lopez 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 31 4 5 1 1 6 10 15 4 5 9 3 5 2 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas 26 2 10 0 0 3 4 7 2 5 7 2 1 1 0 1
Team 3 3
=========================================================================
FSU 5 201 23 57 7 22 13 20 66 14 23 37 14 14 16 3 7
Opp 201 30 77 10 25 9 13 79 24 24 48 14 16 11 2 10
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Duke |
Ekhomu Leads Florida State Past Boston College.
Sophomore guard Nicki Ekhomu's all-around effort highlights Seminoles' 67-39 win over the
Eagles.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Florida State was tested during the first half of Thursday's game against Boston College. The final 20 minutes belonged to the Seminoles.
Nicki Ekhomu scored nine of her 17 points in the third quarter, and No. 9 Florida State pulled away from Boston College for a 67-39 victory.
"In the second half the way we played defense was the difference in the game," Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. "I love that Boston College came in and put pressure on us during the first half. I thought we responded well to get the lead back."
Florida State forced 12 turnovers and held Boston College to 26.3 percent (5 for 19) shooting in the second half. The Eagles were 5 of 11 on 3-pointers in the first half and 1 of 8 in the second.
"We got some good looks and shots in the first half, but Florida State did a good job of changing up their defense and pressuring us," Boston College coach Erik Johnson said. "I didn't like our shot selection in the second half. We took a lot of quick shots and they forced us into turnovers."
The Seminoles (23-5, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) grabbed control by outscoring the Eagles 22-7 in the third quarter. The score was tied at 29 when they pulled away with a 16-1 run, which included seven points by Ekhomu.
Ekhomu, a 5-fot-9 senior guard, led FSU in scoring for the second straight game.
"I just tried to give us a spark. I felt like we didn't have any energy in the first half," said Ekhomu, who is averaging 11.6 points over the past five games.
Imani Wright scored 12 points while Shakayla Thomas and AJ Alix added 11 apiece for Florida State, which led by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter.
Andie Anastos led the Eagles (7-21, 2-13) with nine points.
Boston College scored the first nine points of the game on three 3-pointers before Florida State countered by scoring the next 14. The Seminoles were up 20-13 with 7:41 remaining in the second quarter when the Eagles closed out the half with a 14-5 run.
POST-GAME NOTES BY FSU SPORTS INFORMATION:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 29 4 9 2 6 1 2 11 4 7 11 1 7 1 1 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 20 5 6 0 0 1 3 11 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 3
25 Ama Degbeon f 25 3 3 0 0 2 2 8 1 4 5 3 0 3 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 32 5 10 2 5 0 0 12 0 2 2 0 3 2 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 27 0 3 0 0 4 4 4 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 1
11 Iho Lopez 11 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 31 5 8 0 1 7 8 17 1 5 6 3 3 2 0 3
13 Nausia Woolfolk 20 2 6 0 2 0 0 4 0 3 3 0 1 2 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 5 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 1 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 24 48 4 15 15 19 67 8 26 34 7 15 14 2 10
Opp 200 16 45 6 19 1 2 39 3 16 19 19 7 19 0 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston College | |||||
| Florida State |
Seniors Help Sting Georgia Tech in Regular-Season Finale.
Headlined by center Chatrice White's double-double, No. 9/12 Florida State Women's Hoops
wins a close one, 64-61, on Senior Day vs. the Yellow Jackets.
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Shakayla Thomas scored 19 points, Chatrice White had her sixth double-double of the season and No. 9 Florida State rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Georgia Tech 64-61 on Sunday.
The Seminoles' five seniors combined for 49 points in their last regular-season home game. White had 16 points and 13 rebounds while Imani Wright added 12 points.
The win gives Florida State (24-5, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) a double bye in this week's conference tournament.
The game saw 12 ties and 18 lead changes. The Yellow Jackets led 52-51 with 6:35 remaining on a layup by Elo Edeferioka before FSU went on an 8-2 run, which included two straight baskets by Thomas. Georgia Tech got within 62-61 on two free throws by Francesca Pan with 37 seconds remaining, but White made it a three-point game by making two free throws with four seconds left.
Georgia Tech (17-12, 6-10) had a chance to send it into overtime, but Pan's 3-point attempt hit the back of the rim.
Edeferioka led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Pan scored 14.
POST-GAME NOTES BY FSU SPORTS
INFORMATION:
Opening
statement…
"I'm exhausted. I can't imagine how they feel. We told them it was going to be a battle and they came out to battle and fight every possession. You knew it was going to be a war. I
wish I could have all of the seniors up here because every one of them has meant so much to our program. These two today were especially excellent. Tree starts with a double-double, 13 rebounds,
10-for-10 from the line. It was just money in a tough, tough game. And then Shakayla, you all think it was when she took over on the offensive end that was a big deal. No, she took over defensively.
She guarded, she re-bounded, and it was big time. It was a gutsy win, one that we needed to have to learn how to fight through. Just credit Georgia Tech, On the difficulty of playing three games in
six days…
"Hard for me, easy for them. They're the athletes. I think we worked on it, we got confident with it, they only scored off of turnovers eleven points and they're usually scoring
twenty plus. We're really proud of that, proud of the way we re-bounded. Out re-bounding that team was big."
On the strategy of the final possession…
"It was get the ball in. They are so
tough, and they fight to make it hard for you to catch it, they make it hard for you to move. A foul could have been called almost every possession. Tri worked really hard to get it and I was really
happy that it was her."
On the better shooting in the fourth quarter…
"We did get to 37 percent, but that's still not what we want. We're a really good shooting team. Mani to not shoot
that well is an anomaly, so we had to find other ways. I thought they just blanketed her and they were switching everything. We really started to second-cut off the ball, find people that way and that
really helped us to score and get some open looks."
On Georgia Tech taking AJ out of the game…
"I just think it was one of those games. She had to handle it so much and they gave so much
pressure and then we had 23 to run offense. That's the way they like to play, and you just have to have a lot of grit and fight. That's not our style, but teams are going to slow you down and we'll
find a way to win when they do that.
On this senior class changing the expectations of FSU Women's Hoops…
"They've left a legacy, a legacy of growth. Even today, I felt like it was one
of those things where it was a breakthrough kind of game for us. For these guys to be the winningest class in school history, I didn't think that could be topped from last year and it was and is and
we've still got more to go. It's like Kayla said, we love each other and we take care of each other and that's what moves us forward."
Shakayla Thomas and Chatrice White
On the flow of
the game with the amount of fouls:
White: "Honestly, I like physical games. It makes me want to be more physical. As basketball players, that's just something we have to play through.
It's just being smart on our part, and not going the extra mile and not doing something stupid. We got in some foul trouble, but I liked the physicality of the game, and Georgia Tech does too, so that
was fun."
Thomas: "Yeah I think the physicality part brought us together. Clearly from the beginning, we just got it together. I just feel like that gave us momentum and all of the energy we had."
Shakayla Thomas
On it being her last regular season home game at Florida State:
"Being here with Coach Sue was such a learning experience. I have learned so much from
high school to now. With lessons learned, I think I've grown here. This is home, so being my last (regular season) home game here was bittersweet. Obviously, we went out with a bang, and I did it with
the people I love."
Chatrice White
On the changing of the culture and expectations of this senior class from the previous ones:
"I think the expectations have always been
there. Coming to Florida State, that was a huge reason for me. We're just continuing to grow those expectations and the culture here for the next group that's coming in and the next one after that.
But this is just where we are, and who we are. Moving forward, it's a great thing about our team and our program. Just moving forward, and keeping it going."
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 34 1 6 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 3 2 6 5 0 0
20 Shakayla Thomas f 35 8 13 0 0 3 8 19 1 6 7 1 0 1 2 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 14 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 0 1 1 0
32 Imani Wright g 37 3 14 3 8 3 4 12 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 0
50 Chatrice White c 31 3 8 0 1 10 10 16 3 10 13 3 0 3 6 0
11 Iho Lopez 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 16 3 4 1 1 3 4 10 0 2 2 3 2 3 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 20 1 7 0 1 1 2 3 1 7 8 1 1 5 0 0
31 Savannah Wilkinson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Team 4 2 6
=========================================================================
FSU 5 190 20 53 4 13 20 28 64 16 30 46 17 9 19 10 1
Opp 190 20 70 3 14 18 21 61 20 22 42 27 7 8 3 8
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Tech | |||||
| Florida State |
Noles Get Wright in ACC Tournament Win Over Miami.
No. 11 Florida State Women's Hoops completes season-long sweep over the Hurricanes behind Imani
Wright's 20 points in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal.
GREENSBORO, NC - Imani Wright scored 20 points and No. 11 Florida State held off Miami's late rally for a 73-69 victory on Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Seminoles (25-5) have won seven of their last eight games, and will play fifth-ranked and second-seeded Notre Dame (28-2) in a Saturday semifinal.
Wright had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half. Chatrice White finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Florida State. Ama Degbeon and Shakayla Thomas chipped in 10 points apiece.
Emese Hof scored 21 points to lead sixth-seeded Miami (21-10). Mykea Gray added 15 points and Erykah Davenport had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Seminoles led 67-50 with five minutes left. A 19-5 run from Miami cut its deficit to 72-69 with 20 seconds remaining. Thomas then split a pair of free throws and following a Miami timeout, Hof missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
POST-GAME NOTES BY FSU SPORTS INFORMATION:
Q. Did you bring that up in pregame, that you guys have drawn them a lot, they got you last year, and
there was some revenge to be enacted?
SUE SEMRAU: Well, we did talk about it today at shoot around. I think we didn't want to have an elephant in the room. We wanted to be able to talk
through it, and our seniors did a great job of communicating their thoughts going in.
Q. How hard is it for both of you to beat a team three times? We hear that a lot, that it's really challenging.
Is it is that true or just a cliché?
SUE SEMRAU: Well, you can look at the record and see. I mean, it's very, very difficult. I think it's also hard to come into this tournament and not
having played in a week, and you know, that's another thing we started out.
They had an 8-0 run to start, and we really weren't in any kind of rhythm. I thought they did a great job of applying some pressure early, but it's really tough. It's very tough to beat a team three times.
Q. Especially if it's a rival?
IMANI WRIGHT: Yeah, like what coach Sue said, trying to get into a
rhythm against a team you've played three times, you know each other so well and you've prepared so well for each other. But it was a great game.
Q. Can you talk about the positives that you'll
take away from this game moving forward?
SUE SEMRAU: Going to the semifinal game? I mean, that's really -- that's a huge monkey off of our back at this point. Just there's a lot of mental
distractions that can enter your head, and I think, you know, towards the end of the game, you could see that, and I thought their mental toughness towards the etched the game was huge.
Q. As the
game sort of game down to the end and Miami started to push back and push back and almost had a chance to take the lead at the end, what was going through your mind and how did you stay calm as they
made the run at the end to try to take the lead back?
IMANI WRIGHT: Definitely stop turning the ball over. You know, just staying true to what we do and relaxing and knowing and having
confidence in ourselves to just keep pushing forward and to finish the game.
SUE SEMRAU: Thanks for staying so late.
MIKE FINN: Thanks, Coach.
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 26 1 5 1 3 2 2 5 0 1 1 1 4 5 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 27 3 9 0 0 4 6 10 0 7 7 2 1 5 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 29 4 6 0 0 2 2 10 3 4 7 0 1 1 0 1
32 Imani Wright g 37 8 12 3 5 1 2 20 1 4 5 0 3 2 0 1
50 Chatrice White c 29 3 10 1 1 5 5 12 6 3 9 3 0 0 4 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 24 3 7 0 2 2 2 8 2 0 2 1 2 0 0 0
13 Nausia Woolfolk 28 3 7 0 1 2 2 8 1 2 3 1 1 1 0 1
Team 1 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 25 56 5 12 18 21 73 14 21 35 8 12 14 4 4
Opp 200 28 63 5 15 8 12 69 15 18 33 19 15 10 2 10
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Miami |
Florida State Hangs Tough, Falls to Notre Dame in ACC Semis.
The No. 11 Seminoles put together an efficient offensive performance against the
Fighting Irish but absorbed a 90-80 loss on Saturday.
GREENSBORO, NC – Marina Mabrey scored a season-high 27 points to help No. 5 Notre Dame rally past No. 11 Florida State 90-80 Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
The second-seeded Fighting Irish (29-2) rallied from eight down in the third quarter in their pursuit of a record-tying fifth straight tournament title.
Mabrey followed her 24-point effort in Friday's quarterfinals against Virginia with another big performance, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third that put Notre Dame ahead for good at 62-60.
That started the decisive 16-4 run, which included Arike Ogunbowale hitting a 3 as part of her own big fourth quarter. The junior guard scored 14 of her 20 points in the final 10 minutes.
Shakayla Thomas scored 24 points for the third-seeded Seminoles (25-6), who erased a 10-point second-quarter deficit and took a 56-48 lead on Nausia Woolfolk's layup with 4:30 left in the third before the Irish made their move.
POST-GAME NOTES BY FSU SPORTS INFORMATION:
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 27 3 7 3 5 0 0 9 1 0 1 4 6 3 0 1
20 Shakayla Thomas f 32 10 22 0 0 4 5 24 3 4 7 4 1 1 1 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 32 2 3 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 3 1 1 0 1
32 Imani Wright g 37 5 17 3 9 0 0 13 0 3 3 1 4 0 0 2
50 Chatrice White c 19 4 7 0 0 0 0 8 4 2 6 4 0 0 1 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 35 7 15 2 4 2 2 18 4 2 6 1 5 1 0 2
13 Nausia Woolfolk 18 2 3 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 3 2 1 0 0
Team 1 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 33 74 8 18 6 7 80 15 13 28 20 19 7 2 6
Opp 200 31 56 6 16 22 26 90 13 24 37 14 17 13 2 4
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | |||||
| Notre Dame |
Thomas-Led Noles Cruise Into Second Round, 91-49.
by Bob Thomas
TALLAHASSEE, FL – It took third-seeded Florida State a little more than four minutes to shake off the rust following a 14-day layoff between the ACC Tournament and Saturday’s NCAA Women’s Tournament opening-round game against Little Rock.
Responding to an early 8-4 deficit, the 11th-ranked Seminoles reeled off 11 unanswered points. The first of two decisive runs on the day included six points off three Trojan turnovers and scoring contributions from five different players.
Riding that rust-buster formula to the finish, Florida State polished off 14th seed Little Rock 91-49, extending its streak of consecutive NCAA first-round victories to 15, dating back to 1991.
The Noles (26-6) will meet 11th-seeded Buffalo, which shocked sixth-seeded USF 102-79, Monday (6:30 p.m.) at the Donald L. Tucker Center in pursuit of their fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance.
Senior Shakayla Thomas led four double-figure scorers with a postseason career-best 26 points as the reinvigorated Noles dominated the Trojans (23-10) in every facet.
“Having that little break was really good for us,” said FSU senior forward Chatrice White, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. “We came back [to practice] on Tuesday and were really ready. It was a lot of fun. It was honestly really good for us, having that break. It gave us a chance to focus on who we have coming up and just get the scouting report down.”
The Noles executed on both ends of the floor from their 11-0 run to the finish, out-rebounding the Trojan 42-20 and forcing 16 turnovers. FSU outscored the Trojan 50-12 in the paint, 15-4 on fast-break points and 22-9 off turnovers.
It all added up to the third 90-plus point performance in FSU’s NCAA postseason history and a record-matching 42-point margin of victory.
“I watched a lot of tape on Florida State,” Little Rock coach Joe Foley said. “I thought they were very impressive on tape. I thought they were very good. I’m even more impressed with how they drove it on us and to it to the hole. It got us in foul trouble and got them to the free throw line.”
FSU led 22-15 after the first quarter but effectively put the game away with a 10-0 run to close the half with a 53-30 lead.
Little Rock came into the game with the nation’s sixth-best scoring defense, yielding just 52.6 points a game.
The Seminoles opened the third quarter with 13 unanswered points, extending the Trojans’ scoreless streak of more than eight minutes.
“I was getting a little confused,” FSU coach Sue Semrau said, tongue-in-cheek. “I could not believe our defense held somebody that long…They really stepped up. Our kids did a good job of scoring off turnovers and we did a great job in the first half of scoring in the paint. And then 22-9 on points off turnovers; that’s a big deal and that’s where you can go on runs.”
FSU shot an all-time postseason-best 58.3 percent from the floor, with scoring contributions coming from all nine players. Nicki Ekhomu (13 points) and AJ Alix (12 points) rounded out the double-figure scorers, while Imani Wright and Nausia Woolfolk combined for 17.
Little Rock, which saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end, was led by Tori Lasker’s 13 points. Keanna Keys added 11 and Ronjanae DeGray finished with 10.
“I felt like we really set the tone in the first half was with the way we went to the offensive glass,” Semrau said. “We got second shots and that was important for us, knowing we had the freedom to shoot.
“I think the unsung hero of this game was Nausia Woolfolk. I mean how many offensive rebounds did she have off of free throws alone? I just want to point those things out because it’s not all about the scoring. It’s not all about the little things offensively. It’s about what we do and the grit we have.”
Five of Woolfolk’s eight rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor, emblematic of the energy the Noles demonstrated throughout, but especially on the defense.
“Today our [zone] was perfect against them and we executed and turned it into offense,” White said. “Using that defensive energy and effort is what drives us.”
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 23 5 7 1 2 1 1 12 2 3 5 3 5 2 0 2
20 Shakayla Thomas f 19 11 15 0 1 4 11 26 0 4 4 1 0 1 0 3
25 Ama Degbeon f 27 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 5 1 2 0 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 27 3 6 0 2 3 3 9 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 0
50 Chatrice White c 23 5 8 0 0 3 6 13 3 7 10 3 0 2 1 2
11 Iho Lopez 12 1 3 0 0 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0
12 Nicki Ekhomu 31 3 8 1 1 6 6 13 1 4 5 1 2 2 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 27 4 7 0 1 0 0 8 5 3 8 2 2 2 0 1
31 Savannah Wilkinson 11 2 4 1 2 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Team 1 1
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 35 60 3 9 18 29 91 15 27 42 14 12 11 2 9
Opp 200 17 47 3 11 12 14 49 4 16 20 22 8 16 0 2
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas-Little Rock | |||||
| Florida State |
Women’s Hoops Ends Season vs. Buffalo.
by Bob Thomas
TALLAHASSEE, FL – With a fourth consecutive Sweet 16 berth on the line Monday night, one of the most prolific offensive teams in Florida State women’s basketball history came up as cold as the winter climate of their opponent, Buffalo.
Coach Sue Semrau’s third-seeded Seminoles never found their offensive rhythm against the savvy, gritty Bulls, who are moving on as the No. 11 seed following an 86-65 victory at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
The 11th-ranked Seminoles (26-7) shot just 33.8 percent from the floor, including a season-worst 12 percent (3-of-25) from beyond the 3-point arc.
“Sometimes you have games where you just can’t get a rhythm and I felt that was the game for us,” Semrau said. “But we have to create our own rhythm and we didn’t do that on the defensive end.
“It kind of felt to me like our NC State game…where we just couldn’t get anything going at the offensive end. It should be our defense that fuels our offense. That wasn’t this team. This team our offense fueled our defense. We were a great offensive team, but that’s not enough. It certainly wasn’t enough to get us to the next round.”
Senior Shakayla Thomas produced a game-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting in her final game for the Noles, but FSU’s No. 2 all-time scorer could not carry the club alone. Sophomore Nausia Woolfolk pitched in 12 points and senior AJ Alix added 11, but Thomas’ six teammates combined to miss 40-of-53 attempts from the floor.
Two nights after scoring the first NCAA win in program history, Buffalo (29-5) is heading back to New York for Saturday’s third-round game in Albany. Junior guard Cierra Dillard led the balanced Bulls with 22 points, while senior point guard Stephanie Reid and sophomore forward Summer Hemphill added 18 and 17, respectively.
“They played a tremendous game; a tremendous two games,” Semrau said of the Bulls. “They are extremely well-coached. They did what they needed to do and completely out-played us; every quarter they outplayed us.”
A tight first half battle turned over the final 2:32 of the second quarter. Fueled by Dillard, the Bulls closed the half on an 11-2 run for a 39-30 halftime lead. Quiet up until that point, Dillard scored 12 of her 15 first half points in that stretch.
“Cierra is always going to do what’s needed from her,” Reid said. “We thrive on Cierra’s energy. She creates such a good vibe for us on the court. Whether she’s making or missing, you don’t even notice.”
Thomas’ basket to start the second half trimmed the deficit to seven, but Katherine Ups’ 3-pointer, a 15-footer by Dillard and Reid’s runout layup gave the Bulls a 46-32 lead which the Noles never seriously threatened to overcome.
“Buffalo is a great team,” Thomas said. “They came out ready to play, like they had something to prove. That’s exactly how everybody should come out and play when you play anybody. They got a good run on us and we didn’t have an answer for it.”
The Bulls’ defense had a lot to do with that, contesting every 3-point attempt from their match-up zone, then controlling the tempo at the offensive end to salt away the victory.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense and we knew today that was going to be such a huge emphasis for us,” Reid said. “To hold them to 65 points, when they score a lot…We did a really good job of controlling the pace today. We just locked in our defense and that really helped us to get this win.”
The Seminoles took 11 more field goal attempts than the Bulls (68-57), but made four fewer field goals. Buffalo never let off the gas, battling FSU to a near draw on the boards and converting 27-of-30 free throw attempts to extend their season as the first at-large team from the Mid-American Conference invited to the tournament.
“The MAC has always been a one-bid league,” Reid said. “They finally opened up to us and accepted us into the tournament at-large, and now we’re really showing why.”
NO NAME GS MIN FGM FGA 3FGM 3FGA FTM FTA PTS OREB DREB REB PF AST TO BLK STL
== ==================== == === === === ==== ==== === === === ==== ==== === == === == === ===
4 A.J. Alix g 35 3 12 1 8 4 5 11 1 0 1 1 4 2 1 4
20 Shakayla Thomas f 32 10 15 0 0 5 10 25 2 3 5 3 0 4 0 0
25 Ama Degbeon f 24 2 4 0 0 0 0 4 5 2 7 4 1 3 0 0
32 Imani Wright g 37 2 15 0 10 0 0 4 2 4 6 3 3 3 0 0
50 Chatrice White c 27 1 7 1 1 2 2 5 3 3 6 3 1 1 0 1
12 Nicki Ekhomu 23 1 7 0 2 2 2 4 5 2 7 5 2 3 0 1
13 Nausia Woolfolk 22 4 8 1 4 3 3 12 1 0 1 5 0 1 0 1
Team 3 1 4
=========================================================================
FSU 5 200 23 68 3 25 16 22 65 22 15 37 24 11 17 1 7
Opp 200 27 57 5 21 27 30 86 14 22 36 18 10 16 3 10
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | |||||
| Florida State |