Florida State women’s basketball finished off the regular season at home on Sunday afternoon against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Much like the rest of their season has gone, it took the full four quarters for Florida State to finally pull away with the win, but it did eventually come up with the 64-61 victory.
In a contest with 44 fouls called, momentum was hard to come by. Neither team separated themselves enough to gain a comfortable lead. Both struggled with defensive rebounding, and the shooting woes soon followed.
Late in the game with just one minute remaining, the Seminoles held a slim 2-point lead. Thanks to standout defensive play by Shakayla Thomas, Florida State was able to maintain possession for most of the last 60 seconds. A pair of Chatrice White free throws gave the Seminoles a 3-point lead under five seconds remaining, and the Seminoles finished the regular season on yet another high note after a missed Georgia Tech triple as time expired.
Shakayla Thomas finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Chatrice Wright tallied another double-double on a 16-point and 13-rebound outing. White also grabbed six blocks down low.
Nothing about the team was unknown going into the 2017-18 season. Its strengths were readily apparent, and its weaknesses were well established. The Seminoles had perhaps the most talented starting five in the nation, but a mix of injuries and scholarship issues meant that the depth would be a major problem. Florida State went through a majority of the season with just nine active players.
Despite this difficulty, Florida State once again showed why it is not a “flash in the pan” when it comes to women’s college basketball. The Seminoles powered their way to a 24-5 overall record and 12-4 in the ACC, which means a double-bye in the conference tournament. Granted, many of their games were not the blowouts that fans were accustomed to over the past couple of seasons. Much of the blame in this regard can be put on the lack of depth.
Still, Florida State brought yet another spectacular season to Tallahassee. Games like the thrilling victory over No. 2 Louisville in Kentucky or a 5-0 combined record against Florida, Miami, and Clemson highlight the fourth straight notable year. This senior class will leave as the winningest in program history because of it.
Head coach Sue Semrau has been at Florida State since 1997. Over two decades later, and she is just now putting together the best stretch in program history. She’s always had good teams, but her past few iterations have been elite. These are teams that competed for the national championship and made deep runs in the tournament. This current team looks to do that once again.
“They left a legacy, a legacy of growth…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…we’ve still got more to go,” Semrau said after the game. “It’s like Shakayla said, we love each other and we take care of each other, and that’s what moves us forward.” .
Thomas lived up to the hype and then some. She was the offensive star and defensive stalwart that she came billed as, once again finishing as probably the best overall player on the team. White gained consistency that she lacked a year ago, while newcomers like guard A.J. Alix made a huge impact with their quick assimilation onto the team. The number of minutes that each player got meant that every single one was essential to the season result.
Perhaps that is the true mark of an elite program. There were no surprises this year, no stunning results that were way out of line with preseason expectations. Everyone knew what Florida State could do on the national stage. Everyone knew what was going to happen. Now, it’s discussed as another check mark of the past few years. White echoed those sentiments in the postgame press conference.
“I think the expectations have always been there,” she said. “Coming to Florida State, that was a huge reason for me. We’re just continuing to grow those expectations and the cultures here for the next group that’s coming in and the next group after that. That’s just where we are, that’s just who we are, and moving forward that’s a great thing about our team and our program, just moving forward and keeping it going.”
The bar was set with the Elite Eight results of 2015 and 2017. Could this team go even further than those squads? It will certainly be difficult with the lack of a complete second team.
But having watched them over the past season, there’s no use in betting against them.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login