For the third time in five seasons, Florida State women’s basketball will watch its season end at the hand of South Carolina. The fourth-seeded Gamecocks finished strong to oust No. 5 seed FSU on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte, 72-64.
The Seminoles (24-9) trailed 37-30 at halftime and never led in the second half, but did draw even at 60 with just over four minutes to play on a Morgan Jones layup. The score remained for nearly two minutes before a 3-point play by South Carolina’s Alexis Jennings put the Gamecocks (23-9) ahead for good.
From there, FSU was twice able to climb to within one before Tyasha Harris’ 3-point with 27 seconds to go made it a 2-possession game and started a 7-0 South Carolina run to end the game.
The Seminoles shot less than 36 percent from the field compared to 43 percent for South Carolina and just 3-for-14 from deep. FSU held a 50-33 rebounding advantage, but that didn’t account for the discrepancy at the foul line. The Gamecocks shot 20-for-24 compared to just 7-for-11 for FSU.
Nicki Ekhomu led FSU with 19 points while Jones and Kiah Gillespie each added 15. Gillespie shot just 6-for-21, but grabbed an FSU NCAA Tournament record 18 rebounds in the loss.
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan led South Carolina with 20 points on an efficient 6 of 10 from the field. Jennings finished with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting to go with a team-high seven rebounds.
It is the second straight year that FSU will fall in the second round of the tournament, but the Seminoles will graduate no seniors. South Carolina will make the short trip to Greensboro to take on either top-seeded Baylor or No. 8 seed California in the Sweet 16.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
You must be logged in to post a comment Login