Undermanned Seminoles fall to Georgia in tourney
Photo submitted by FSU athletics
Special to the Outlook
IOWA CITY, Iowa – No. 7 seed Florida State women’s basketball ended its 2022-23 campaign after falling to 10th-seeded Georgia, 66-54 in the NCAA first round at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
The Seminoles (23-10) were without the services of proven scorers Ta’Niya Latson and O’Mariah Gordon due to injuries. They also sustained a long time period without All-ACC team member Makayla Timpson, who suffered a cut above her eye five minutes into the game and missed nearly the rest of the first half.
Undermanned with eight or fewer players, Florida State gave everything it had. The turning point came toward the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth when the Bulldogs went on a 14-0 run. Georgia turned a 43-40 lead to a 57-40 advantage with 7:43 left in the game.
Graduate guard Taylor O’Brien concluded her collegiate career, scoring 15 points with four rebounds and two steals. O’Brien, who played four years at Bucknell before transferring to FSU, got the Seminoles back into the game by scoring eight straight points to cut FSU’s deficit to 43-40 with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter.
Redshirt senior Erin Howard led FSU with 19 points and nine rebounds, marking 26 consecutive games with at least one three-point field goal made. The Madison, Wis., native caps her strong career having led FSU with 56 three-point field goals this season.
Florida State started the game holding an 18-13 first-quarter lead, but Georgia’s matchup zone defense extended itself more as the game went on. UGA guard Diamond Battles led all scorers with 21 points.
The game was mostly a defensive slugfest, with UGA shooting 39.7 percent overall and the Seminoles shooting 26.9 percent. FSU was able to outscore the Bulldogs (22-11), 15-8, in second-chance points. Georgia out-rebounded FSU, 48-38.
The end of the season means FSU will lose O’Brien, Howard, Valencia Myers and Jazmine Massengill, whom all have exhausted their NCAA eligibility. Next season the Seminoles will look to make it 11 consecutive seasons of making the NCAA Tournament – a current run that only seven other programs have matched.
