Florida State (5-10, 0-3 ACC) was defeated this evening by Syracuse (12-2, 2-1) in Syracuse, NY by an 82-72 score. Game Recap Syracuse started the game on a 10-2 run. Sole Williams broke the run with a long triple. Later in the quarter the Orange hit the Noles with a 9-2 run to stretch their […]
Florida State (5-10, 0-3 ACC) was defeated this evening by Syracuse (12-2, 2-1) in Syracuse, NY by an 82-72 score.
Game Recap
Syracuse started the game on a 10-2 run. Sole Williams broke the run with a long triple. Later in the quarter the Orange hit the Noles with a 9-2 run to stretch their lead to 24-10. The Cuse would end the quarter with a 26-14 lead.
The two teams mostly traded baskets in the second quarter. FSU won the quarter 19-17 but the Seminoles were unable to cut the lead to under eight points at any time in the quarter. Syracuse led at halftime 43-33.
However, the Noles scored the first four points of the third quarter to cut the lead to six. SU responded with four straight points. The two teams then exchanged baskets until FSU made a move by getting hot from deep. Sydney Bowles hit a three to cut the lead to 54-50. Dominique Darius answered for the Orange with a triple of her own to spark the Orange to an 8-1 run to end the quarter with a 62-51 lead.
In the fourth quarter the Seminoles continued their hot shooting. Allie Kubek nailed a three with 3:21 left to cut the lead to 70-67. Uche Izoje then scored four straight for SU. Emma Risch later stroked a triple to cut the lead to 74-71. Jasmine Shavers then hit a free throw to cut the lead to two at 74-72. However that was as close as the Noles would get as Syracuse scored the last eight points of the game to walk away with an 82-72 victory.
Post Game
Sole Williams led the Seminoles with 21 points. Emma Risch had 15. Allie Kubek had 12 while Jasmine Shavers chipped in with 10.
Florida State is now 0-9 against power conference opponents.
As you can see from the record, Florida State is struggling right now. However, there were some positives in this game. FSU shot well especially from downtown for most of the game. The hot shooting allowed the Noles to stay in the game and have a chance in the fourth quarter. While there were some discouraging turnovers, FSU only had 13 for the game which isn’t bad particularly when they forced 20 from the Cuse. After the awful first quarter, Florida State actually won the rest of the game by two points.
Nevertheless, this was another L so there were some important negatives. The one that mattered the most was the rebounding. Syracuse simply destroyed FSU on the boards to the tune of 56-29. The Orange had more offensive rebounds (22) than the Noles had defensive rebounds (20). FSU is not going to win games getting beat up on the backboards by that margin. Uche Izoje was almost unstoppable putting up 21 points and 17 boards in only 30 minutes. She threw in 4 blocks for good measure.
At this point it is pretty clear that barring a miracle FSU is not going to NCAA Tournament this year. However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t appreciate improvement. Florida State had a chance to win on the road in the fourth quarter against a pretty good Syracuse team. When compared to FSU’s last six games against power conference teams this game qualifies as genuine improvement. We will see if the Noles can build on this performance and secure their first ACC win.
Next Game
Florida State will return to Tallahassee to host Virginia on Sunday. The game will tip at 2pm and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
Category: General Sports
