No. 24 FSU women’s basketball falls to no. 16 Duke on Senior Night

No. 24 Florida State (23-7, 13-5 ACC) was defeated by no. 16 Duke (23-7, 14-4 ACC) by a 71-57 score tonight in Tallahassee.

Game Recap

The game started off tight but midway through the first quarter Duke hit Florida State with a 9-0 run that was sparked by a layup from Toby Fournier. Duke had taken a 13-6 lead. From there the two teams mostly traded baskets until O’Mariah Gordon hit a running layup to beat the buzzer. However, Duke still held a 19-13 lead going into the second quarter.

Midway through the second quarter FSU hit Duke with a 9-2 run that was capped by a Mariana Valenzuela jumper to take a 28-25 lead. However, Vanessa de Jesus nailed a triple to end the half giving the Blue Devils a 32-31 lead going into halftime.

Early in the third quarter Malea Williams sank a triple which sparked the Seminoles to a 9-2 run and a 42-39 lead. After that Toby Fournier took over for Duke scoring five straight layups to score all of Duke’s remaining points in the half and the Blue Devils took a 49-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

Makayla Timpson started the fourth quarter with a layup but then the roof caved in for the Noles. Duke took total control of the game with a massive 12-0 run to take a 61-49 lead with about six minutes left. FSU was not able to recover and the Blue Devils walked away with a valuable 71-57 victory.

Post Game

Makayla Timpson led the Noles with 25 points and eight rebounds. She was the only Seminole in double figures as Ta’Niya Latson had nine points.

Makayla Timpson, O’Mariah Gordon, Mariana Valenzuela, and Malea Williams were all honored before the game in Senior Night festivities.

From the beginning of the game the Blue Devils were able to impose their will. Duke dictated the tempo all night. Florida State may have been able to win the game but Duke was determined that even if that was the case the Noles would have to win in a game that suited Duke’s style. The Blue Devils took the air out of the ball all night using the entire shot clock on multiple possessions. Duke was also able to get out in transition for easy baskets. They weren’t able to turn FSU over often but the Devils did a great job on the boards and were repeatedly able to get fast break layups after cleaning the defensive glass. Duke had the fast break points edge 15-5.

This game was won with the fourth quarter run but Duke stayed in position for that run with their rebounding prowess. Duke beat FSU up on the boards to the tune of 51-35. Defensively the Blue Devils held the Seminoles to their lowest point total of the season. Ta’Niya Latson struggled all game shooting 3-21 from the field. Nevertheless, she didn’t get much help as the Noles shot only 3-16 from deep.

I had three keys to the game in my pregame article. Duke succeeded with two of the keys – offensive rebounding and defensively keeping the Noles from shooting a high percentage. In other words, this game was played on Duke’s terms and that was a big reason why they won.

Duke is very good defensively. They challenged everything FSU tried to do and they did a good job not conceding open shots. Carla Viegas was huge in the Notre Dame win but she only had one shot tonight as the Blue Devils face guarded her all night and denied her open looks.

I will address the officiating here since it will probably be a topic in the comments. I do think that the officials let a lot of contact go in this game. I don’t think that it necessarily directly favored one team over another (meaning that I don’t think that one team got most of the calls) but Duke’s style is to rough up their opponents and scramble the game. This officiating crew decided to allow most of that tonight and that favored the style that Duke wants to play. However, Duke didn’t win the game just because of the officials. The Blue Devils were the better team tonight (for reasons discussed above) and they deserved the victory.

The silver lining to the day is that even though FSU lost they will still get the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament (courtesy of Virginia’s upset over North Carolina) which will earn them a double-bye.

The next goal is for the Seminoles to secure a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament to get the opportunity to host the first and second rounds. In order to do that Florida State probably needs to get to the ACC Tournament final. Even then it might not be enough but a final appearance is probably the minimum the Noles would need to even be in the conversation for a top four seed. We will discuss that more in the coming days.

Next Game

Florida State will travel to Greensboro, NC for the ACC Tournament. The Noles have secured the double-bye and will therefore play on Friday. The Tournament will be broadcast on the ACC Network.