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Florida State Women’s Basketball Season In Review

By Curt Weiler

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Part 1 of a series about Florida State Women’s Basketball, with this part looking at this past season and Part 2 looking forward to next season.

To say that this was a successful season for the Florida State Women’s Basketball team would be a gross understatement of just how successful this season was. I will give a season recap and then list just a few of the countless accomplishments that this team (or members of the team) have accomplished in this historic season.

Season Recap

Florida State starting the season off strong with a pair of home non-conference wins against UAB and Bethune-Cookman, the latter of which was by a very impressive 103-34 score. After this, the ‘Noles competed in a pair of preseason tournaments. First, they traveled to Denton, Texas to take part in the Hospitality Hill Challenge, winning the tournament with a pair of wins over Eastern Illinois and Massachusetts. After that, the Seminoles traveled south of the border for the Cancun Challenge in Cancun, Mexico. In the opening round of the Cancun Challenge, Florida State suffered its first loss of the season, a 80-68 defeat at the hands of Washington. However, FSU rebounded with a pair of wins to end the tournament over Furman and Hartford, finishing in 5th place out of 8 teams in the tournament.

After preseason tournament season ended, the ‘Noles went back into non-conference play and continued the winning streak that they started in Cancun, winning their next 7 games over the likes of Purdue, Florida, Tulane, UNF, and Jacksonville. The Seminoles wrapped up non-conference play on a 9-game winning streak and entered conference play with a stout record of 13-1.

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ACC play got off to a tough start as FSU started in conference with a trip to South Bend to take on perennial women’s basketball powerhouse Notre Dame. The Seminoles kept it close but could not pull out the tough road win, opening ACC play with a 74-68 loss at the Fighting Irish. After the rough start, Florida State bounced back to go on a 9-game ACC winning streak, their 2nd 9-game winning streak of the season, that included wins over Duke, who was ranked #12 at the time of the game, Louisville, who was ranked #4 at the time of the game, and Syracuse who was also ranked at the time of the game. By the end of this winning streak, the Seminoles were 22-2 (9-1 in ACC play), and well on their way to a historic season.

FSU brought their 9-game winning streak into Chapel Hill for a showdown with the University of North Carolina, who was ranked as high as #14 when the game took place. Florida State held a late lead over the Tarheels before missing late free throws and letting the Tarheels pull out the win, 71-63. After the loss at UNC, Florida State went on another winning streak to end the season, winning their final 5 games over Clemson, Virginia, and Miami, among other teams. The ‘Noles finished the regular season with a record of 27-3 (14-2 in the ACC), setting program records for most overall wins and conference wins in a regular season.

Next on the Florida State agenda was the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. With a 14-2 record in the ACC, Florida State earned the #2 seed in the ACC Tournament, tied for the highest ACC seed in program history, and earning a first round bye. The Virginia Tech Hokies won their opening round matchup against Pitt and won the right to take on the Seminoles in the Quarterfinals. However, the Hokies were no match for FSU, outplayed in just about every facet of the game and the ‘Noles ran away with it by a score of 82-43. In the semifinals, Florida State faced off against the Louisville Cardinals in a rematch of a highly contested game earlier in the season which the ‘Noles won in Tallahassee. This game was very similar to the 1st one. FSU jumped out to an large, early lead over Louisville before letting the Cardinals back into the game in the early 2nd half. Nonetheless, Florida State weathered the comeback storm and beat Louisville 66-51, advancing to the first ACC Championship Game in program history. In the championship game, FSU ran into Notre Dame with a chance to avenge one of their 3 regular season losses. However, Notre Dame outplayed the Seminoles and the game was not as close as the score would show as FSU made a late run to close the gap a bit, losing by a score of 71-58.

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Despite the ACC Championship loss, Florida State received the #2 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament and earned the right to host 1st and 2nd round NCAA Tournament games at home in the Tucker Center. In their 1st round game, the Seminoles dispatched the Alabama State Hornets, the #15 seed, and left little doubt, pounding the Hornets 91-49. In the 2nd round, the ‘Noles faced an in-state foe, Florida Gulf Coast University, who were 3-point specialists. FSU shut down FGCU’s 3 pointers and dominated the paint at both sides, leaving no questions as to who the best team in Florida was, beating the Eagles 65-47 and advancing to the 3rd Sweet 16 in program history. For their Sweet 16 matchup, Florida State traveled back to Greensboro to take on the #3 seed Arizona State Sun Devils. FSU led early and most of the way but the game was closely contested down the stretch, with neither team holding a lead bigger than 4 points in the final 10 minutes. In the end, a timely steal by Maegan Conwright secured the win for the Seminoles and they advanced to just the 2nd Elite 8 in program history with a 66-65 win over ASU. In the Elite 8, the ‘Noles ran into the only higher seed in the South Region, #1 seed South Carolina. For a large part of the game, Florida State looked like the better team, leading for over 30 minutes. In the end though, the size and shooting by SC were too much as the Gamecocks made a late comeback to win 70-64.

Season Accomplishments

  • Set program record with 27 regular season wins
  • Set program record with 32 wins in a season (counting postseason).
  • Set program record with 14 wins in ACC play.
  • Set program record with 6 wins over AP Top 25 teams.
  • Allowed 57.3 points per game, lowest in program history since joining the ACC.
  • Broke school single-season records in 3-pointers made (216), offensive rebounds (625), defensive rebounds (986), and total rebounds (1,611).
  • First team in FSU Women’s Basketball history with 5 players who averaged 10+ points.
  • Only team in Division I Men’s or Women’s Basketball who out-rebounded every regular season opponent.
  • Undefeated home record for first time in FSU Women’s Basketball history,