NCAA Tournament: Lady Noles basketball dancing as No. 9 seed

FSU women’s basketball (10-8, 9-7 ACC) will be dancing in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive time.

The No. 9 seed Lady Noles will take on No. 8 seed Oregon State in the first round Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

It’s been a difficult year for the Lady Noles, with multiple games canceled or postponed while playing without head coach Sue Semrau, who took a leave of absence to take care of her ailing mother.

However, former Lady Nole standout and long-time associate head coach Brooke Wyckoff stepped in as interim head coach, leading the Noles back to the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 9 seed is the lowest earned since the 2014 season, where the Noles lost in the second round to No. 2 seed Stanford.

It’s the only time they’ve been a No. 9 seed in school history. FSU women’s basketball has had success no matter the seed over the past 15 years.

They’ve made the Sweet 16 as a No. 10 seed and made the Elite 8 as a No. 2 and No. 3. It’s all about the matchups in the tournament, and Oregon State (11-7, 7-6 Pac-12) should be a good challenge.

The Beavers come into the NCAA tournament winning five of their last six games, including wins over No. 8 UCLA, No. 14 Oregon, and No. 19 Oregon before losing to No. 4 Stanford.

FSU women’s basketball comes into the NCAA Tournament, losing three of their last five games, but one of those wins was over No. 3 Louisville.

The Lady Noles are led by a trio of scorers averaging in double-digits, and the team features great depth, with 11 players averaging over 11 minutes per game.

A win over Oregon State would mean the Lady Noles would face the winner of the No. 1/No. 16 matchup and likely face No. 1 South Carolina in the second round.