TALLAHASSEE, Fl. - (seminoles.com) — A late scoring run in the fourth quarter helped push the Florida State women’s basketball team (10-7, 9-7) to a win over Wake Forest (11-11, 8-10), 59-51, in its home finale on Sunday afternoon at the Donald L. Tucker Center. This is the Seminoles’ ninth win over the Demon Deacons in their last 10 matchups and their fifth consecutive win against them at home.
The big win by FSU gives it another Top-50 NET win as it continues to put itself in prime position for an NCAA Tournament berth.
“I’m just so thrilled to be able to end the regular season this way. We were focused as a team and as a staff,” Interim Head Coach Brooke Wyckoff said. “This was a must-win in terms of being able to control our destiny going into March as much as we possibly could.”
With the win against the Demon Deacons, the Seminoles are still in contention for the double-bye and can be seeded no worse than fifth at the ACC Tournament following Syracuse’s loss to NC State. They are still awaiting the results of today’s conference play to determine their opponent in Greensboro, N.C. Their seeding boils down to the results of the Louisville-Notre Dame matchup at 3 p.m.
Redshirt junior Bianca Jackson had an all-around great performance against Wake Forest putting up 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and a steal. Jackson was one of three Seminoles to score in double figures in this game.
Junior Valencia Myers was one rebound shy from recording her second double-double of the season with 11 points and nine rebounds, as well as three assists and a block. This is Myers’ sixth game with double figures this season.
Junior Morgan Jones also put on a show with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, along with seven rebounds and two assists. Redshirt junior Savannah Wilkinson scored a season-high eight points and paired it with four rebounds, a block, and a steal.
“I’m definitely starting to feel more in the flow of things and getting my trust back in my teammates,” Wilkinson said about coming off of injury this season. “It bounces off of each other so that we can be successful.”
FSU dominated the boards in today’s game, as they out-rebounded Wake Forest, 45-27, as well as scoring over triple the number of bench points, 30-9. The Seminoles also did a great job of out-shooting the Demon Deacons, 42%-31%, along with shooting a stellar 82% from the free-throw line.
“We certainly had our fair share of ups and downs today, but our players were able to find a way to grind through and come out with a win,” Wyckoff said about her team’s performance against Wake Forest. “I’m excited about this momentum going into March.”
The Seminoles started the game slow, finding themselves down by five points early and committing nine turnovers in the first quarter. Junior Kourtney Weber was able to get FSU on the board with a three-pointer and back-to-back buckets from Myers and Jackson helped the Noles tie the game going into the second period.
FSU was able to build their lead to four points in the second quarter, but a 16-4 run by the Demon Deacons, including three-straight three-pointers from Wake Forest, put them down by eight. The Noles quickly responded with a six-point run of their own and went into halftime with a 29-27 deficit.
The scoring coming out of the break was back and forth in bunches for each team, as both FSU and Wake Forest had multiple five-point runs. Nearing the end of the third period, the Seminoles took their six-point deficit and cut it to two points behind jumpers by Jones and Myers entering the fourth quarter down, 41-39.
The Noles took their strong finish in the third quarter and carried it over to the final period with sophomore River Baldwin converting an and-one bucket and Wilkinson expanding the lead to three points. FSU continued their scoring run and brought their lead up to eight to put the game out of reach in their final home game of the season. The Seminoles doubled up Wake Forest in the final period, 20-10.
Wake Forest’s Ivana Raca led all scorers with 19 points.
