CORAL GABLES, Fla — No. 22/20 Florida State (21-6, 9-5) fell to No. 14 Miami (23-6, 11-3) in a 64-54 defeat on Sunday at the Watsco Center. The loss was the Seminoles’ first to the Hurricanes in the regular season since 2014 and their first in Miami since 2012.
“I thought they executed better,” Florida State Head Coach Sue Semrau said. “It was just a basketball game, it wasn’t anything tricky. They’ve got two great post players. You have to figure them out and then if they get some people knocking down shots on the outside, then that’s just a tough team to beat.”
Junior guard Nausia Woolfolk led Florida State on the day with 20 points, her sixth-consecutive game scoring in double figures, while also leading the Seminoles with three steals.
Fellow junior guard Nicki Ekhomu registered 12 points and led the Seminoles with four assists. Ekhomu also led the team with two blocks on the afternoon, tying her career high.
The last of Florida State’s juniors, redshirt forward Kiah Gillespie added nine points and led the Seminoles with a career-high 15 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Savannah Wilkinson scored eight points for the second game in a row, tying her season-high in ACC play, while adding five rebounds. Freshmen Kourtney Weber and Valencia Myers added three and two points respectively to close out the scoring for the Seminoles on the afternoon.
“There was a lot of kids that were out there putting their hearts out on the line,” Semrau said. “When things don’t go your way, shots don’t fall, it’s hard to keep playing. That’s something that we’ll learn to do as we continue to grow. I saw a lot of fight out of them, it wasn’t like they rolled over. They pulled it within four and then that big shot with one second to go on the shot clock was the dagger.”
Florida State outscored Miami 16-8 in the first quarter, thanks in part to a 10-0 run that began with six minutes left in the half. The Seminoles forced the Hurricanes into six turnovers in the opening quarter, while also registering two blocks and three steals.
The Seminoles opened the second quarter with back-to-back three pointers from Woolfolk and Gillespie. From there, the Hurricanes spawned a 22-4 run that lasted nearly eight minutes to end the half, giving them a 30-26 advantage at the break.
After the two sides battled to an even 13-13 in the third quarter, the Hurricanes opened the fourth with a 10-0 run. The Seminoles worked to battle back but could not overcome the deficit with the home side maintaining their lead for the entirety of the second half.
“We played great defense to start,” Semrau said. “We were shutting down the inside and then we started taking bad shots. We’ve got to be patient enough to find great shots and we weren’t today”
The Seminoles shot 33.3% (19-of-57) from the field and 31.6% (6-of-19) from beyond the arc on the afternoon. The Hurricanes finished the day shooting 40.4% (20-of-52).
Florida State returns home to the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center for its regular-season home finale to face the 18th-ranked Syracuse Orange on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.
