Florida State Women's Basketball Cruises in NCAA Opener

Florida State proved worthy of their number two seeding Saturday afternoon as they defeated fifteen seed Alabama State 91-49 in front of 5,536 fans at the Donald L. Tucker Center. The win advances the Seminoles to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

"We came out with great energy and focus", head coach Sue Semrau said. "I thought the crowd gave us great energy."

The Hornets hung tough early in the game, trailing just 19-16 with 9:02 left in the first half. But the Seminoles went on a 18-3 run to close the half, taking a 37-19 lead into the break.

The second half was all FSU as the depth of the team was far too much for ASU to cope with. Easy transitions buckets came often as the Noles poured on the points against the Hornets.

The Noles "sixth man" off the bench Shakayla Thomas, was the star as she score 17 points and pulled down 7 rebounds to lead FSU. Thomas has exceptional ability and looks to be the future of this Seminole program.

"I just want to give energy on the court and give our team everything it needs, I just wanted to make a statement", Thomas said.

The depth as mentioned before was fantastic with Maegen Conwright (16 points), Leticia Romero (14 points, 10 assists), and Ivey Slaughter (13 points) all scoring in double figures.

Florida State shot 53% from the field in the game and had a strong defensive performance holding Alabama State to just 32% from the floor. FSU forced 32 turnovers on the Hornets, turning those into 38 points. The Noles won the rebounding battle 37-31 and had a very good day from the charity stripe as well at 25-29.

The win moves Florida State to 30-4 on the season and sets up a round of 32 showdown with seventh-seed FGCU (31-2), who defeated Oklahoma State 75-67 earlier in the day, Monday night in Tallahassee.

The Noles and Eagles will tip off at 6 PM with the match being televised on ESPNU.