FSU women’s basketball is upset at Boston College in overtime

Florida State (15-3, 4-1 ACC) fell to Boston College (13-5, 3-2 ACC) by a 77-71 score today in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Game Recap

Both teams started out a bit out of sorts. There were plenty of missed shots and turnovers. However, Jazmine Massengill stayed calm and managed to score six points in the quarter to pace Florida State. The Seminoles took a 16-11 lead into the second quarter on the strength of an Erin Howard triple as time expired.

Boston College managed to stay close in the second quarter. The Eagles were benefitting from uncharacteristic FSU turnovers. BC was also feasting on the offensive glass which led to several second chance opportunities. The Eagles hit the Noles with a 13-0 run to end the second quarter to take a 34-27 lead into halftime. Those 27 points were the fewest that Florida State has scored in the first half this season.

The Seminoles were floundering and needed someone to step up. Sara Bejedi answered the call. Midway through the third quarter FSU hit the Eagles with a 12-0 run. Bejedi had eight of those points. The Seminoles regained the lead at 43-39. BC battled back and scored the last four points of the quarter to tie the score at 51-51 heading into the final stanza.

The teams started the fourth quarter trading buckets. With about three minutes left BC took a 66-61 lead after an Andrea Daley triple. However, FSU would battle back as Makayla Timpson hit two big free throws and then Bejedi nailed a huge three ball from the corner to send the game into overtime.

The Eagles came out roaring in the overtime. BC scored the first eight points of the overtime period to take a commanding 74-66 lead. Florida State battled back but the Noles could never fully recover from that run and Boston College came away with the 77-71 victory.

Post Game

Sara Bejedi had a career high 26 points. Makayla Timpson had a strong game with a 14 point, eleven rebound double-double. Ta’Niya Latson scored 10 points which is her career low at Florida State. Her previous low point total was 19.

Florida State is now 8-1 at Conte Forum.

This was the klunker. This was the worst game that I have seen Florida State play this season. Yet, the Noles almost won on the road in a conference game.

There were reasons for the poor performance. Coach Brooke Wyckoff pointed to the tough second quarter as one of the main reasons for the loss. FSU was outscored 23-11 in the quarter so that was certainly impactful.

The Seminoles never found their offensive rhythm in this game. Florida State had 21 turnovers and was 5-21 from deep. Latson obviously struggled as well. BC decided to try to limit her drives by concentrating on taking charges. It worked as Latson was called for three charges in the game.

The Eagles were killing FSU on the offensive boards early in the game. Then Timpson came back in and suddenly Florida State got much better on the defensive glass.

Before the game BC was averaging 19.29 free throws a game (85th nationally). Florida State was averaging 23.59 free throws a game (12th nationally). BC shot 36 free throws in this game while FSU shot 16. Long time readers know that I don’t remark on officiating so I will just leave those statistics here for your consideration.

This loss is disappointing as Florida State is a better team than Boston College. However, in the big picture this loss isn’t terrible. Boston College beat top 10 NC State on Thursday. That win coupled with this one today gives the Eagles a pair of Q1 wins and will also raise their NET ranking considerably. Therefore, this loss will likely be a Q1 loss for FSU and therefore it won’t hurt Florida State’s tournament resume all that much.

The bottom line is that players aren’t robots. They have will have bad days. The hope is that even on a rough day the team will have enough to eke out a win. Unfortunately for FSU they just came up a little short today.

Next Game

Florida State will host NC State on Thursday. The game will tip at 6pm and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.