@CanesWBB Falls Just Short at No. 12 FSU

No. 17/17 Miami6770No 12/12 Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s basketball team led No. 12/12 Florida State for over 31 minutes on the road Sunday at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, but fell by three, 70-67.

No. 17/17 Miami (22-7, 10-6 ACC) had three players score in double figures, with junior guard Adrienne Motley’s 18 points leading the way for the Hurricanes, who shot 25-of-54 (46.3 percent) from the field. Miami led by six with six minutes left, before Florida State (23-6, 13-3 ACC) went on a 15-2 run to send the crowd of nearly 4,000 into a frenzy.

“Well, that’s the team that we need to be and that’s the team we truly are. So, it was nice to have the intensity back and the tempo back, [as well as] the defensive effort and the rebounding effort,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “We had to fix a lot and I’m really excited because it wasn’t going to be fun going into the postseason with so many unknowns. So, I think everybody responded tonight and we played a much cleaner basketball game, but in the end, [Florida State junior guard] Leticia Romero just made great plays.”

Miami jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes and 34 seconds. The Hurricanes connected on a trio of 3-pointers in the first period, two by junior guard Jessica Thomas and one by Motley, and led 16-15 through 10 minutes of play.

The Hurricanes opened the second quarter on a 10-4 run to stretch their lead back up to seven, 26-19, with five minutes and 37 seconds left before the intermission. Florida State would go on to make its final three shots of the half and Miami took a 30-29 lead into the locker room, just the sixth team to lead the Seminoles at the break. The Hurricanes did not trail at all in the opening 20 minutes.

Motley led all players in both points and rebounds at the half, with 10 and seven, respectively. The seven rebounds tied her top mark for a full game in 2015-16.

Florida State took its first lead of the game just under three minutes into the third period and built its advantage to four points, 37-33, with 6:08 on the clock. Miami, however, immediately countered by going on a 13-3 run to go up by six, 46-40,

Five different Hurricanes scored during their run to regain the lead, and Miami went on take a four-point edge, 48-44, through 30 minutes of action.

Miami raised its lead back to six, 54-48, in the fourth period, but Florida State answered with seven-straight points to go up by one with four minutes and 24 seconds left. Miami quickly tied it with a free throw by freshman guard Laura Cornelius 19 seconds later.

The Seminoles then went on an 8-1 run to take their largest lead of the game, 63-56, with 1:26 on the clock.

“We gave them live ball turnovers. They were going to make a run,” Meier said. “We had command of the game. We had control of the game for almost 32 minutes. They did hit a couple of tough shots, but I think it was the transition points off of our mistakes that cost us that game. That’s what frustrating for us.”

Miami pulled within three, 67-64, on a three-point play by redshirt senior guard Michelle Woods with 9.3 seconds remaining. A 3-pointer by Motley with two seconds to go made it 69-67, but Romero made the first of two free throws to ice the game. Romero shot 5-of-6 at the line in final 20 seconds.

In addition to Motley’s team-high 18 points, Thomas posted 14 and redshirt junior forward Keyona Hayes added 10 points to go along with a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore forward/center Erykah Davenport chipped in with nine points, seven rebounds and a game- and career-high five steals.

Romero led all scorers with 24 points, while sophomore forward Shakayla Thomas recorded 22 points of 9-of-14 shooting (64.3 percent) for the Seminoles. Freshman forward Maria Conde added 14 points, too.

The Hurricanes outrebounded Florida State, 34-28, and have now edged the Seminoles on the glass in both meetings this season. Florida State was outrebounded in just three of its other 27 games.

“I thought our post players did a great job of neutralizing their posts because they’re very, very good and we really took them out of their game,” Meier said. “Romero had to have a career high to beat us and I thought she was very timely. Her points were very, very timely. Most every play they made down the stretch she had something to do with. She was great.”

Miami will receive a bye in the first round of the upcoming ACC Tournament as the fifth seed in the field. The Hurricanes will then open play Thursday at 11 a.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between No. 12-seed Pittsburgh and No. 13-seed North Carolina. The game will be televised live on RSN from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.

To learn more about University of Miami women’s basketball, follow @CanesWBB.

MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES

·         For the 15th time this season, and the first time since Feb. 14, 2016, Miami’s starting five was Davenport, Hayes, Motley, Thomas and Woods.

·         The all-time series between the Miami and Florida is now 39-12 in favor of the Seminoles.

·         This is the first time since 2010-11 the Hurricanes and Seminoles have met in the same season with both ranked in the top 25.

·         Meier is now 281-186 in her 15 seasons as a head coach, including 205-141 in her 11 years at Miami.

·         Miami led for 31 minutes and 26 seconds of play.

·         The Hurricanes are just the fifth team to outrebound the Seminoles this year, including when they did so in the team’s first meeting of the season, too.

·         Miami is just the sixth team to lead Florida State at halftime this season.

·         Two Hurricanes, Davenport and Thomas, fouled out of the game. Miami entered the contest with two foul outs all season. It was Davenport’s second time fouling out in 2015-16 and Thomas’ first.

·         Woods tied Charmaine Clark for eighth place on the Hurricanes’ all-time appearances list with 124 games played.

·         In addition, Woods moved past 250 assists in her career.

·         Motley has scored at least a dozen points in 24 of 29 games this season and has recorded 17-plus points 17 times.

·         Motley’s seven rebounds tied her season high (previous vs. La Salle, 11/29/15).

·         Motley eclipsed both 1,350 points and 300 free throws attempted as a Hurricane.

·         Thomas surpassed both 800 points and 250 rebounds as a collegian.

·         Thomas scored in double figures for the 20th time in 29 games this season. She has recorded at least nine points in all but five contests.

·         Hayes, who recorded the 50th start of her collegiate career, tallied double-digit points for the 11th time this season. Seven of those outings have come in ACC play.

·         Hayes also tied her career best mark for assists in ACC play with three (previous at Florida State, 2/16/14).

·         In addition, Hayes’ 35 minutes played set both a season high and a career high in ACC play. Both prior marks were 33, set earlier this season, also vs. Florida State (1/24/16).

·         Davenport is the first Hurricane to record five steals in a game since Jessica Thomas did so earlier this season vs. Illinois (12/2/15). The five steals are also a career high (previous high four, vs. La Salle, 11/29/15).

·         Davenport played a career-high 30 minutes in the game (previous high 25, recorded multiple times, most recently vs. FIU, 12/22/15).

·         Additionally, Davenport eclipsed 300 points, 50 free throws made and 100 free throws attempted at Miami.