FSU women’s basketball falls hard to Virginia Tech

Florida State (4-9, 0-2 ACC) was defeated by Virginia Tech (10-3, 1-1 ACC) by a 79-54 score tonight in Tallahassee.

Game recap

Virginia Tech blitzed Florida State from the opening tip. The Hokies jumped out to a 20-4 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. They actually played more basketball after that but that opening run basically decided the game. FSU was never able to cut the lead under double digits. VT cruised to the 79-54 victory.

Postgame

Jasmine Shavers led Florida State with 19 points and eight rebounds. No other FSU player was in double digits.  

Sydney Bowles and Emma Risch were unavailable for this game.

Sole Williams went down in the second quarter with an apparent knee injury. She was helped off the court by the training staff and did not return to the game.

Florida State is now on a five-game losing streak. 

This was an embarrassing loss for the Seminoles. There were a couple of caveats. FSU was short-handed in this game without Bowles, Risch and Williams (for most of the game). It is impossible to know how the team would have fared at full strength. Even so what we saw tonight does not inspire much confidence. 

The statistics say that FSU had 15 turnovers. It felt closer to 25. Tech had 18 points off turnovers to only three for the Noles. VT had 17 fast break points (FSU had 4). I could go on but you get the picture. The Hokies scored time and again off easy baskets while FSU had to work hard for every bucket. 

This wasn’t one of those nights where the opponent just couldn’t miss. VT only shot 20% from deep and 44% overall. However, the Hokies had 16 more shots from the field than FSU. This was just a mauling from the opening tip. 

The Seminoles do deserve some grace because of the players that are missing. Florida State is not commenting on the severity of any of the injuries so we aren’t sure when the players will return. Right now FSU only has seven healthy bodies. If those players aren’t able to return quickly, this season could get even uglier.

At this point, we need to face the fact that this is not a tournament team. I’m obviously not saying that the team should give up on this year but at least part of the strategy going forward should be in service of preparing for next year. Therefore, Mari Gerton should get more playing time – at least 20 minutes per game. FSU needs to get her more game experience for next year and beyond or find out that she isn’t the point guard of the future so that they know that they need to get one.

For this year, the Noles need to do a better job of getting Pania Davis the ball on the low block. This almost never happens. On the occasions that FSU gets her the ball she is almost always a few feet off the block and then she has to work her way into position. She would be much more effective if she could get the ball in a good position from the beginning. 

Overall, there were a bunch of problems in this game (that is usually the case when you lose by 25). However, it’s probably not too profitable to discuss them right now because the Seminoles simply aren’t healthy. This is not a team that can afford to lose anyone since there are only 10 players total on the roster. If these problems persist after the Noles get healthy we can discuss them at that point. 

Healthy or not, the bottom line is that FSU is five games under .500 and on a five-game losing streak. FSU just needs to get a win some way, somehow. 

Next game

The Seminoles will welcome South Carolina State to the Civic Center on Saturday. The game will tip at 2pm and will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.