Late game free throws give Florida State women's basketball thrilling win over No. 11 Tennessee
It was everything you could ask for.
A back-and-forth game between No. 18 Florida State and No. 11 Tennessee came down to the final seconds on Thursday at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
With 52 seconds left, UC Berkeley transfer Amaya Bonner hit her fourth 3-pointer of the night to tie the game at 91. Seconds later, UC Santa Barbra transfer Alexis Tucker shot 1-2 from the free throw line, inching FSU ahead, 92-91.
A defensive stop on Tennessee's Rickea Jackson in the final seconds ignited The Tuck as the Seminoles took down the Lady Volunteers, 92-91, for the first time in program history in front of 2,898 fans. Before Thursday's showdown, FSU was 0-2 against Tennessee dating back to 1985.
"I'm just I'm just so proud of the team. That was an amazing game," head coach Brooke Wyckoff said. "This is why we play the game for moments like this and challenges like this. For our fans, and just for women's college basketball in general, was a fantastic night."
Transfers make a difference
Bonner and Tucker were not on this team last season. As a freshman at Cal, Bonner's career high was four and she hadn't made a shot from outside the arc.
Against Charleston Southern on Monday, she downed a career-high 15 points and made two shots from deep.
She set a new career high against the Lady Vols with 16 points and drained a career-high 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
"I will say those shots came to me," Bonner said. "My teammates found me in good spots where I was open and I had the confidence that I can hit those shots. It just felt good coming from my hands so I knew I was gonna knock them down."
On the other side of the 3-point shooting effort, Tucker drained a career-high four 3-pointers, finishing with 17 points on the night.
However, the biggest impact came at the line, making the game-winning point. She said she calls those "pressure situations" that the team is constantly practicing.
"Let's just start with we do practice that," Tucker said. "Brooke calls us out randomly to make free throws, so I'm used to it. "I think I was just like, 'OK, you know, you missed the first one, you got to make the second one'. I've been in those moments before, but I just tried to stay calm."
The portal played a big role this offseason in making FSU even better than it was last season, and its pair of acquisitions is proving very quickly that they're having no issue stepping into an impact role.
"we just we knew, what we've been saying this whole time," Wyckoff said. "We knew these two would be impact players on both ends. They both have great size, they're obviously great scores, can defend, can rebound and we needed to fill those spots and to take a step forward as a program."
Ta'Niya Latson returns in a big way
It wasn't known until game time if the 2023 ACC Rookie of the Year was going to play against Tennessee. She missed the ladder end of last season due to an undisclosed injury but returned for FSU's preseason games against Flagler and Clayton State.
She didn't play in the season opener against Charleston Southern due to a hamstring injury. However, she rounded out the starting lineup announcement on Thursday to a thunderous roar from Seminole fans.
Latson logged 30 minutes on the night and didn't miss a beat, finishing with 20 points on 9-of-24 shooting from the field, and had a team-high four steals.
In a game where FSU was getting beat on the boards, Latson's ability to get the ball off Tennessee players came up big.
"She has a lot on her. She's expected to do so much she expects so much of herself," Wyckoff said. "She battled through a lot in this game and battled through a lot to be able to play today. To perform the way she did with 20 points and defensively down the stretch, she did a lot of things really, really well."
Beating Tennessee outside the paint
The Lady Vols dominated the Seminoles on the boards, outrebounding them 47 to 28. Tennessee had a height advantage which was dominated by fifth-year senior forward Jackson, who finished with 31 points and 17 rebounds.
"She's a really, really good player," Bonner said. I mean, guarding her, it was tough, trying to get in front of her. As a team, I feel like we're good. We can compete with a lot of other good teams. It's only up from here."
FSU struggled to stop her throughout the night, but in a similar sense, the Lady Vols struggled to stop the Seminoles from outside the arc.
FSU finished the night shooting 13-of-22 from deep, downing 27 points off of 3-pointers in the first half.
"They made shots. Every open shot they took, they made," Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said. "They did a great job finding open shots, they moved the ball well and they got around the first line of defense. They were able to find the open man. And again, they made shots. ... That's what they did."
Bonner and Tucker dominated the shooting effort with four 3-pointers each, but O'Mariah Gordon played an active role as well, shooting 3-of-5 from outside the arc and finishing with 22 points.
"We were who we were in the first half and we played the way that we need to play," Wyckoff said. "We were very us. We had 10 assists, and four turnovers at halftime. We were moving the ball, finding open shooters, stepping up and hitting them. We knew we needed to hit threes to stay in this game."
Up next
Who: No. 18 Florida State (2-0, 0-0 ACC) at Florida (2-0, 0-0 SEC)
When/Where: Friday, Nov. 17 at 4 p.m. at Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
TV: SECN+
Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State women's basketball defeats Tennessee in thrilling finish
