Florida State University Athletics
No. 22 Noles Host No. 17 Cuse in Home Finale
2/27/2019 3:14:53 PM | Women's Basketball
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – No. 22/21 Florida State Women’s Basketball’s home season finale against No. 17 Syracuse on Thursday night happens to be the most important game of the season.
With two regular-season games left, the Seminoles (21-6, 9-5) and Orange (20-7, 9-5) are tied for the fifth seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament. The winner on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Tucker Center will hold the all-important tie-breaker.
Thursday is “Senior” Day! With no seniors on the team for a traditional Senior Day ceremony, we want to celebrate YOU! Seniors (ages 50+) can get tickets for just $2, have a chance to compete in senior games, and can send in photos to be featured on the video board! pic.twitter.com/K8Y2MfK2qV
— FSU Women’s Hoops (@fsuwbb) February 26, 2019
The matchup is “Senior” Night for the Seminoles, yet they don’t have any seniors on the 2018-19 roster. In fact, Florida State will honor its plethora of senior citizen fans by providing tickets for just $2 to those who are ages 50+. Senior citizen fans can check into the marketing table on the concourse to compete in the senior games.
According to the latest ESPNW Bracketology, Florida State is a projected 5 seed heading to Milwaukee, Wis., for the second time this season in what would be Marquette’s sub-regional as a No. 4 seed. FSU played at Milwaukee on Dec. 20 earlier this season, winning 87-62 behind Nicki Ekhomu’s 26 points and six assists.
Based on the current Associated Press Poll, Florida State is the only team in the Top 25 who needed to replace all five starters from last season. ACC Coach of the Year candidate Sue Semrau has guided the Seminoles to the 20th-ranked RPI that
includes two Top 10 wins (vs. #7 Iowa, #8 NC State) and three Top 18 victories (defeated #18 Miami 62-58 in Tallahassee).
The Seminoles are 3-3 this season against Top 25 opponents (AP Poll and/or USA Today Coaches Poll). In those six games, junior guard Nausia Woolfolk leads Florida State with 16.5 points per game.
Florida State leads Syracuse 3-2 all-time. The home team in the series has won four consecutive games, with the lone road win being FSU’s 83-59 win on Feb. 13, 2014, when Seminole Alumna Natasha Howard scored a school-record 40 points in the Carrier Dome.
A win over Syracuse would mark FSU’s fifth consecutive season reaching double-digit wins in the ACC. Entering the season, Notre Dame, Louisville, FSU and Syracuse were the only ACC programs to post 10+ conference wins in each of the previous four years.
The point guard battle will be an intriguing one with Syracuse’s Tiana Mangakahia and FSU’s Nicki Ekhomu. In ACC play, Mangakahia leads the league with 9.0 assists per game while Ekhomu has become more of a scoring guard averaging 15.7 points in ACC play.
Florida State will wrap up its regular season on Sunday when it travels to Georgia Tech for a 1 p.m. tip on ACC Network Extra.