TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Georgia Tech came out strong and never looked back, defeating No. 11 Florida State on the road, 67-52, Thursday night in the Donald L. Tucker Center. Tech opened a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and was led by Jasmine Carson on the night, scoring a game-high 21 points as Tech captured its first win over a top-25 opponent on the road since 2012. The win pushed the Yellow Jackets to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in ACC play.
How It Happened
Tech opened challenging Florida State right out of the gate and led 10-4 after converting two Seminole turnovers and forcing FSU to burn an early timeout at 7:10 of the first. Lorela Cubaj and Francesca Pan combined to open a 14-6 lead with 5:12 remaining in the first, marking Tech’s largest lead of the first half. The Yellow Jackets scored eight points off seven FSU turnovers in the first 10 minutes, while shooting 45.0 percent and committing zero turnovers in the frame. Carson sank Tech’s first three-pointer of the game at 5:42 in the second quarter to give the Jackets a 24-17 edge and Tech led 28-24 at halftime.
FSU hit the first shot of the second half to close the score to two points and that would mark the closest the Seminoles came the remainder of the game. FSU kept its deficit within single digits in the third quarter, but the Jackets opened their first double-digit lead following an Anne Francoise Diouf bucket at 5:25 in the fourth quarter. The Seminoles came within eight points, 58-50, going 4-for-8 at the free throw line, but Tech closed the game with a 9-2 run for the final 67-52 win.
For the game, Tech shot 44.1 percent (26-59) from the floor and 83.3 percent (10-12) from the charity stripe. Carson led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Pan with 16 points, Kierra Fletcher with 12 and Cubaj with 10. Tech lost the rebounding battle, 30-26, for just the fifth time this season and committed only nine turnovers in the contest. The Jackets scored 20 points off 21 FSU turnovers.
“I’m so proud of this team,” commented head coach Nell Fortner. “They were ready. The shoot around was good, the preparation was excellent and the energy we created on the road – it was just a total team effort today. It was just a tremendous effort by everybody.”
Next Up
Georgia Tech returns to McCamish Pavilion to welcome Clemson for the first meeting of the season on Sunday, Jan. 12. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
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