Jan. 30, 2015
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ATLANTA (AP) — Emiah Bingley has been trying to improve her 3-point shooting. It showed Friday night.
The reserve guard scored 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc to lead No. 9 Florida State to an 82-62 victory over Georgia Tech.
Bingley, a 5-foot-7 junior, finished two points shy of her season-high, set against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 18, and helped the Seminoles (20-2, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) to their seventh straight win.
”It’s just something that I’ve been working on and spending time on and I guess tonight was the night,” Bingley said. ”I think 3-pointers always open it up on the inside. If we can hit from the outside, we’re going to get things on the inside, too.”
Bingley’s five 3s made matched her career best set last season against Virginia.
Shakayla Thomas had 13 points, Adut Bulgak added 12 points and nine rebounds, Maegan Conwright also scored 12, and Ivey Slaughter had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Florida State.
”That’s how we’ve been. That’s who we are,” Seminoles coach Sue Semrau said. ”I love that Emiah can come out and be so dangerous. We have no drop-off with any of our players. That’s exciting as a coach.”
Eleven players scored for Florida State as its reserves outscored their Georgia Tech counterparts 42-13.
Aaliyah Whiteside had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Kaela Davis added 15 on just 6-for-22 shooting for the Yellow Jackets (13-9, 4-4).
The Seminoles overcame six turnovers to race out to a 16-3 lead with 13:20 left in the first half. The run was helped by Georgia Tech starting 1 for 11 from the field.
Imani Tilford and Whiteside scored four points each as the Yellow Jackets used a 12-5 run to pull to 32-23 with 3:27 to go in the opening half. The Seminoles responded with an 8-1 run to extend the advantage to 16 points, took a 42-28 lead at halftime.
”I thought we relaxed a little bit after that,” Semrau said. ”I thought Georgia Tech got some good looks and maybe missed some shots they don’t generally miss. We turned it over and got a little careless.”
Georgia Tech never got closer than 11 points in the second half.
TIP-INS
Florida State: The Seminoles improved to 7-1 in ACC play for just the second time. The other was in 2008-09 when they started 11-1 in the conference.
Georgia Tech: Sophomore Kaela Davis was presented a basketball in a pregame ceremony to commemorate her 1,000th point. Davis became the fastest player in program history to reach the milestone.
QUOTABLE
”I thought (Georgia Tech) did a great job on the boards. I don’t think we’ve given up that many offensive rebounds all year. The stats weren’t really pretty, but they were good enough and that’s what we needed tonight,” Florida State coach Sue Semrau said.
BOARD STRENGTH
Florida State outrebounded Georgia Tech 48-36. The Seminoles have outrebounded all 22 opponents and have an average rebound margin of plus-13, fourth-best in the country.
MEMORABLE MONTH
Florida State finished January 7-1, just the third time the Seminoles have had one or fewer loss in the month since joining the ACC.
BACKING THE SEAHAWKS
Florida State coach Sue Semrau, a native of Seattle, will be rooting for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. ”I was there when they were born . Jim Zorn, Steve Largent,” she said.
UP NEXT
Florida State: Hosts Syracuse on Monday.
Georgia Tech: Hosts Virginia Tech on Sunday.
