On Monday, Feb. 15, the Tech women’s basketball team hosted the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles. The Jackets played hard but ultimately did not shoot well enough to beat the Seminoles, hitting just 32.8 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three-point range.
The loss was the first loss at home this season for the Jackets, who now stand 20-6 overall and 6-4 in ACC play.
Early in the game, both teams looked like they were evenly matched. Halfway through the first half, the score was tied at 10 apiece. Senior forward Brigitte Ardossi and junior guard Alex Montgomery kept the Jackets close early, combining to score all 10 of those early points.
Ardossi scored a game-high 23 points, nine rebounds, and added four assists.
After the early tie, the Jackets seemingly began to pull away by going on a 12-2 run. Ardossi scored six straight points for the Jackets, and then sophomore center Sasha Goodlett made three straight jump shots to give the Jackets a 22-12 lead with 4:32 left in the first half.
Goodlett finished the game with 16 points and nine rebounds. She also shot 50 percent from the field. She picked up her third foul late in the first half, though, and was forced to sit, allowing FSU to take advantage.
The Jackets were able to build their lead thanks to their strong play in the paint. Tech’s forwards combined to score 21 of their 26 points in the half, and Tech outrebounded the Seminoles 28-14 in the first 20 minutes.
After allowing Tech’s low post players to dominate the majority of the first half, FSU ended the first half on a 14-1 run.
FSU’s Alexia Deluzio came off the bench and scored four points and Alysha Harvin ended the half with a long jump shot to pull the Seminoles within three at 26-23.
The Seminoles used their momentum from the latter part of the first half to grab the lead early in the second half. In less than a minute, Jacinta Monroe’s four quick points gave the Seminoles the lead, 27-26.
Monroe finished the game with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
A pair of successful free throws by Montgomery at the 9:02 mark kept the Jackets within one at 42-41, but from that point onward the Seminoles controlled the game.
FSU went on a 14-4 scoring run to give them a commanding lead, 56-45.
Sophomore guard Mo Bennett tried to keep the Jackets close with a layup with 2:08 left in the game, but it was not enough. FSU’s Monroe and Harvin scored six of the Seminoles last ten points to give Florida State the win, 69-59.
There was one bright spot for the Jackets as Montgomery hit a three-point shot with 11.3 seconds left in the game. The outcome of the game was already decided, but the shot was special because it made Montgomery the twenty-third Tech player to reach 1,000 points in their career.
Montgomery finished the game with 10 points and 13 rebounds. She struggled from the field, though, hitting just two of 15 field goal attempts.
“Alex did a tremendous job on the boards but her shot just wasn’t falling,” said Head Coach MaChelle Joseph, courtesy of ramblinwreck.com.
The Jackets look to rebound from this tough loss on Friday Feb. 19 when they host No. 8 Duke in their second consecutive matchup against a top-10 opponent. Duke is currently at the top of the ACC standings with a conference record of 9-1.