Despite fighting its way back from an 11-point halftime deficit, the Miami Hurricanes fell on the road to a talented Florida State team, 80-60 at the Donald L. Tucker Center Sunday afternoon.
Miami (16-7, 6-4 ACC) was out-rebounded 53-30 for the game, leading to 24, second-chance points for the Seminoles. Florida State, (22-2, 9-1) the fourth best offensive rebounding team in the country, was led by Adut Bulgak, the former NJCAA Player of the Year, who went for 19 points and 17 rebounds on the afternoon.
“Well, they’re great and I think 80 points there at the end, I don’t think it was really 80 [in how the game went], but we went for the win. That’s what we’re going to do,” head coach Katie Meier said after the game. “So, I don’t care what the final score says, I know that we feel better about the way we played today than we felt in Thursday’s win.”
Meier was referencing Miami’s 42-39 win over Virginia Tech, in which both teams played sloppy and shot poorly from the field.
The Hurricanes used a 9-3 run going into the half to cut the lead down to five, and got the deficit to just a one point margin with 14:35 left to play. However, the Seminoles quickly responded, never losing the lead and quickly getting back to a double-digit advantage. FSU, who is having its best conference season in school history thus far, won their ninth straight ACC game, a program record.
Freshman Khaila Prather had one of her strongest games for Miami, setting a career high in rebounds with 10.
“She was relentless on the glass and didn’t get in foul trouble…KP rose up. She was great,” Meier said.
Adrienne Motley finished with 14 points, her 20th double digit game in 23 appearances this season.
Miami will hit the road again for a Thursday night matchup with Syracuse, before returning home for a Sunday afternoon tilt with Georgia Tech.