No. 11 Florida State women rally past Boston College 67-39

Feb 23, 2018, 02:52 am

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State was tested during the first half of Thursday's game against Boston College. The final 20 minutes belonged to the Seminoles.

Nicki Ekhomu scored nine of her 17 points in the third quarter, and No. 9 Florida State pulled away from Boston College for a 67-39 victory.

"In the second half the way we played defense was the difference in the game," Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. "I love that Boston College came in and put pressure on us during the first half. I thought we responded well to get the lead back."

Florida State forced 12 turnovers and held Boston College to 26.3 percent (5 for 19) shooting in the second half. The Eagles were 5 of 11 on 3-pointers in the first half and 1 of 8 in the second.

"We got some good looks and shots in the first half, but Florida State did a good job of changing up their defense and pressuring us," Boston College coach Erik Johnson said. "I didn't like our shot selection in the second half. We took a lot of quick shots and they forced us into turnovers."

The Seminoles (23-5, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) grabbed control by outscoring the Eagles 22-7 in the third quarter. The score was tied at 29 when they pulled away with a 16-1 run, which included seven points by Ekhomu.

Ekhomu, a 5-fot-9 senior guard, led FSU in scoring for the second straight game.

"I just tried to give us a spark. I felt like we didn't have any energy in the first half," said Ekhomu, who is averaging 11.6 points over the past five games.

Imani Wright scored 12 points while Shakayla Thomas and AJ Alix added 11 apiece for Florida State, which led by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter.

Andie Anastos led the Eagles (7-21, 2-13) with nine points.

Boston College scored the first nine points of the game on three 3-pointers before Florida State countered by scoring the next 14. The Seminoles were up 20-13 with 7:41 remaining in the second quarter when the Eagles closed out the half with a 14-5 run.

BIG PICTURE

Boston College: The Eagles led at the half for only the second time in a conference game this season, but were unable to keep up in the second half. They are on pace to finish with just two ACC wins for the third straight season.

Florida State: The Seminoles improved to 12-1 at home and remain in position for a double-bye for next week's ACC Tournament.

STAR WATCH

Alix had a career-high 11 rebounds. Alix's previous high in rebounds was eight, which she did twice at TCU last season.

RECORD BOOK

Boston College's Milan Bolden-Morris made a 3-pointer in the first quarter. It was her 75th of the season and broke the school record for most 3-ponters by a freshman.

UP NEXT

Boston College closes the regular season on Sunday at Syracuse.

Florida State hosts Georgia Tech on Sunday in the regular-season finale.

---

More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

---

Follow Joe Reedy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/joereedy