No. 24 FSU women stun No. 3 Notre Dame on record-setting night in South Bend

It was a historic night for the FSU women’s basketball team, and not just because senior forward Makayla Timpson became the Seminoles’ all-time leading rebounder and Ta’Niya Latson became the first FSU player to score 2,000 points in three seasons.

No, on this night, those impressive individual accomplishments were secondary to what the No. 24-ranked Seminoles accomplished as a team.

Playing before a crowd of 8,761 Thursday night in South Bend’s Purcell Pavilion, FSU dominated most of the final three quarters and stunned No. 3 Notre Dame, 86-81. It marked the Seminoles’ first-ever win at Notre Dame and just their second all-time against the Fighting Irish.

With the win, FSU improved to 23-6 overall and 13-4 in the ACC; Notre Dame fell to 24-4 and 15-2.

“Well, that was fun,” said a drenched-but-excited Wyckoff, who was soaked in a post-game water bottle celebration in the visiting locker room. “That was fun. And we were able to do it because we played on both ends. That’s obviously a really good Notre Dame basketball team.”

It was Florida State’s second consecutive win on the road against a nationally ranked opponent, coming just a few days after the Seminoles surprised No. 20 Georgia Tech despite not having star guard Ta’Niya Latson in the lineup.

Latson was indeed available on Thursday, and that was bad news for the Irish. The junior guard led FSU with 23 points and became just the third player in ACC history to score 2,000 points in her first three seasons. Latson also set Florida State’s all-time free throw record during the game, passing Seminole legend Sue Galkantas.

After struggling for most of the first half, Latson scored 19 of her 23 points in the final two quarters; 13 came in the decisive fourth quarter, as Notre Dame tried to make a late run.

“She was unstoppable,” Wyckoff said of Latson’s second-half performance.

Timpson was dominant in both haves. She went into intermission with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and she finished the game with 22 and 17. The senior now has 1,058 career rebounds, which passes former FSU great Natasha Howard (1,046) for tops in school history.

Florida State also got 15 points from guard O’Mariah Gordon and 12 from reserve sharp-shooter Carla Viegas.

“It was just a total team effort,” Wyckoff said. “And that’s how you have to win these types of games.”

FSU’s third-year head coach was perhaps most pleased with her team’s defensive effort. The Seminoles held Notre Dame’s explosive offense to 17 points in each of the critical second and third quarters, and they allowed the Irish to hit just 4 of 13 3-pointers. Notre Dame leads the ACC in that category and came in averaging nearly eight made 3-pointers a game.

“We were able to do some really good things on the defensive end,” Wyckoff said. “We held them to 30 percent from 3, which they’re the best 3-point shooting team in the country. … Just really got stops when needed. Whenever they made a run at us, I felt we had an answer.”

Florida State went into the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, but Notre Dame essentially erased that with a 9-0 run to start that period. But Timpson connected on back-to-back jumpers to push the lead back to five, 71-66, and Latson scored five driving layups in about 2 1/2 minutes to give the Seminoles a 12-point lead with 2:32 remaining.

“We went down and made plays, and we had kids that went and scored the ball,” Wyckoff said. “They did make a push. … Even when they scored, I felt like we had an answer.”

The victory marked FSU’s 12th win all-time against a team ranked in the top five of the AP poll, and just the fourth on the road.

This Sunday, the Seminoles will host No. 16 Duke (22-7, 13-4 ACC) on Senior Day at the Tucker Center. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on the ACC Network.

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