The shot clock was about to expire.
Even this early in the game, any points the Boston College women’s basketball team could come up with would be important. The ball swung around the court, finding freshman Kelly Hughes at the point with the buzzer about to sound. Despite being about five feet behind the 3-point line, she let it fly.
Swish.
That shot would be the only stroke of luck the Eagles had on Sunday.
The Florida State Seminoles were able to force turnovers, grab rebounds, and shut down the Eagles, running a clinic en route to a 72-55 win.
After snapping their five-game losing streak last Thursday against the University of Virginia, the Eagles were looking for their first conference road win against the Seminoles, who recently fell from the Top 25.
BC would be without its leading scorer and senior leader Kristen Doherty, who did not travel with the team due to concussion-like symptoms. Hughes took her place in the starting lineup after finishing with 23 points last game against Virginia.
Early in the game, the Eagles’ 2-3 zone stifled the Seminole offensive attack, holding them to one for six shooting to start the match. Senior Katie Zenevitch had two quick blocks to keep FSU off the board.
Florida State, clad in its all-pink uniforms for “Paint It Pink Day,” wouldn’t go down so easily. Seminole senior Natasha Howard kept her team competitive on both ends of the floor, coming up with big blocks on defense and converting her shots on the other end.
The Eagles found themselves cooling off after their hot start, watching the Seminoles go on a 14-0 run to take a commanding lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half.
Junior Lauren Engeln, who made a layup and drew a foul to convert the 3-point play, finally broke the streak. Despite being beaten in most facets of the game, the Eagles only found themselves trailing by five at that point.
Florida State answered right back, however, and dominated its way to a 35-20 lead at the half. The Seminoles scored 32 of their 35 points in the paint, while eight of the Eagles’ points came in the key.
FSU came out to start the second half driven, beating the lackadaisical Eagles to loose balls and capitalizing on second and third chances. Howard crushed BC down low, scoring 26 points with 11 rebounds-both game highs.
Hughes was the lone bright spot for the Eagles, keeping the game reasonably close with her lights-out shooting. She finished with 23 points on seven-of-nine shooting, a perfect five of five from downtown.
After cutting the lead to 14, Seminole guards Brittany Brown and Cheetah Delgado scored quick buckets to extend the lead to 18 with four minutes remaining. Delgado had a record-breaking performance for Florida State, surpassing the single-game assists mark set in 1976 with 15.
In the end, FSU was just too much for the overwhelmed BC squad, which dropped to 12-13 overall and 3-8 in the ACC.
Florida State dominated the glass, outrebounding the Eagles 46-22. BC also lost the offensive rebounding battle by 16.
The Eagles’ next matchup is Thursday against No. 2 Notre Dame, who handed them a 95-53 loss in early January.
