Florida State’s start to 2024 couldn’t be much better. And in the last four days, the Seminoles have captured wins over a pair of ranked teams.
Sara Bejedi scored a career-high 31 points, while Ta’Niya Latson poured it on late with 20 points — surpassing the 1,000-point mark — as No. 21 FSU defeated No. 11 Virginia Tech 89-81 on Sunday afternoon.
Bejedi shot 9 of 15 from the floor, 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and 8 of 12 from the free-throw line as she has strung together three straight impressive performances — 19 points at Clemson, a then-season-best 23 points in the win over North Carolina on Thursday and 31 points on Sunday. The redshirt senior previously scored a career-best 26 points at Boston College in Jan. 2023.
Latson struggled early from the free-throw line, but a pair of freebies in the final minute allowed her to surpass the milestone and do it in her first 48 games as a Seminole (matching Sue Galkantas for the fastest to ever hit the 1,000-point mark). The sophomore guard had her 10th game with 20 or more points this season, and she is the 40th FSU player to reach the scoring milestone.
FSU (14-4, 5-1 ACC) now has three wins over ranked teams in 2023-24, including a November win over then-No. 11 Tennessee. The Seminoles' only blemish in ACC play was an overtime loss at No. 3 NC State on Jan. 4.
“That’s a huge win against a really good Virginia Tech team,” FSU coach Brooke Wyckoff said. “I felt like at some points in the game we didn’t have answers for what they were doing – they’re so good. But our team responded. They never let up, they kept believing … We had a down second quarter but when we came out of halftime, our team was relentless.”
Makayla Timpson added 18 points and five rebounds, while O’Mariah Gordon had 17 points and four rebounds. FSU’s big 4 of Bejedi, Latson, Timpson and Gordon scored 86 of the team’s 89 points.
FSU shot a stunning 16 of 26 (61.5 percent) from the floor in the second half, including 6 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Elizatbeth Kitley scored 30 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for Virginia Tech (13-3, 4-1). But the Hokies struggled late and made just 1 of their last seven shots from the floor.
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