Thomas, No. 6 Seminoles win seventh straight

ATLANTA (AP) — Leticia Romero couldn't find a rhythm offensively and neither did several of her teammates.

Romero was pleased to just to get this game over with and leave town with a victory.

"It was ugly," she said with a smile. "We didn't play well, but who cares right now? We got a win, and that's all we want."

Shakayla Thomas scored 17 points, Imani Wright added 14 and No. 6 Florida State won its seventh straight game with a 69-63 victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday night.

The Seminoles (20-2, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) remained atop the league standings, trailing for just one possession and improving to 8-0 on the road.

Kaylan Pugh finished with 23 points and Zaire O'Neil had 12 for Georgia Tech (13-7, 2-5). The Yellow Jackets have lost three straight and five of seven.

O'Neil's layup gave Georgia Tech its only lead of the game, making it 50-49 with 8:36 remaining, but Florida State coach Sue Semrau immediately called a timeout, and Chatrice White followed with two quick baskets for a three-point lead.

"We had to remind them about our discipline on defense," Semrau said. "I thought we tried to go make big plays instead of just playing solid. Once we kind of figured that out, offensively we were able to push the ball and feed some kids in the post."

Wright had a three-point play to make it 56-50, and Ama Degbeon scored inside for a 60-52 lead.

Ivey Slaughter had 11 points and six rebounds for Florida State.

Thomas' free throw gave the Seminoles their first double-digit lead at 43-33 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Seminoles missed 11 of their first 15 shots of the game, but they finished the first half shooting 50 percent and led 30-23. In the second half, they didn't put the game away until the final 3 minutes.

BIG PICTURE

Florida State: Romero had an off night. The team's leading scorer this season, Romero averaged 15 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists the last two games, but she finished with just six points on 2 for 8 shooting.

"I think everybody deserves that every now and then," Semrau said. "I thought most of our kids didn't play extremely well tonight, but credit Georgia Tech. They wanted to slow the pace and I thought they did a good of that."

Romero had a big assist with 3:31 remaining, driving the lane to feed Degbeon for a layup that put the Seminoles up 62-57. The senior guard's layup at the 2:03 mark made it 66-57.

The Jackets effectively switched on screens to take away space for Romero's pull-up jumper. Their full-court press kept Romero from getting the ball on every possession. She didn't take shot beyond the arc.

"We didn't do a good job of being a threat from the 3-point line, which is something I've been doing good all season," Romero said. "I think it was messing with my head a little bit."

Georgia Tech: The three-game slide includes a 40-point loss at Louisville and an overtime loss at Wake Forest. The Jackets dropped to 1-4 against ranked teams, but they have two young players with promise. Pugh, a sophomore transfer from Ohio State, has scored in double figures in four of her last six games. Francesca Pan of Italy, named three times as ACC freshman of the week, finished with nine points.

"Seven of our 11 players are first-year players in the ACC, so we're getting baptized," coach MaChelle Joseph said. "We've played all the top teams now, 1 through 7. Now is an opportunity for us to get our bearings straight and make a run here."

NO SHOES

Semrau and Joseph coached the game barefoot to raise awareness for shoeless children around the world. The coaches partnered with Samaritan's Feet, a charity citing a 2013 World Health Organization report that over 1.5 billion people are infected with diseases transmitted through contaminated soil.

UP NEXT

Florida State: Has an off week before visiting Boston College next Thursday.

Georgia Tech: Visits Clemson on Sunday.

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