Florida State (4-7, 0-1 ACC) fell to Notre Dame (6-2, 1-0 ACC) by a 93-58 score this afternoon in Tallahassee.

Game Recap

Notre Dame blitzed Florida State with a 20-0 run to begin the game. FSU’s first points came on an Emma Risch triple with three minutes left in the quarter. The Seminoles couldn’t get out of their own way to start the game. It was a festival of bad shots, bad turnovers and bad luck.

However, the Noles didn’t quit. Despite being down 25-11 to start the second quarter the Seminoles went on a 12-0 run that was capped by a Pania Davis jumper to cut the lead to 29-27. Unfortunately for FSU that was as close at they would get as the Irish responded by scoring the last 12 points of the half to take a 41-27 lead into halftime.

Midway through the third quarter ND went on an 11-0 run to take a 58-36 lead. KK Bransford hit a jumper to end the quarter and the Irish had a 65-42 lead to start the fourth. The Seminoles could not respond as Notre Dame cruised to the 93-58 victory.

Post Game

Allie Kubek led Florida State with 16 points. Pania Davis had 10 points and Emma Risch chipped in 12 off the bench along with six boards.

Florida State is now 4-7 – on Dec. 7^th. Last year it took FSU until March 2^nd to get to seven losses. The year before that it took until Jan. 25^th. The year before that it took until Feb. 12^th. The year before that it took until Jan. 13^th. You get the point. It’s been a while since the Noles have had this many losses so soon.

This is a results oriented business. The record is the record and it’s not great. However, Florida State has played a very tough schedule. The seven teams FSU has lost to have a combined record of 53-6. The Noles have played the sixth toughest schedule in the nation. The only Power 4 team to have played a tougher schedule is UCLA. In comparison, the Duke Blue Devils, who were picked to finish first in the preseason ACC conference poll, have played the seventh toughest schedule in the nation and they are now at 4-6. The schedule does matter when evaluating this team.

Nevertheless, FSU is not just losing to these teams, they are getting blown out. Of the seven losses, the only one that was remotely close was the Indiana game where the Noles lost by four. In fairness, if Sole Williams had been available FSU would have probably won that game but she wasn’t and they didn’t. All of the other losses were basically non-competitive. That is alarming. It’s not just the losses, it is the margin of defeat.

All of the problems that have bedeviled the Noles in the previous losses showed up today. I won’t bore you with more discussion on that but we do need to highlight the main problems that led to the loss today. In the 20 point opening run Florida State was a turnover machine and they were mostly live ball turnovers that led to easy transition buckets for ND. Also, the Irish carved up FSU in the halfcourt and were able to get easy layups.

FSU switched to a zone defense and that keyed the second quarter run. However, Notre Dame eventually adjusted and FSU was not able to muster a counter punch to come back a second time.

Things will improve as the season goes on and the players get more used to playing with each other. However, FSU has seven losses already. As we already mentioned that puts the Noles in a hole. It won’t be easy to dig out of it but FSU will attempt to try starting next Sunday.