No. 19 Florida State at Miami | ACC | 2.9.23

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s basketball team tallied its third top-25 victory of the season on Thursday, taking down No. 19/24 Florida State, 86-82, at the Watsco Center. The Hurricanes (16-8, 9-4 ACC) faced an 11-point deficit at halftime, but a 24-point second half from senior Haley Cavinder propelled Miami to the comeback victory. “Does that [game] not tell you how good the ACC is? Florida State, in the first half, I thought, ‘they’re going to the Final Four,’” head coach Katie Meier said. “They’re really good, but it turns out that Miami is really good, too. For us to have to outscore them in the second half and drop 53 was just necessary. I’m really happy, this was a huge win for us.” Cavinder poured in a career-high 33 points against Florida State (20-6, 9-4 ACC), the most points by a Hurricane since Riquna Williams totaled 34 against No. 5/5 Maryland on Jan. 12, 2012. The guard tied her career high in 3-pointers made with seven, going 7-for-10 from beyond the arc. “It was an incredible performance by Haley and she stayed faithful,” Meier said. “When Hanna [Cavinder] played with Haley, she got Haley’s timing on time and on target and that started Haley catching fire.” As a team, Miami shot 50 percent from 3-point range, connecting on 10-plus threes (11-of-22) for the third time this season. On the boards, the Hurricanes outrebounded their opponent for the third straight game, hauling in 47 rebounds to Florida State’s 28. Four other Hurricanes joined Cavinder in double figures – sophomores Jasmyne Roberts (19) and Ja’Leah Williams (14) and graduate student Destiny Harden (10). Senior Lola Pendande paced the Hurricanes on the boards with nine rebounds. The sophomore duo of Roberts and Williams came to play in the first quarter, accounting for 11 of Miami’s 18 first-quarter points. Williams grabbed six rebounds and tallied three assists in the quarter, in addition to her four points. However, the Seminoles caught fire early from beyond the arc, knocking down six 3-pointers to hold a 21-18 lead after one. Florida State extended its edge to 10, 32-22, at the 6:41 mark in the second thanks to a 7-0 run, capped by the Seminoles’ seventh three of the game. Haley Cavinder stopped the bleeding for the Hurricanes, connecting on a pair of 3-pointers to cut the Florida State advantage to nine. While the Hurricanes dominated the Seminoles on the boards, 26-14, in the first half, Florida State used an 8-of-14 shooting effort from 3-point range to take a 44-33 margin into halftime.