Special to the Daily World
AUBURN, Ala. — Sophomores Anne Marie Armstrong and Jasmine James led the sixth-seeded Georgia Lady Bulldogs (23-10) to a 61-59 second-round victory over No. 15-ranked and third-seeded Florida State (24-8) in the NCAA Tournament on March 22.
Armstrong scored a team-high 15 points off the bench, and James added 14 points and equaled her season high with four steals. Khaalidah Miller and Meredith Mitchell also reached double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Porsha Phillips collected 10 rebounds and in the process moved to No. 5 — ahead of Janet Harris’s 1984-85 effort — on Georgia’s single-season rebounding-leaders ledger.
James connected on a putback and a subsequent free throw with 2.9 seconds left in the game to give Georgia the victory. Florida State was unable to take a shot before the clock expired.
“Our basketball team, our coaches and everyone are really excited,” said head coach Andy Landers. “We felt it would be a hard-fought game. I felt that personnel wise we were pretty evenly matched….We got down 10 and dug down in a place we had not before during this game.”
Bravard, who has averaged 14.9 points and 7.7 rebounds a game for the Seminoles, notched a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Georgia took an early lead in the first half but a 15-2 run by the Seminoles kept the Lady Bulldogs from taking the lead again.
Florida State led 33-27 at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs scored on the first possession of the second period when James connected on her first three-pointer of the night.
After Florida State opened up a 10-point lead, a 7-0 run by Georgia brought the score to 51-48, and a jumper by Meredith Mitchell with 4:29 left in the game allowed the Lady Bulldogs to tie the score at 53-53. A second jumper by Mitchell at the 3:51 mark put Georgia in the lead for the first time since 12:22 was left in the first period.
Neither team led by more than two in the final 3:51 of the game, which contained two ties and five lead changes.
Florida State, which only shot 30 percent in the second half, didn’t score a field goal in the final 10 minutes.
The Lady Bulldogs will now face Texas A&M in the “Sweet 16” at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, March 27 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Georgia will be making its 19th appearance in Regional competition of the NCAA Tournament, the third-most of any school in the nation.
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