Bravard, Deluzio help No. 21 Florida St beat BC
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cierra Bravard scored 11 of her 21 points in the final 6½ minutes and Alexa Deluzio hit a pair of key 3-pointers, helping No. 21 Florida State hold off Boston College 102-93 on Thursday night.
Deluzio finished with 20 points and six assists for the Seminoles (17-4, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Courtney Ward had 20 points, 14 in the second half.
Stefanie Murphy scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Eagles (15-6, 2-4). Jaclyn Thoman had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Boston College leading scorer and rebounder Carolyn Swords, averaging 18 points and 8.9 boards, was held to four points and three rebounds before fouling out with 8 minutes left.
The Seminoles beat No. 16 Miami 68-59 in their previous game Monday.
After BC tied the game 81-all with just more than 7 minutes to play, Bravard hit three free throws and Deluzio nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner, pushing the Seminoles ahead by six with 4½ minutes left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kristen Doherty's two free throws cut it to 89-85, but Bravard's three-point play gave the Seminoles a seven-point advantage with 2:53 to go. Deluzio's second 3-pointer in the closing minutes made it 95-88 with just more than 2 minutes left.
Ward's fourth 3-pointer of the second half had given Florida State a 79-73 lead with 9½ minutes left before the Eagles scored eight of the next 10 points, tying it at 81 on Thoman's foul-line jumper.
Ward, who scored six points in the opening half, nailed three 3-pointers in the opening 3:06 of the second as Florida State opened a 62-55 lead.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BC cooled off considerably after a strong shooting performance in the first half, but Florida State stayed on target. BC missed nine of its first 13 shots in the opening 7½ minutes of the second half while the Seminoles went 7 of 11.
The Seminoles used a late first-half run to take a 49-48 lead at halftime.
In a first half that was filled with up-tempo play and accurate outside shooting, Florida State recovered from a six-point deficit by outscoring the Eagles 16-9 over the final 4 minutes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Eagles came out firing from long range, nailing four of their initial five shots from beyond the arc to build a 20-12 edge. The Seminoles then went on an 18-7 run over the ensuing 6 minutes to take their first lead of the game.
BC was 7 of 10 on 3-point attempts in the opening 20 minutes and shot 59.4 percent overall. The Seminoles shot 58.6 percent from the floor, going 5 of 9 from beyond the arc.
(Updates throughout with corrected point totals for Bravard and Ward to reflect official boxscore)