By Corey Clark
From Tallahassee Democrat
It was more than a battle of the top two teams in the ACC.
On Thursday night, at the Civic Center, it was a battle of two of the top teams in the country.
The Florida State women, ranked No. 18 in the nation, overcame a six-point deficit in the final 40 seconds of regulation to force overtime and then dominated the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils in the extra period on their way to a 82-75 win.
"Duke is a very good team," said FSU senior Tanae Davis-Cain. "But I know this year's team — we believe now. We believe that we are good."
With good reason.
It was the ninth win in a row for the Seminoles, who improve to 18-4 overall and 6-0 in the conference — taking over sole possession of first place in the ACC. It was their fourth straight win over a ranked team and their second straight over a No. 3 team (FSU beat Texas A&M earlier in the month).
"I don't think any of us came into this game with any fear," senior Mara Freshour said. ". . . We're not playing the name on the chest anymore; we're just going out to win. And I think that our confidence right now is really allowing us to do that."
Duke, which had beaten FSU in 27 of the previous 29 games, led by as many as 12 in the first half, by 10 with 12:41 left and by six with 45 seconds remaining after the Blue Devils' Abby Waner hit two free throws.
But 11 seconds later, FSU freshman Cierra Bravard made a layup and got fouled and hit the free throw to cut the Seminoles' deficit to three with 34 seconds left.
Duke's Karima Christmas then missed the front end of a one-and-one and FSU senior Mara Freshour drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner to tie the game with 23 seconds left.
"Our coaches expect Tanae and I to be taking those shots," Freshour said. "If me or Tanae aren't taking those shots, we're going to get chewed out for it."
There was no chewing-out Thursday night. Just pure elation from the 3,157 on hand when the game-tying 3 went through the net.
In overtime, Freshour hit another clutch 3 to put the Seminoles up by four and then two more free throws to ice the game with 23 seconds left.
Freshour finished with a season-high 21 points. Davis-Cain finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, Jacinta Monroe had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks and sophomore Courtney Ward added 11 points and a game-high 10 assists against the Blue Devils, who had won 15 straight before Thursday night.
"You have to credit Florida State," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "They played a fabulous game. They outplayed us in many ways, particularly in the backcourt."
Said FSU coach Sue Semrau: "This was another team effort. You continue to see different people step up at different times."
Duke was led by 16 points from Jasmine Thomas. Waner and Chante Black had 14 points each for the Blue Devils.
But thanks to a stunning comeback in the final 40 seconds in regulation, it wasn't enough to knock out the still-undefeated-in-the-conference Seminoles, who have won their first six ACC games for the first time in school history.
"We're not worried about anything else other than beating the opponent we're playing," Monroe said. "We're just playing hard and going after it and getting wins."
And they've got nine in a row. And counting.
The Seminoles will try to make it 10 straight when they host the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins on Monday night.
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