PITTSBURGH (AP) — Natasha Howard scored a career-high 27 points Thursday and No. 21 Florida State beat Pittsburgh 78-69 in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Morgan Jones, Brittany Brown and Ivy Slaughter each scored 11, and Slaughter grabbed 13 rebounds in the Seminoles’ ninth-straight win.
Howard opened with a layup and FSU (13-1, 1-0) jumped to an 11-6 lead, but Pitt (8-7, 0-1) clawed back, making it a two-point game at 11:03 on a jumper by Asia Logan. The Seminoles pulled ahead on a 7-2 run in which Howard scored back-to-back layups and took a 39-28 halftime lead.
FSU opened the second half with a 7-0 run, but Pitt came back again, with Brianna Kiesel hitting a trey at 7:31, sparking a 9-0 run and cutting FSU’s lead to eight. Howard scored five points in the final 3 minutes.
Kiesel led Pitt with 20 points, Loliya Briggs scored 15 and Logan had 14.
