Latson scores 28 and Florida State tops George Mason 94-59 in the NCAA Tournament's first round
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Ta'Niya Latson scored 28 points and sixth-seeded Florida State defeated George Mason on Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Mikayla Timpson had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Seminoles (24-8), who advanced to play either No. 3 seed LSU or 14th seed San Diego State in a second-round game on Monday night.
Paula Suarez scored 25 points and Kennedy Harris added 12 points for George Mason (27-6), which was making its first March Madness appearance after winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Florida State led by as many as 20 points in the middle of the second quarter, but George Mason pulled within seven when the second of Suarez's back-to-back 3s made it 49-42.
Florida State coach Brooke Wyckoff called timeout at that point, and the Seminoles responded with a 10-0 run during which O'Mariah Gordon scored five points on a fast-break layup and corner 3.
Jada Brown's fast-break 3 pulled George Mason back within 10 points at the end of the third quarter, but the Seminoles again pulled away with a 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter.
Sydny Bowles' fourth 3 of the game began the decisive spurt. Gordon added a pair of layups and Timpson scored twice inside, once while being fouled for a 3-point play.
Gordon finished with 18 points and Bowles with 15 on 5-of-5 shooting from deep.
Takeaways
George Mason: Staying within striking distance through three quarters made for a solid NCAA Tournament debut the Patriots before they faded in the final period.
Florida State: The Seminoles are tournament regulars and looked like it when they dominated down the stretch. Florida State is part of March Madness for a 12th straight time and also has appeared in 19 of the past 20 NCAA Tournaments.
Key stat
Latson, the nation's leading scorer, eclipsed her average of 24.9 points coming in.
Up Next
Florida State plays in its first second-round game since 2019. The Seminoles have not advanced to the round of 16 since 2017.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
Brett Martel, The Associated Press
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