Seminoles earn first regional final berth

DAYTON, Ohio – Courtney Ward carried Florida State to its first regional final. Getting any further will be much tougher.

Ward scored the third-seeded Seminoles’ last six points in the final 38 seconds, leading the way to a 74-71 victory over No. 7 seed Mississippi State on Sunday in the Dayton Regional semifinal.

Florida State (29-5) advanced to meet No. 1-seeded Connecticut (36-0), which beat Iowa State in the earlier semi, in Tuesday night’s regional final. The Huskies rolled to a 78-59 win when they met earlier in the season.

Alysha Harvin had 21 points and Ward 14 as the Seminoles earned their first spot in a regional title game.

Chanel Mokango scored 20 points and Mary Kathryn Govero had 19 for the Lady Bulldogs (21-13), who went deeper in the tournament this year than ever before.

After Ward hit two free throws with 8.1 seconds left, Alexis Rack missed a 3-pointer.

After 11 ties and 14 lead changes, the Seminoles finally got the lead for good with 1:40 left when Harvin was fouled during a loose-ball scrum and broke a tie at 66 by hitting both foul shots.