CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Cierra Bravard scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds and No. 19 Florida State withstood a furious rally to beat Virginia 78-74 on Monday night.
The Seminoles (18-5, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), coming off a 9-point home loss against No. 13 North Carolina, led 39-32 at halftime and used a 14-4 burst to open the second half to seemingly take command until Virginia made a frenetic push to make it close.
Virginia (13-12, 2-7) used a 21-7 run to close to within 74-72 on Ariana Moorer’s layup with 47 seconds left, then stole the inbounds pass, but Paulish Kellam was called for traveling while driving to the basket and Natasha Howard scored at the other end.
After another basket by Virginia’s Ataira Frankling with 5 seconds left against made it a 2-point game, Bravard hit a pair of free throws with 3.9 seconds to play to clinch it.
Franklin led Virginia with 16 points and China Crosby had 14.
