Florida State will be without two players, including freshman All-American, for entire NCAA women’s tourney

Seminoles face Georgia in first round Friday at Iowa City

Mar. 16, 2023 11:36 am, Updated: Mar. 16, 2023 3:18 pm

Florida State's Ta'Niya Latson will miss the NCAA tournament due to an unspecified injury. Latson, a freshman, leads the Seminoles in scoring at 21.3 points per game. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

IOWA CITY — Florida State will be without two players, including its leading scorer, for the entire NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Freshman Ta’Niya Latson, an honorable-mention Associated Press All-American, is out with an unspecified injury. The 5-foot-8 guard led the Seminoles (23-9) in scoring this season at 21.3 points per game.

“It’s something that cropped up before the ACC tournament,” FSU Coach Brooke Wyckoff said. “Our medical team decided that she wouldn’t be ready for (the NCAA).

“We’re going to miss her, but we’re still excited about this matchup, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Florida State, the 7-seed in the Seattle 4 Region, meets 10-seed Georgia (21-11) in a first-round game at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Sophomore guard O’Mariah Gordon (6.9 ppg) also has been ruled out. Their absence leaves the Seminoles with eight available players.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve been in this situation before,” Wyckoff said. “Even though we’ve only had 10 (on our roster), I’ve always felt we were deep, because all 10 are capable and ready to step in.”

Senior forward Erin Howard said, “We’ve got a small roster, but we’re still going to play fast. Most of our players are going to play 20-plus minutes.”

The FSU-Georgia victor faces No. 3 Iowa or Southeastern Louisiana in the second round Sunday.