Florida State women's basketball ready for road challenge at No. 16 Georgia Tech

The Florida State women's basketball is looking to build upon one of its more dominant ACC wins in recent history.

The Seminoles (7-6, 1-2 in ACC) are coming off their first ACC win of the season, a resounding 87-46 home win over Wake Forest on Sunday.

The degree of difficulty ramps up going forward as FSU will take on its first ranked opponent of the season Thursday at 8 p.m. at No. 16 Georgia Tech (12-3, 3-1).

"It was a good win," FSU head coach Sue Semrau said of the Wake Forest victory.

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"I thought our kids played really hard and that's the important thing."

While FSU leads the all-time series against the Yellow Jackets 27-24, Georgia Tech has beaten FSU the last four times these teams have faced off.

While this game against the Yellow Jackets is FSU's first this season against a ranked opponent, it is far from the last, kicking off the challenging stretch of the Seminoles' schedule.

Five of the Seminoles' next nine games are against teams ranked in this week's USA Today Coaches Poll.

FSU nearing full strength for first time

Semrau has talked at length this season about the fact that her team hasn't yet had a game this season where it has its full allotment of players available.

Early-season injuries followed by COVID-19 issues have kept FSU without a few key players throughout the entirety of the season.

When the Seminoles came back from their brief bout of COVID issues, they were without leading scorer Morgan Jones for their first game back at Wake Forest.

For Sunday's win over Wake Forest, FSU did not have guard Bianca Jackson, who led the team in scoring last season.

That's changed over the last few days, however, as FSU is finally shaping up to potentially have its entire roster available against the Yellow Jackets.

"Certainly, I want everybody to feel comfortable in their roles. I want people to feel comfortable with who they're playing with," Semrau said.

"For the last couple of days, we've been able to have that. You feel better about that going on the road to the No. 1 defensive team in the country."

After averaging a team-high 14.1 points last season, Jackson has been able to start just six of FSU's 13 games so far this season.

She's averaging 8.5 points this season, down nearly four points from her career average of 12.4 points per game.

While she's not the only key player who has missed extended time this season, she's probably the most important.

It has not been confirmed if she will be back in the lineup vs. Georgia Tech, but it would be a major boost for the Seminoles, especially with the upcoming games on the horizon.

A tough offensive test

The Seminoles are coming off their best offensive game of the season. Their 87 points and 50% three-point percentage against Wake Forest were both season bests.

Replicating that success will be extremely difficult against the Yellow Jackets' stingy defense.

Georgia Tech's average of 45.1 points allowed per game this season is the best in the country, 2.5 points fewer than any other team. The team's defensive success comes in multiple phases as the Yellow Jackets allow opponents to hit just 31.5% of their shots, just 25.4% of their 3s and they force 14 turnovers per game

"I've watched it over and over and over again and it is the basketball IQ of the people that they have on the floor and their willingness to go hard every possession, to defend..." Semrau said of GT's defensive success.

"They cover for each other, they make everything difficult. They just don't make a lot of mistakes. They are a very solid, very veteran basketball team."

Florida State at No. 16 Georgia Tech

When: Thursday, 8 p.m.

Where: McCamish Pavilion, Atlanta, Ga.

TV/Radio: ACC Network/96.5 FM

Reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com or follow him on Twitter @CurtMWeiler.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU women's basketball prepping for No. 16 Georgia Tech's stifling defense