Colleges

FSU pulls together to pull out wins

Overcoming all challenges in their path, young 'Noles are growing up fast.

By BRIAN LANDMAN
Published March 24, 2007

Florida State senior guard Alicia Gladden was struggling so badly and uncharacteristically, she was about to be pulled from Monday's NCAA Tournament game against the host Stanford Cardinal.

That's when freshman forward Alysha Harvin came up with a crucial assist that isn't on the stat sheet.

"This is it," she shouted at Gladden. "We need you. Come on."

Gladden responded to those few, simple words on the go by scoring the last seven points in a decisive 11-0 run that helped the No. 10-seeded Seminoles answer the No. 2-seeded Cardinal's rally, pulling out an 68-61 win at Maples Pavilion.

That earned them a spot in the Sweet 16 for the first time. The Seminoles 24-9 meet No. 3-seeded LSU (28-7) tonight in Fresno, Calif., in a game on ESPN2 scheduled for 11:30.

"Alysha always wants to pump somebody up and that helped me," Gladden said. "That's her personality. That's her."

That also tells you how the Seminoles have adapted to new roles for key players (Harvin is actually playing an under-sized power forward and sophomore Mara Freshour moved to the point for the first time this season). It tells you how they've overcome an injury (junior guard Shante Williams is nursing a sore hip that has made her day to day the last few weeks, although she scored 16 against the Cardinal off the bench). It tells you how they've won despite their youth (Gladden is the lone senior and five of the top seven players are underclassmen).

They've come together and grown up together.

Fast.

"They don't fear anything; they respect, but they don't fear," coach Sue Semrau said of her young players.

Harvin received a text message from a family friend leading up to the NCAA opener against Old Dominion that dove-tailed perfectly with what Semrau had been preaching: If there's no struggle, there's no development. If there's no development, there's no change and if there's no change, you don't survive. Semrau asked Harvin to share that with the team.

"For a freshman, who'd gone through the struggles of her first ACC season, to impart that was really powerful," Semrau said.

A few, simple words on the go.

A team still on the move.

BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons aren't showing any pressure during their first trip to the Sweet 16. Senior Ali Mann was asked if she could have imagined herself in this position when she arrived at the school. "No way," she said. "I barely knew where Bowling Green was. When I first got to campus, I was like, 'Where am I? In the middle of a cornfield.' "

DUKE: As her name keeps surfacing in connection with coaching vacancies, Gail Goestenkors is trying to keep her team's focus on the court. Goestenkors said Friday that Texas hasn't contacted her about its opening. Several newspapers named her as the leading candidate to replace retired Jody Conradt. "I talked to the team early on when I first heard rumors," she said, "and I told them 'You're going to hear rumors. You're going to read things in the paper. But that's just everybody's attempt to try and keep us from our focus and our energy.' "

Information from Times wires was used in this report. Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified March 24, 2007, 00:35:14]