Boxscore

DENVER, Colorado ? Florida State guard Holly Johnson scored a career-high 25 points, including a number of clutch three-pointers in the second half, to lead the Seminoles to an 80-71 win over Louisiana Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Pepsi Center Saturday night.

Johnson, whose nickname is ?Clutch?, proved why, connecting on 8-of-19 field goals, including 4-of-8 three-pointers as Florida State advanced on to Monday?s second round game against the winner of Stanford and Southeast Missouri State.

?Holly has been that kind of player for us for the past two years,? said Florida State head coach Sue Semrau. ?She?s always coming through with clutch shots.?

Johnson scored 10 points in the first half to help Florida State build a 43-32 halftime lead. However, it was her performance in the final 20 minutes that prevented Louisiana Tech (26-5) from completing its comeback attempt.

With Florida State leading 51-41 with just over 16 minutes to play, Johnson scored eight straight points, including a 25-foot three-pointer with the shot clock running down, to help the Seminoles push the advantage out to 59-41 with 13:47 to play.

Tech staged a furious rally, cutting the Florida State lead down to 63-53 on a Tamika Kursh layup with 7:43 to play before Johnson struck again with her fourth three-pointer of the game.

?Give her credit, she hit some big shots,? said Tech head coach Chris Long.

While Florida State?s point guard was keeping Tech an arm?s length away, Louisiana Tech senior point guard Tasha Williams tried to help keep her team in the game despite playing on a bad foot.

The Kingsland, Ark., native, who injured her foot Wednesday in practice, played 35 minutes but was slowed by the injury as she scored only eight points.

?I felt like she would play tonight,? Long said. ?The frustrating thing is that here?s a kid who has had a great career at Louisiana Tech and she ends it with a pretty serious injury. I don?t know if having her healthy would have made a difference tonight but I wish we could have found out.?

With Williams slowed, Louisiana Tech went inside to juniors Ty Moore and Kursh, who both had big nights. Moore led Tech with 17 points and eight rebounds while Kursh registered her first double double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior guard Aarica Ray-Boyd ended her career by scoring 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting but it wasn?t enough as Tech lost for the first time since Jan. 14.

?I congratulate Florida State,? Long said. ?They played well. It was the little things that made the difference in this ball game. They hurt us with some offensive rebounds and some put backs. We didn?t keep them off the free throw line.?

Florida State outrebounded Tech 48-37, including pulling down 17 offensive rebounds.

Alicia Gladden added 20 points and 12 rebounds and Tanae Davis-Cain scored 10 points for the Seminoles, who beat Tech for the first time in three tries.