Balance helps No. 25 Florida State women top Illini

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Morgan Jones scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and a pair of freshmen scored 12 points off the bench and No. 25 Florida State turned back Illinois 67-58 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday night.

O’Mariah Gordon scored a career high and Makayla Timpson matched her best with a career-high nine rebounds for the Seminoles (5-2), who ended a two-game losing streak and improved to 12-2 in the challenge with their ninth-straight win.

Aaliyah Nye led the Illini (3-4) with 17 points, Jada Peebles added 12 and De'Myla Brown 11.

Jones hit a jumper and Timpson followed with a three-point play to put Florida State up 22-18 in the middle of the second quarter.

The Seminoles never trailed after that — leading 33-28 at the half — but didn't pull Illinois away until Gordon and Timpson combined for the first nine points of the fourth quarter.

Adding Timpson's free throw to close the third quarter, FSU led 58-44 with 7:25 left.

Illinois, 4-10 in the Challenge, shot 34% (18 of 53) and had 23 turnovers.

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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25