« Women’s Basketball 2013-14

Natasha Howard

School
Florida State
Position
Forward
Major
Social Sciences
PPG
20.5
RPG
9.3
APG
0.5

Classroom

Natasha Howard begins her senior year at Florida State expecting to graduate with a degree in social science. Following her basketball career, the Toledo, Ohio, native plans to pursue a career mentoring children or helping children in need.

Character

Howard has been a leader by example for the Seminoles since she stepped foot on the court. FSU head coach Sue Semrau named her the sole captain of the Seminoles for the 2013-14 season. The 6-3 forward has never missed a game in her 3 ½ years at FSU and is on pace to finish high atop the school’s all-time list for games played. Said Semrau of Howard’s leadership qualities: “To see her with this group of freshmen that is just as willing to follow as she was, and her with the maturity, the confidence and the charisma to be a leader, it’s why you coach — just watching the maturation of young women and teams coming together. I’m so proud of her. She’s going to be a great, great captain and leader for us.”

Community

Florida State makes a strong commitment to community service efforts throughout the offseason and during the season. Howard has participated in various charity functions this year, including the Big Bend Heart Walk, where she assisted at a basketball-themed booth to help raise awareness for heart disease in conjunction with the American Heart Association, helped fundraise at a United Way event for City of Tallahassee employees and gave a basketball clinic to underprivileged youth in Dakar, Senegal during a Foreign Tour trip this summer. Howard also volunteered in Dakar at an orphanage where she interacted with workers and helped take care of children. She has participated in numerous shoe drives with Samaritan’s Feet, as well. In the recent 2013 fall semester, Howard visited the Ronald McDonald House on Thanksgiving to assist with holiday preparations for families, attended a Snow festival where she helped pass out gifts to kids and also attended the Soul Santa event to help serve food and partake in holiday festivities. Howard was also named a watch list candidate for the AllState Good Works Teams. Howard and her teammates have recently been bonding with a young super-fan named Chloe who lost her brother to a form of muscle cancer. The team has attended some of her youth league basketball games and Chloe’s family has come out to several of FSU’s basketball games.

Competition

Natasha Howard is a bona fide All-America contender and one of the greatest players ever to compete at Florida State. Howard is a four-time all-conference award winner, capturing All-ACC First Team honors in 2013-14 and 2012-13, third team accolades in 2011-12 and All-Freshman laurels in 2010-11. She is one of just two Seminoles ever to score 1,700 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in her career and has a school-record 40 double-doubles. She is a Wade Trophy candidate whose 74 blocked shots this year is already high up the single-season list at FSU. She is the only player in the ACC to rank in the Top 10 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, steals and blocked shots. Howard holds the highest single-game totals in ACC play in four categories: Points (40 vs. Syracuse), field goals made (14 vs. Syracuse, 14 vs. Duke, 14 vs. Virginia, 14 vs. Notre Dame), rebounds (22 vs. Duke) and free throws made (12 vs. Syracuse, 12 vs. Georgia Tech). She is on pace to average the highest amount of points per game at Florida State since former player and FSU Hall of Famer Bev Burnett averaged 21.3 points in the 1987-88 season. Howard is the only player in FSU history to post five 30-point games in a season - all against ACC teams. Howard’s numbers only went up in ACC play - In 16 conference games, she led the ACC in scoring with 23.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 58.2 percent shooting, 2.1 blocks per game and 2.0 steals per game. In this season alone, Howard has totaled 17 20-point games and has 24 for her career. Twelve of her 20-point games this season have come against ACC competition. She earned MVP honors at the Long Beach Classic as FSU took home the title by defeating Long Beach State and Pacific. In conference play, she started her first two ACC games with 27 points apiece at Pitt and Miami, and put on one of the great single-game feats in school history with 28 points and 22 rebounds vs. No. 3 Duke. Howard’s performance is the first 20-20 game by an ACC player since Jan. 20, 2008 and the third in school history. She had a school-record 40 points against Syracuse on Feb. 13, 2014, becoming the first ACC player to score 40 points in an ACC game since 2006. She is now the No. 2 scorer all-time at FSU and is approaching the title as the school’s all-time leader in rebounds, sitting three boards shy of Seminole legend Sue Galkantas. According to the latest NCAA stats, Howard is fifth in field goal percentage, 18th in total points, 25th in points per game, 27th in blocked shots and 39th in double-doubles. She is one of just seven Seminoles to amass 200 field goals made in a season, showing 257 which is only 25 away from the school record. Her 14 double-doubles as a senior are a single-season school record at FSU.