MIAMI, Fla. --- The Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball team's first-ever road win might have been historic, but it was memorable for an entirely different reason.
 
Though the Eagles rolled past Florida Memorial 64-35 Monday night to go to 3-0 on the season, the Eagles may be without senior co-captain Trish Fleming, who temporarily dislocated the ring finger on her right (shooting) hand with less than three minutes to play.
 
Fleming, who led all scorers with 17 points, was fouled hard by Florida Memorial's Katrischa Stevens while attempting a lay-up from the left side with 2 minutes, 44 seconds to play. Stevens came down on top of Fleming's hand. After hopping around for a few seconds, Fleming fell to the ground writhing in pain.
 
Florida Memorial head coach Kenneth Marshall — a certified emergency medical technician — popped the finger back in place. She spent the rest of the game on the bench with the finger iced and taped. Fleming's status for the team's next game on Dec. 3 against Warner Southern at Alico Arena is in doubt.
 
While FGCU coach Karl Smesko likes to say that no player is indispensable, there's little doubt losing Fleming for any amount of time would alter the team's chemistry.
 
"Trish may be the best non-Division I player in the country," Smesko said. "And on top of that, she's the only one on the team who has played for me before. The other girls, they're learning the system, but she already knows it."
 
The Eagles entered the game averaging 82 points per contest but were bogged down by the Lions (3-2), whose spirited if sloppy play disrupted the Eagles enough to prevent FGCU from running the floor with abandon.
 
"We're happy anytime we get a win," said head coach Karl Smesko. "We weren't as sharp offensively as we have been, and we didn't finish around the basket at all. We weren't as strong as we needed to be."
 
However, if the Eagles continue to play defense the way they did Monday night, they may be able to survive without their best all-around player. FGCU held Florida Memorial (3-2) to 27 percent shooting from the floor, a credit to the heady play of guards Megan Jones, Jennifer Santana and Rebecca Stewart.
 
Playing the smaller, quicker Lions, the Eagles did a good job of keeping their body in front of the ball and relying on help when a player snuck past.
 
"Coach emphasized playing defense with our feet and not our hands," said Jones, who finished with six points and three assists. "We did a pretty good job defensively of forcing them to take bad shots and getting them out of their offense early."
 
For the second straight game, the Eagles never trailed, slowly moving in front throughout the first half. A 10-0 run midway through the opening half put the game out of reach early.
 
Santana, who went to high school at nearby Pembroke Pines, scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Stewart added 12 points while Noreen McCallum chipped in 10 points and six boards. The Eagles forced 17 Florida Memorial turnovers and shot 6-of-8 from 3-point range. Florida Memorial forward Allison Worsham led the Lions with nine points but couldn't bring them back from a 17-point halftime deficit. The Lions would get no closer in the second half.
 
"We had to keep battling for rebounds and playing defense," Smesko said. "The offense will come together."