FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Not wanting to mess up its new home, Alico Arena, the Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball team made sure to clean up after itself Monday night against Warner Southern College.
 
The Eagles used a huge size advantage under the basket and a 20-point first-half run to race to a 74-54 victory to improve to 4-0 on the season.
 
Senior forward Trish Fleming, her right middle and ring fingers wrapped in tape after dislocating the ring finger a week ago, led all scorers with 19 points. Jennifer Santana added 13 and Megan Jones chipped in with 10 for FGCU.
 
The difference, however, was made in the lane. FGCU's frontcourt, led by center Robyn Swain and forward Noreen McCallum, dominated the Lady Royals (5-2). The duo combined for 21 rebounds (11 for McCallum, 10 for Swain), almost equaling Warner Southern's output by themselves.
 
FGCU outrebounded Warner Southern 43-23 in the game and held the Royals to 37 percent shooting from the floor.
 
"Robyn did a nice job for us, especially defensively," said FGCU head coach Karl Smesko. "Noreen did it on the boards both offensively and defensively. She got a lot of second shots for us and limited their opportunities on offense."
 
As has been their habit this season, the Eagles took control early.
 
After Warner Southern took an 8-2 lead less than three minutes in, Smesko called time-out.
He reminded his team to step out on the Lady Royal shooters, and the Eagles responded by playing 12 minutes of shutout basketball.
 
Swain grabbed six rebounds during the run and dominated the smaller Royals with her reach and aggressiveness.
 
"I came in off the bench and I saw what was going on and what needed to be done," said Swain, who added four points and two steals to go with her boardwork. "I know that's what I'm in there for, to be a presence."
 
By the time Warner Southern's Lisa Taber hit a 15-foot jump shot with 5 minutes 10 seconds to go in the half, the Eagles had turned a six-point deficit into an 22-11 lead.
 
"We were playing pretty good defense, which is a good thing because we weren't lighting things up offensively," Smesko said. "We built that good lead with defense."
 
The Eagles would control the rest of the half thanks in part to the play of Jones, who looked for her shot when FGCU's offense broke down.
 
"We want her to do that," Smesko said of Jones. "She took it to the basket early and that's good. We want her to be aggressive."
 
FGCU led 35-16 at the half, and the lead grew as large as 23 midway through the second.
But Warner Southern didn't go away quietly. Led by speedy point guard Katherine Mack (28 points), the Royals went on a sustained run to cut the FGCU lead to 59-48 with just over five minutes to play.
 
"We had a lot of trouble staying in front of (Mack)," Smesko said. "We didn't play as smart as we can play, and they were scrappy."
 
A layup by Fleming and a putback by Amanda Pointelin halted Warner Southern's momentum, and the Eagles pulled away in the final minutes.
 
FGCU travels to Flagler College on Thursday night.