FORT MYERS, Fla. – With 97 total points and 13 players contributing, the FGCU women's basketball team defeated FIU 97-49 Tuesday night at Alico Arena.  With the win, the Eagles move to 2-0 on the year, while the cross-state foe falls to 0-2.
 
The Eagles outscored their opponent by 48 points with a Division I program record shooting percentage of 56.1, including a 60 percent clip in the second half. FGCU shot 40.6 percent from beyond-the-arc and limited themselves to just four turnovers in the statement win.
 
FGCU took a 7-0 lead right off the bat and never looked back. The team used an 11-0 run at the end of the first half to take a 44-20 lead at the break and shot 56.3 percent from 3-point range in the second half to maintain the hefty lead.
 
"I thought we did a really good job getting the ball out in conversion, working together to get good scoring opportunities," said head coach Karl Smesko of the well-rounded victory. "We finished our layups really well in the first half and got the 3-point shot going a little bit in the second half. A lot of people had really good performances and this was a great win for us going into Auburn on Thursday."
 
FGCU saw five players in double figures for the second-consecutive game with junior Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) leading the way. Haas produced 15 points in just 16 minutes with six made buckets on seven attempts. Classmate Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) added 14, while Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) and Jaime Gluesing (Solon, Ohio/Solon High School) put up 12 and 11, respectively.  Redshirt-freshman Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wisc./Muskego High School) rounded out the double-digit performers with 10 points in her collegiate debut.
 
Knight led the team defensively with five rebounds, five steals and one blocked shot. She also added four assists.  In her second game back from a double ACL repair, Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) added seven points and led the team with five assists.
 
As a unit, the team shot 56.1 percent with a 40.6 percent clip from distance. The Eagles held FIU to 30 percent overall and just 13.3 percent from three-point range but were outpaced on the boards, 36-21. FGCU forced 22 turnovers with 13 steals and recorded just four turnovers for the second best outing in program history.
 
Knight opened the night with a coast-to-coast layup to put FGCU ahead 2-0 just 44 seconds into the game. Coupled with five-straight points from Cobb, the team took a 7-0 lead and held FIU scoreless for its first-five possessions.
 
Four minutes into the game, senior Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) checked in and immediately contributed five points with one rebound and one block to push the Eagles ahead to a 12-4 advantage.
 
The team forced five FIU turnovers in a span of two minutes midway through the half and made way for a 15-point lead with an eight-point run. With baskets from Haas, Knight and Chatzigiakoumi, the team maintained a 15-point lead through the four-minute mark.
 
In the final minutes of the half, FGCU used scores from Chatzigiakoumi, Cobb and Gluesing to produce a 10-0 run and extend the lead to over 20 points. After one final free throw from Gradinjan, the home team went into the break with a 44-20 advantage.
 
The Panthers opened the second half with a jumper in the paint but a 3-pointer from DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) sparked a 12-0 run that pushed the score to 56-22 five minutes into the second half.
 
FIU cut the streak with two free throws near the 14-minute mark before Cattani scored her first collegiate points with 13:46 to play. After Cattani's layup, the Eagles compiled another run to outscore the Panthers 17-2 over the next five minutes, pushing the lead to 47 points at 75-28.
 
Another 6-2 spurt gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 81-32 but a five-point Panther run cut the deficit back to 44 points. 
 
The teams traded baskets in the final five minutes of action, with the Eagles seeing points from Cattani and fellow redshirt-freshmen Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School), Randa Payne (Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield St. Peter's High School) and Morgan Blumer (Milton, Wisc./Milton High School). Blumer's shot from long range pushed the Eagles' to the final score of 97-49 for the team's largest margin of victory since the 2012-13 season.  
 
The Eagles will travel to Auburn, Ala. for their first road contest of the year to finish out the week. The Green and Blue will face the Tigers of Auburn University Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. Although it will be the first meeting between the two teams, 2014-15 marks the third-straight year that the Eagles will take on an SEC team and the eighth-straight year that the team will face a BCS foe.  The Green and Blue will welcome Auburn to Alico Arena during the 2015-16 season.
The team will return home Sunday, Nov. 23 for a 5 p.m. contest against Ave Maria.

Game Notes: FGCU saw 13 team members score in the win…the team started three players from the state of Ohio (Cobb, Haas, Gluesing)…Tuesday marked the second-straight game that saw five players record double figures…FGCU has now seen eight players score in double figures this season…the Eagles are now 6-0 all-time against FIU…FGCU scored 35 points off turnovers and 23 fast-break points.
 
Single-game tickets for all FGCU women's basketball games are on sale online at FGCUAthletics.com, over the phone at 239-590-7145 or in person at the Alico Arena Box Office.

Group sales for women's basketball games are available for parties of 20 or more at a discounted rate.  Beginning this season, groups will receive the opportunity for to upgrade their package to include chairback seats, a PA announcement and a special FGCU group T-Shirt at a cost of $10.
For up-to-the minute information on the FGCU women's basketball team, stay tuned to FGCUAthletics.com and follow the official Twitter of FGCU women's basketball at @FGCU_WBB.

Head coach Karl Smesko earned his fourth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2013-14 campaign. Under his direction, the team completed the season with a record of 26-8, including a 17-1 mark in conference action and won the program's 300th win in January. Smesko guided the Eagles to their fourth-consecutive regular season championship and went undefeated in the A-Sun Conference tournament to win their second Tournament Championship in three seasons.  The 2013-14 season marked the 10th-consecutive season in which a Smesko coached team won at least 20 games.  He has recorded 314 wins at FGCU with 117 Atlantic Sun victories.  The five-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year ranks among an elite list of just four active Division I coaches with a career win percentage of .800 or higher.  Smesko joins Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, Baylor's Kim Mulkey and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer in the esteemed group.