DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In the team's second true road game of the season, the FGCU women's basketball team defeated Bethune-Cookman 91-46 Wednesday night at Moore Gymnasium. With contributions from all 12 players, the Eagles improve to 8-2 on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 3-8. FGCU is now 1-1 on the road and 3-0 in the month of December.
 
The Eagles used an 11-0 run early in the first half to take hold of a double-figure lead and never let go of the advantage. After possessing a 41-25 lead at halftime, the Green and Blue constructed an 18-0 streak to start the second half and break open the game. FGCU increased its advantage to a game high 49 points late in the contest and ultimately earned its eighth win of the season at 91-46.
 
"Overall, this was a really good win for us," said head coach Karl Smesko. "Everybody was contributing and competing on the defensive end and that's what we really wanted to do. We followed the game plan really well by taking care of the ball and keeping them off the boards. Whitney [Knight] played a really good game. She had six steals, she was attacking the rim and she was playing really aggressively."
 
As a team, the Eagles shot 54 percent from the field with a 45 percent success rate from 3-point range, while holding the home team to just 34 percent. The Green and Blue converted 14-of-17 shots from the free-throw line and outrebounded BCU 37-29. FGCU forced 19 turnovers with 14 steals and recorded just six miscues on the night.
 
Individually, Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) and Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) led the team with 17 points each, while Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westwood High School/VCU) added nine for the Eagles. Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) paced the team's rebounding effort with six with Knight adding five. Knight also led the team and matched her career high with six steals.
 
Haas opened the Eagles' road game with a drive to the rim before Knight followed with a long-range basket. After a Bethune-Cookman layup, the Eagles added two points each from Haas and Knight to take a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game.
 
The teams traded 3-pointers before another shot beyond-the-arc from Knight gave FGCU a 10-point advantage with 14:50 left before the break.  Knights' long-range shot sparked an 11-point run for the Green and Blue, who took a 20-5 lead with 12 minutes on the clock. The streak included baskets from Knight, Haas, Chatzigiakoumi, Atwater and DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) and gave the team a lead that it would never relinquish.
 
The Wildcats responded to the 15-point deficit with a seven-point streak and brought the score to 20-12 near the midway point in the half but free throws and a jumper in the paint from Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) helped FGCU reclaim a double-figure lead near the seven minute mark.
 
FGCU pushed the lead to 16 points with four-straight points from Haas in the final minute and entered the break with a 41-25 advantage.
 
The Eagles opened the second half with four baskets on their first four shots and increased the lead to 34 points with an 18-0 run over the first six minutes of the half. The streak included long-range shots from Knight, Atwater and Jaime Gluesing (Solon, Ohio/Solon High School) and pushed the Eagles to a 59-25 advantage with 14 minutes to play.
 
Bethune Cookman cut the scoring drought with two free throws at the 13:43 point but FGCU used a 15-2 run to move the score to 73-29 at the midpoint of the half.
 
The Green and Blue added baskets from Morgan Blumer (Milton, Wisc./Milton High School), Randa Payne (Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield St. Peter's High School) and Bethany Murrell (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine High School) late in the second half and maintained a 40+ point lead through the end of the contest.
 
With the large victory, the Eagles earned their third victory of 45 points or more this season.
 
The Eagles will have a quick turnaround with another nonconference contest Friday, Dec. 19 at Alico Arena. FGCU will host Northern Colorado at 4:30 p.m. before the FGCU men's basketball team takes on Furman at 7:30 p.m.  
 
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 322 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.