FORT MYERS, Fla. – In its first game after a double-overtime loss to Ohio State, the FGCU women's basketball team defeated Southern Mississippi 78-62 Saturday night at Alico Arena. The Eagles saw career-high scoring from Taylor Gradinjan and Kaneisha Atwater en route to their sixth win of the season and moved to 6-2 with the victory. The Golden Eagles of USM fall to 6-2 on the year with the all-time series now tied at one each.
 
After a close battle in the opening minutes of the game, the Eagles produced a 17-point run that spanned six minutes to take control of the game. With nine made shots from the perimeter, the Eagles endured the Southern Miss. defensive pressure and went into the break with a 39-27 lead. The visitors outshot the Eagles from the field in the second half, but led by Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) and Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westwood High School/VCU), the Green and Blue maintained its point production and ultimately extended the lead to 17 points.
 
The win marked the Eagles' 15th-straight victory at Alico Arena.
 
As a unit, the Eagles outshot Southern Miss. narrowly, 39.2 percent to 37.9 percent, but produced greater shots from the perimeter with a 12-5 advantage from beyond-the-arc. The Green and Blue was outrebounded 40-37 but held the advantage defensively with a 27-26 defensive board margin and 19 forced turnovers. The Eagles capitalized heavily on USM miscues, with 28 points on turnovers and also added 17 second-chance points. Despite heavy defensive pressure from the Golden Eagles, FGCU turned the ball over just 13 times.
 
"Southern Miss. has a really good team. They're aggressive, they put a lot of pressure on you and you know you're going to have to play the entire game," said head coach Karl Smesko. "They're more than capable of putting big runs together, so I was really happy with how our team responded, especially in the second half. I thought we kept our composure and extended the lead. Atwater and Gradinjan played a huge role in that."
 
Gradinjan led the charge for FGCU with a career-high 23 points, with Atwater contributing 22 on the night. In Gradinjan's 23 minutes on the court, the redshirt-freshman went 4-for-7 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. Gradinjan also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds to lead the team.
 
The Eagles again saw strong contributions from senior Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) and junior Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School), as Cobb pulled down eight rebounds with a team-best three assists and Knight produced 11 points in just 22 minutes before fouling out early in the second half.
 
The teams traded empty possessions to open the game with USM guarding the perimeter well and forcing FGCU to use the entire shot clock to find a good shot attempt. The visitors got on the scoreboard first with a drive to the rim and quickly took a 7-3 lead in the first five minutes of play.
 
After watching the Eagles produce four missed shots and fall behind on the boards, Atwater cut the USM streak with a layup from the left side and sparked what would be a game-defining run.
 
The Green and Blue used the Atwater layup, a 3-pointer from Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) and two perimeter shots each from Knight and Gradinjan to produce a 17-point run to take a 20-7 lead midway through the first half.
 
The 13-point advantage would be the team's largest lead of the first half as the Golden Eagles cut the home team's momentum with a layup near the nine-minute mark and immediately increased the defensive pressure to eschew the FGCU scoring attempts. A five-point streak from USM cut the deficit to six points with five minutes to play, but five-straight points from Knight pushed the lead back to 11 a minute later.
 
The teams traded buckets in the remaining minutes with both teams sinking a handful of free throws. After holding a 36-27 lead in the last minute, the Eagles entered halftime with a 39-27 advantage with another Chatzigiakoumi 3-pointer.
 
After the break, Southern Miss. quickly cut the lead to 10 points but a free throw from Atwater and a Gradinjan drive sparked the home team to produce a fast six-point run. Two free throws from DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) gave the Eagles a 16-point lead at 47-31 just four minutes in and handed the home team the game's momentum.
 
The momentum was quickly taken back as the Golden Eagles used a seven-point run to cut the FGCU lead to just eight points and force Smesko into his first called timeout. After the breather, the Eagles set Gradinjan up in the left corner to halt the USM streak with a score of 52-41 but the visitors brought it back to single digits just one minute later.
 
A layup with 11:14 on the clock pushed USM's total within nine, but it was the closest Southern Miss. could get for the remainder of the game.
 
The teams traded baskets with neither team producing more than a four-point streak over the next six minutes, allowing USM to get within 10 with 4:26 to play.  However, the Eagles connected on six-straight free throws in the next two minutes to increase the lead to 16 points.
 
USM added one jumper in the final three minutes, but the Eagles scored their final 11 points all from the charity stripe to hold onto the lead and take the victory.
 
FGCU finished the game with 26-of-40 shots made from the line for a 65 percent success rate.
 
The Eagles continue action at Alico Arena Thursday, Dec. 11 with a matchup against the Big East's Providence. The Friars currently stand at 3-5 with wins over Brown and Villanova so far this year. The team has a game against Rhode Island on tap before they head to Fort Myers for Thursday's contest.
 
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.