The Rundown: FGCU (17-2 | 4-0 A-Sun | 23 RPI) v. Kennesaw State (13-6 | 2-2 A-Sun | 115 RPI)
When: Saturday, Jan. 24 | 7 p.m.
Where: Alico Arena
Video: via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app
Live Stats: via Statbroadcast
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees | #ASunWBB
Series History: FGCU leads 14-2 all time with eight-game win streak
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – As winners of 12-straight games, the FGCU women's basketball team will vie for lucky 13 Saturday evening against the Owls of Kennesaw State. The bout between FGCU and KSU is set for 7 p.m. at Alico Arena.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast on FGCUAthletics.com with a video stream available through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app. The ESPN3 broadcast will feature David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call. As always, fans can also find live updates via Twitter at @FGCU_WBB.
 
Saturday's contest stands as Military Appreciation Night, sponsored by Bank of America. In the Hoops for Heroes event, all veterans and active members of the military with ID will get free admission for themselves and a guest. During the game, each branch of the armed forces will be recognized.
 
Red T-shirts will be on sale in the lobby of Alico Arena through both games Saturday for fans to wear for February's 'red outs'. All proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association.
 
The featured game sponsor for the matchup with Kennesaw is Bank of America.
 
GAME DAY TWEETABLES
1. FGCU currently holds an RPI rating at 23 after rising to a program-best 13 to start Atlantic Sun action.  #EaglesRising
 
2. In a quest for five-straight #ASunWBB Championships, the Eagles have compiled a record of 57-1 in the last four seasons.
 
3. FGCU is currently riding a 58-game win streak in home conference games. It's been 6+ years since they lost an A-Sun game at home.
 
4. Junior Whitney Knight sits just 31 away from her 1,000th career point.
 
5. FGCU has not lost a game in regulation in nine weeks of competition & holds the nation's 9th-best win streak at 12 games.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
With the conference's only perfect record, FGCU stands at 4-0 in league play as the team welcomes Kennesaw to Alico Arena. The Eagles enter Saturday's contest with a record of 17-2 on the season and 4-0 in conference play. In addition to the impressive start, the team has also constructed a 12-game win streak dating back to the start of December and has not lost a game in regulation since Nov. 20. The streak currently sits as the ninth longest in the nation.
 
The team picked up notable wins over Arkansas State, Cal State-Northridge, Quinnipiac and Harvard in nonconference action before defeating rival Stetson and cross-state foe North Florida in the first week of conference play. With a strong strength of schedule thus far, the Eagles' official RPI ranking jumped to a program-high 13 earlier this month and currently stands at 23.
 
With five-time Coach of the Year Karl Smesko at the helm, the Eagles entered the season with three Preseason All-Conference award winners in juniors Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) and senior Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler). Knight earned the Preseason Player of the Year nod and has since picked up two A-Sun Player of the Week awards.
 
Junior Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westover High School) and Knight have swapped time as the team's point leader with Knight currently pacing the team with 15.6 points per game. After pacing the Eagles against Quinnipiac and Harvard, Atwater is averaging 13.1 points per contest to rank second on the team. Haas is also adding double figures with 10.3, while Cobb sits just behind the trio with 8.3 points per contest in addition to her 49 assists and 36 steals. Knight currently sits just 31 away from her 1,000^th career point.
 
Knight leads the squad all around with 39 blocks and 42 steals on the year, while DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) has dished out a team-high 71 assists in 19 games so far. Dunson has also scored 10 points or more in each of the team's last three games and currently leads the league with an assist to turnover ratio of 2.8. Knight's 42, Atwater's 39 and Cobb's 36 steals all rank among the top-four in the conference for total steals. Knight also paces the squad on the boards with 6.0 rebounds per game, with Atwater and Cobb pulling down 4.2 and 4.4, in that order.
 
Redshirt-freshman Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) entered the starting lineup in December and is now averaging 6.5 points in 19 games. Gradinjan has started 10 of the team's 18 games this season and currently leads the team and the league with a 3-point percentage of .474 and holds an overall shooting percentage of .512. Gradinjan led the team with 17 points against UNF and matched her career high with four made long-range shots before being named the A-Sun Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season.
 
Senior Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) has performed well for the Eagles recently and is averaging 7.2 points in 15.4 minutes per game. The senior played a career-high 28 minutes at Harvard with 15 points with three makes from the perimeter and started her first game of the year against Stetson.
 
Collectively, the Eagles average 76.0 points per game, while holding their opposition to 58.5 points per contest for the league's best scoring average and scoring margin. The scoring margin also ranks among the top-15 in the nation and stands fewer than four points per game out of the top-10. The team has maintained a shooting percentage of .441 with a mark of .366 from the perimeter this year. The Eagles rank second in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 10.2 shots made from beyond-the-arc per game and only sit behind last year's national leader in Sacramento State and are tied with Iowa State. On defense, the Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded, 36.6 to 34.8 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 11.2 to 19.0 and steals, 9.6 to 4.9. FGCU ranks fourth in the country with a turnover margin of +7.94 and 10th nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 1.34.
 
The Eagles currently lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in points per game, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, assists per game and rebounding defense.
 
WWWWWWWWWWWWIN STREAK
With 12-straight wins, the Eagles currently hold the nation's ninth-best win streak. They sit behind only these teams:
       
        South Carolina            18 games
        Princeton                   17 games
        Baylor, UConn             16 games
        Long Beach State,
        George Washington      15 games
        Western Kentucky       14 games
        Arizona State              13 games
        Chattanooga               12 games* tied
 
TOP-100
The Eagles hold a 5-1 record against the nation's top-100 teams based on RPI. Their only loss was in an overtime battle against the Big Ten's Ohio State in the US Virgin Islands.     
 
LAST TIME OUT
For the fifth-straight season, the team opened Atlantic Sun play with a 4-0 record after defeating USC Upstate 79-61 Thursday night at Alico Arena.
 
The Eagles started the contest with a quick 7-2 run and never relinquished the lead. Using 44 points in the paint and points from 10 different players, FGCU dominated Upstate inside and extended the lead to a game-high 32 points late in the second half. Upstate cut the deficit in the final minutes but the Eagles held onto the momentum and ultimately came away with an 18-point victory at Alico Arena for the team's 58th-straight win in a home conference game.
 
Knight paced the Eagle offense with 17 points, while classmate Katie Meador (Salem, Ill./Salem Community High School) contributed a career-high 14 points with five made field goals. For the third time in as many games, Dunson put up double figures with 11 points to round out the team's double-digit scorers. Dunson also paced the team with six assists and went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.  Defensively, senior Jenna Cobb pulled down a squad-best seven rebounds, with Meador and junior Kaneisha Atwater both adding five.
 
The Eagles successfully converted 47.5 percent of shots from the field and scored an uncharacteristically high number of points in the paint. The team went 29-for-42 from inside the arc but made just six shots from the perimeter in the win. FGCU outshot the Spartans 47.5 to 44.6 percent and outrebounded Upstate 37-33. The Green and Blue scored 19 points on the Spartan's 15 turnovers, with just nine miscues of its own.
 
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH THE OWLS
The Eagles and Owls have met on 16 occasions since the 2007-08 season. FGCU holds a 14-2 advantage in the series with a 7-0 record at Alico Arena and carries an eight-game win streak into Saturday's game. The Eagles average 70.6 points per game against the Owls and have held KSU to 53.9 points in each meeting.
 
FGCU's last loss to KSU came on the road during the 2011 season. Prior to that, it was the team's first meeting in Kennesaw that blemished the Green and Blue's record.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST KSU
As the winners of six straight against the Owls entering last season, the Eagles defeated KSU twice a year ago.
 
FGCU picked up a 69-55 victory at the Convocation Center and earned a 76-42 win at home in front of a season-high crowd. FGCU held the Owls to just 13 points in the first half, while producing a 20-2 run that spanned a period of 10 minutes.  The Green and Blue maintained the momentum in the second half with strong offensive pressure.  FGCU shot 57 percent from the floor with a 58 percent mark from the perimeter to outscore KSU 45-29 in the second half and in turn take the win, 76-42.
 
SCOUTING THE VISITING TEAM
With a record of 13-6 on the season and 2-2 in Atlantic Sun play, Kennesaw State heads south to Fort Myers to take on the Eagles Saturday night. After falling at current no. 25 Seton Hall by just three points, the Owls won seven straight games in November and December.
 
The win streak included wins over Columbia, Mercer and Xavier and gave the team a mark of 11-4 in nonconference action. Since that time, KSU started conference play with wins over USC Upstate and Northern Kentucky but dropped losses to Lipscomb and Stetson to move to even in the league.
 
The Owls earned just 13 wins in the last two seasons but have already matched that this season. The team was selected to finish seventh in the league after going 6-24 a year ago and ending the year in eighth place in the 10-team conference.
 
This year's team returns last year's top two scorers in Kristina Wells and Deandrea Sawyers. Wells was the conference's fourth-best scorer last season with 15.3 points per game and has scored 10.9 in 19 contests as a senior. As a sophomore this season, Sawyers is leading the team and the A-Sun with 16.3 points per contest with 46 made shots from the perimeter.  In addition to the scoring duo, the Owls added junior college transfer Jasmin McAllister, who has averaged 13.8 points per contest with the Owls and currently leads the squad with a field goal percentage of 49.8. McAllister is also averaging 10.7 rebounds per game and has amassed nine double-doubles in her first year in the A-Sun. Junior Karly Frye has facilitated the offense with 68 assists this season and leads the squad with 37.7 minutes played her game. Sawyers and Wells also average over 35 minutes per contest with the trio ranking in the top-three in the conference in time on the court.
 
As a unit, the Owls average 65.1 points per game with foes scoring 62.9. KSU joins FGCU and Stetson as the league's only three teams to average a positive scoring margin. The Owls have converted 41.4 percent of shots this season with a 32.0 percent clip from 3-point range. Despite making just 5.1 long-range shots a game, the Owls hold their opposition to a 27.8 percent success rate from 3-point range to lead the league.  Kennesaw State pulls down 39.7 boards per game and tops the conference with a 2.7 rebound margin. The Owls also average 13.6 turnovers, 12.2 assists and 4.6 steals per outing.
 
With third-year head coach Nitra Perry at the helm, the team has gone 26-54 in the last three years, with half of those wins coming this season.
 
SMESKO'S PREPARATION
Smesko's game preparation is one of the most crucial factors in the Eagles' all-time success.  Last season, the team went 14-2 in games when they had four or more days to prepare.  In 13 seasons, Smesko holds a record of 116-20 in games with that much time for preparing for a win percentage of 84 percent. 
 
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
On the heels of four-consecutive regular season championships and the team's second Atlantic Sun Championship in three years, the Eagles were once against picked to win the Atlantic Sun in the annual preseason coaches' poll.
 
With 62 points and six first-place votes, the Eagles finished four points ahead of in-state rival Stetson University.  The Hatters garnered two first-place votes to finish second in the poll with 58 points. The Green and Blue picked up 11 first-place votes in the media poll for 123 total points, with Stetson earning four top nods and 104 total points.
 
The 2013-14 defending Atlantic Sun Champions earned three wins over the Hatters last season, including the regular season finale and the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Final. With help from those wins, the Eagles finished with their fourth-straight regular season title and earned their second tournament championship title in three seasons.
 
In addition to the team's predicted success, three individuals also garnered preseason All-Conference accolades.  As a former First Team All-Conference member, Knight picked up the Player of the Year nod, while Cobb and Haas also earned spots on the 10-member Preseason All-Conference team.
 
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's contest, the Eagles will hit the road for a two-game swing. FGCU will take on Lipscomb in Nashville Thursday, Jan. 29 and will face Northern Kentucky Saturday in Highland Heights to round out the first half of conference play.
 
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 maintains a record of 331-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.4 with a mark of 121-13 (90.2 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests.  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.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visitwww.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.