FORT MYERS, Fla. – Backed by four double-figure scorers and 12 makes from 3-point range, the FGCU women's basketball team ran away with a 75-47 victory over Northern Kentucky University Thursday night at Alico Arena. With their 17th-straight win, the Eagles move to 22-2 on the season with a perfect 9-0 record in Atlantic Sun action, while the Norse fall to third place in the A-Sun with a 5-4 record and a 14-10 mark overall.
 
Thursday marked the second-straight game that the Eagles defeated the second-place team in the A-Sun by 20 points or more as the Green and Blue handed Stetson a 61-39 loss in DeLand last weekend.
 
The Eagles and Norse traded buckets to open the game, with each team shooting over 66 percent early on in the fast-paced bout, but FGCU constructed an 11-3 run midway through the half with 3 long-range shots to take control. After leading 42-24 at the break, the Eagles held NKU to just two points through the first nine minutes of the second half and increased their lead to a game-high 41 points. NKU battled back late in the contest but could never challenge the Green and Blue lead as FGCU ran away with a 75-47 victory in front of the home crowd.
 
The win marks the Eagles' 60th-straight conference victory at home and extends the team's win streak in home games to 23 games to rank third in the nation. Overall, FGCU's 17-game win streak sits as the fourth-best streak in the nation, behind only no. 2/1 Connecticut, no. 3/3 Baylor and no. 16/18 Princeton.
 
"I thought in the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half we played really, really well," said head coach Karl Smesko. "We played well defensively, we got good shots on offense. Northern Kentucky is a really good team. For us to play that well over that period of time is really encouraging."
 
Led by 20 points from redshirt-junior Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School), the Eagles saw four double-figure scorers in Thursday night's game. Knight sank four long-range shots and pulled down a team-best eight rebounds, while juniors Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westwood High School/VCU) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) each contributed 13 on the night. Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./ Cudahy High School) rounded out the scoring efforts with 10 points in 17 minutes.
 
Haas' scoring total was aided by a perfect 9-for-9 outing from the free-throw line. The mark stands as the third-best performance in Eagle history, just two shy of the program record. Haas dished out three of the team's 18 assists, with DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) leading the way with six.  Eight different Eagles contributed at least one assist as the team produced an assist to turnover ratio of 2.0 with another single-digit turnover performance.
 
As a unit, the Eagles shot 44.6 percent from the field with 12 made 3-pointers and an 86.7 percent clip from the free-throw line. FGCU outrebounded NKU 36-32 and held the Norse to a 32.6 percent clip from 3-point range. FGCU also forced 15 miscues for 21 points.
 
The Norse jumped out to an early edge to start the contest thanks to a pair 3-pointers and a quick bucket down low but FGCU's defense forced the Norse into a few tense possessions and created a 10-3 run before the first media timeout. Knight sparked the Eagles with a long shot and a pair of layups and helped FGCU claim its first lead of the contest at 15:34.
 
After the first media timeout, NKU earned a pair of free throws, but the Eagles held Northern Kentucky without a field goal for over five minutes as Knight continued her hot streak. Knight used another 3-pointer to nudge FGCU's advantage to 20-13 midway through the first half.
 
NKU cut its scoring drought with a make from beyond the arc but it was quickly negated by a three from Jaime Gluesing (Solon, Ohio/Solon High School) from the left side. Atwater followed to increase FGCU's lead to nine at 25-16 with eight minutes left in the first half.
 
Atwater's field goal opened up a 15-3 run for the Eagles as FGCU charged ahead to open up a 40-19 cushion, its largest of the half.
 
Before the first half concluded, NKU combined for a layup and long-range shot to bring the score to 40-24 but Haas capped the half with two more makes from the charity stripe to give FGCU a 42-24 lead at halftime.
 
The Eagles stormed out of the break and quickly took complete control of the game. The team mounted a lofty 25-2 run to produce its largest lead of the game, a 41-point advantage at 67-26, near the 11-minute mark of the second half. The team held NKU scoreless for nearly nine minutes and scored 20-straight points over a span of just six minutes.
 
Over the course of the scoring streak Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) knocked down three trifectas, while Gradinjan and Gluesing also added shots from beyond-the-arc.
 
NKU cut its dry spell with a three from the left corner near the midpoint of the half to bring the score of 67-29.  Amanda Moore (Seymour, Ind./Seymour High School) added a layup for the Eagles with nine minutes to play before the Norse challenged the Eagles in the remaining minutes.
 
Although the visitors mounted a 17-6 run in the remaining minutes, the Eagle lead was never in jeopardy as the Green and Blue maintained the advantage and ultimately earned the 28-point win.
 
With a three-game lead over Stetson in the Atlantic Sun standings, the Eagles now need just two more wins to clinch their fifth-straight Regular Season Championship. The team is back in action Saturday, Feb. 14 with a 7 p.m. matchup against Lipscomb at Alico Arena.
 
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 last season with a record of 26-8, including a 17-1 mark in conference action and won the program's 300th win last 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.  With 20 wins already in the 2014-15 season, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 11-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 336-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.5 with a mark of 126-13 (90.6 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 76-1 record in conference play in the last four seasons.  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.
 
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