KENNESAW, Ga. – Even with a second-half surge from the home team, the FGCU women's basketball team earned its 19th-straight victory Thursday night with a 71-60 win at Kennesaw State. With the victory, the Eagles move to 11-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference action and secure at least a share of their fifth-straight regular season title. With a mark of 24-2 overall, the Eagles also seal the no. 1 seed in the A-Sun tournament and will have home-court advantage throughout the tournament.  As the losers in FGCU's first contest as a nationally ranked team, Kennesaw State falls to 16-10 on the season and 5-6 in conference play.
 
No matter the league's other results, a win Saturday at USC Upstate would give the Eagles the outright Atlantic Sun title for the sixth time in seven seasons.
 
FGCU, which entered Thursday's contest with an RPI ranking of 16, shot 55.8 percent from the field in the first half to take a 14-point lead into the break and extended the advantage to a game-high 23 points by holding the Owls to just one field goal in the first eight minutes of the second stanza. After allowing the Green and Blue to an eight-point streak that pushed the score to 56-33, the home team sparked a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to just 11 points with eight minutes to play. The teams traded field goals before the game was left to shots from the charity stripe in the final minutes. Kennesaw converted 9-of-12 free throws in the last five minutes to bring the game to single digits but made just 1-of-7 field goals in that span. The Eagles made 8-of-13 shots from the free-throw line to maintain the advantage and sealed the win at 71-60.
 
"We had really good ball movement early in the game and we really shared the ball," said head coach Karl Smesko. "Players knocked down shots and we got really good looks for about seven or eight minutes, and at that same time, our defense was at its best. That allowed us to extend the lead. But we didn't finish the well, so that was disappointing. We had a big lead in the second half and we started fouling too much and letting them get back in the game on the foul line. But we feel good that we won and we have a chance to play another good team on Saturday and see what we need to work on. "
 
The Eagles shot 46 percent from the field on the night with a 26.3 percent success rate from 3-point range, while holding Kennesaw to 32 percent from the floor and 13.4 percent from beyond-the-arc. The Eagles made 20-of-31 free throws overall, with the home team making 26 of its 34 attempts and outrebounding the Eagles 38-32. The Green and Blue scored 36 points in the paint and added 13 points on KSU's 20 turnovers, while losing the ball just 14 times.
 
Individually, FGCU saw four double-digit scorers in Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School), Stephanie Haas (Avon Lakes, Ohio/Magnificat High School), Katie Meador (Salem, Ill./Salem Community High School) and DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School).
 
Knight led the squad with 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting, with Haas adding 14 in the win. Eight of Haas' points were scored in the final five minutes of the game as she went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in that time. Meador and Dunson added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westwood High School/VCU) led the team's rebounding effort at eight boards, while Meador and Haas added seven and six.
 
Layups from Knight, Dunson and Meador gave the Eagles an early 7-1 lead to start the contest but the Owls challenged each lead FGCU put together in the opening minutes. KSU used four-straight points to bring the score to 11-9 five minutes in before FGCU used its first 3-pointer of the game to go up seven points at 16-9.
 
Haas became the eighth FGCU player to contribute as a layup moved the score to 18-11 near the midpoint of the half but KSU again cut the deficit to four points with four-consecutive free throws at the eight-minute mark. With just a 24-20 advantage, Knight and Dunson combined for eight-consecutive points to push the Eagles ahead again, this time giving FGCU a 32-20 lead with 4:28 left to play in the half.
 
The Owls used a jumper at the three-minute mark to cut the Eagle run, but the visiting team used a corner three from Knight to set up another eight-point run to take its largest lead of the half at 43-24. Kennesaw cut the deficit with five points on two of its last possessions but the Eagles halted the KSU momentum in the final play of the half to go into the break with a 43-29 lead.
 
Kennesaw State scored just one field goal in the first eight minutes of the second half as FGCU used another eight-point run to create the largest deficit of the game at 56-33 with 13 minutes to play.
 
After a Meador layup gave the team the 23-point lead, the Owls sparked a come-back run started by a pair of free throws with 12:30 on the clock. KSU added its second field goal of the second half and went on to score nine-straight points. The run turned into a 14-2 streak that cut the deficit to 58-47 with eight minutes to play.
 
Senior captain Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) cut the Owl run but not before the home team took the momentum held by the Eagles.  KSU used another three free throws in a five-point run to bring the score to 64-56 near the two-minute mark and held the Eagle advantage to single digits with nine made free throws on 12 attempts.
 
Backed by six made shots on eight attempts from the charity stripe by Haas, the Eagles held onto the lead and earned an 11-point victory.  Although the Owls produced the highest point total of an Eagle foe in the last six games, the Green and Blue earned its 10th-consecutive double-figure victory Thursday night and gave Smesko his 399th career win.
The Eagles will vie for the outright A-Sun title Saturday at USC Upstate with a 2 p.m. tipoff in Spartanburg. With a win, the Eagles will secure their 25th win of the season and give Smesko his 400th victory in just 496 games.
 
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 338-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.6 with a mark of 128-13 (90.7 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.
 
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.