The Rundown: No. 2 FGCU (29-2 | 15 RPI) v. No. 3 Northern Kentucky (19-12 | 136 RPI)
The Matchup: Karl Smesko (Kent State, '93) 13th season at FGCU (343-66/83.5%) v. Dawn Plitzuweit (Michigan, '94) third season at NKU (53-35/60.2%)
When: Sunday, Mar. 15  |  2:30 p.m.
Where: Alico Arena  |  Fort Myers, Fla.
Video: via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app
Live Stats: via Statbroadcast
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees | #ASunWBB
Series History: FGCU leads 5-1 with three straight wins
Game Notes: FGCU  |  NKU
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Having already clinched its third NCAA Tournament berth in four years of eligibility, the No. 20 FGCU women's basketball team continues its quest for its second-consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship title in Sunday's championship final. The Eagles enter the final day before Selection Monday with a record of 29-2 and an official RPI of 15 and will take on No. 3 Northern Kentucky in a 2:30 p.m. matchup.
 
The Eagles will enter Sunday's bout looking for their 25th-straight victory and 30th win of the season. The win would mark the highest win total for the Eagles since making the jump to Division I and would set a new A-Sun record. With a win Sunday, the Eagles will secure their third conference tournament title in four years of postseason eligibility.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast with a video stream available through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call. As always, fans can also find live updates via Twitter at @FGCU_WBB. Those in attendance our encouraged to wear blue.
 
GAME DAY TWEETABLES
• Sunday marks the Eagles' fourth-straight appearance in the #ASunWBB Conference Final

• The team won its fifth-straight #ASunWBB Regular Season title this season with its third perfect season in four years
 
• Whitney Knight is the nation's only player to lead a conference in both 3-pointers and blocks
 
• FGCU currently stands as the No. 20 team in the AP Top-25 poll and checks in at No. 21 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll
 
• Eight of FGCU's nonconference opponents played in their respective conference championship finals
 
• The Eagles have already clinched the #ASunWBB automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
 
• The Eagles are looking for their second-straight #ASunWBB Tournament Title and their third in four years
 
• With one rebound, Knight will become the fourth FGCU player ever to have 1,000 career points and 500 rebounds
 
• FGCU is riding a 24-game win streak, which stands as the 4th best in the nation
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU continues postseason play with a record of 29-2 and an official RPI of 15.
 
FGCU finished the regular season with an FGCU Division I best win streak of 22 games and added to the streak with convincing victories over North Florida and Jacksonville in the first two rounds of the A-Sun Tournament. With 27 wins in their last 28 games, the Eagle run is the fourth best in the nation, only shorter than No. 1 Connecticut, No. 13 Princeton and No. 17 Chattanooga and is tied with No. 4 Maryland – all of whom have completed and won their conference tournaments.
 
FGCU boasted double-figure scorers through the regular season in Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School), Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westover High School) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lakes, Ohio/Magnificat High School).  Knight and Atwater currently pace the squad, each with more than 14 points per game.  Knight also leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and tops the league with 84 made shots from the perimeter and 80 blocks. Knight was named Player of the Year for her season-wide performance and currently stands as the nation's only player to lead a conference in both categories.
 
Collectively, the Eagles averaged 73.0 points per game during the regular season, while holding their opposition to 53.2 points per contest for the league's best scoring average and scoring margin. The scoring margin also ranks among the top-10 in the nation. The team has maintained a shooting percentage of .438 with a mark of .356 from the perimeter this year. The Eagles rank third in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 9.8 shots made from beyond-the-arc per game. On defense, the Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded, 35.1 to 35.4 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 11.4 to 18.5 and steals, 8.8 to 4.8. FGCU ranks fifth in the country with a turnover margin of +7.03 and 10th nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 1.29.
 
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN STREAK
With 24-straight wins, the Eagles currently hold the nation's fourth-best win streak. They sit behind only Connecticut, Princeton and Chattanooga and are tied with Maryland - who have all finished their conference tournaments.
       
The team also holds a 25-game win streak in conference games to rank fourth in the nation and sits only behind the nation's top two teams in Connecticut and South Carolina with 27-straight wins at home.
 
TOP-25
FGCU is now ranked No. 20 in the AP Top-25 and No. 21 in USA Today Coaches' Polls. The team picked up votes in three-straight polls before getting ranked in Week 15 for the first time in program history. FGCU held the No. 20/21 position from week 17 to week 18.
 
TOP-55
In games played against opposition in the RPI's top-55, the team is 6-1 with wins over GW, Quinnipiac, Stetson (x2), Wichita State and Arkansas State. The team adds two wins in the top-100 with Southern Miss. and Cal State-Northridge.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Backed by a tremendous defensive effort, the No. 20/21 FGCU women's basketball team earned a trip to the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship with a 62-42 win over No. 4 Jacksonville in Wednesday night's semifinal. With the win, the Eagles – who entered Wednesday's game with an official RPI of 14 – moved to 29-2 on the season with a 24-game win streak, while Jacksonville's season ended at 12-17.
 
The Eagles' win was fueled by defensive pressure against the Dolphins. FGCU forced 27 turnovers – the most of any opponent all season – and scored 38 points on Jacksonville miscues.  The Green and Blue grabbed 12 steals and swatted six shots, while holding JU to zeroes in both categories.  Jacksonville becomes the only FGCU foe to record no steals through a contest this season.
 
FGCU recorded just nine turnovers on the night and dished out 14 assists. The team shot 41 percent from the floor with 11 3-pointers, while holding JU to 37.2 percent overall. The Dolphins outrebounded the Eagles, 44-26, but were held to just 43 shots on the night compared to FGCU's 61.
 
Cobb paced all players with a season-high 20 points and six rebounds. Cobb went 9-for-13 from the field and grabbed four steals with three assists for her second-straight double-figure performance. Atwater and Gradinjan each added 11 points with three long-range makes in the 20-point victory.
 
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH NKU
As the league's newest members, the Eagles and Norse have met just six times previously. The Eagles have won the last three meetings and hold a record of 5-1 but NKU stands as the last team to have defeated FGCU in A-Sun action with a 20-point win in Highland Heights last season.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST THE NORSE
Backed by four double-figure scorers and 12 makes from 3-point range, the team ran away with a 75-47 victory over NKU Feb. 12 at Alico Arena.
 
The win 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 the week prior.
 
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.
 
 
SCOUTING THE NO. 3 SEED
Northern Kentucky enters Sunday's championship matchup with a record of 19-12 on the season. The Norse compiled a record of 8-6 in Atlantic Sun play to earn the three seed and have won five-straight games since losing to Jacksonville on Feb. 19. NKU went 9-6 in nonconference play with wins over Marquette, Cincinnati and Delaware and holds an RPI of 136 as of Saturday afternoon.
 
As a unit, the Norse average 62.7 points per game and hold foes to just under at 61.7 points a contest. NKU has converted 37.6 percent of shots this season with a 29.9 clip from beyond-the-arc. The team ranks third in the league with a 3-point percentage defense of 29.4 percent, proving to be a strong matchup against the Eagles. NKU pulls down 37.0 rebounds per game, 1.2 boards fewer than foes and sits better than its opponents in assists, turnovers and blocks per game.
 
The Norse are led by two 12+ point scorers in junior Christine Roush and senior Melody Doss. Doss is currently leading the program with 13.6 points per game, while Roush stands at 12.9 points per contest. The duo has contributed 822 total points and both rank among the top-10 scorers in the league. Junior Rianna Gayheart has facilitated the Norse offense with 109 assists on the season, while Kaitlyn Gerrety has fueled the NKU defense. Gerrety leads the squad with 5.4 rebounds per game and has added 41 steals and 36 blocks through 31 games.
 
Head Coach Dawn Plitzuweit is in her third season at the helm of the Norse after previously serving as the Associate Head Coach at Michigan. Plitzuweit holds a record of 53-38 in three seasons.
 
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Eagle's tough nonconference schedule has been crucial in the team's high RPI ranking this year. The team currently stands at 36 in the official NCAA SOS.
 
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. This season, the team is 16-0 when coach is given that much time to plan. In 12+ seasons, Smesko holds a record of 124-20 in games with extra time for a win percentage of 86 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.
 
PREDICTIONS PROVING TRUE
In addition to the first-place standing, FGCU's preseason predictions proved to be true individually as well as Preseason Player of the Year Whitney Knight earned the year-end accolade this week. Knight was named First-Team All Conference and the Player of the Year, while Atwater also earned First-Team distinction.  After her first full season on the court, Taylor Gradinjan picked up All-Freshman Team honors with Smesko taking home his fifth-straight Coach of the Year nod.
 
OFF THE COURST SUCCESS
Stephanie Haas was recognized as the A-Sun's Women's Basketball Scholar Athlete of the Year Thursday morning. The award recognizes the league's top student-athletes who excel on and off the court. Haas averaged 10 points per game through most of the season and holds a cumulative grade point average of 3.94 as a criminal justice major.
 
UP NEXT
Having already clinched an NCAA Tournament berth, the Eagles will learn their fate Monday, Mar. 16 in a 7 p.m. Selection Show. Details for an event at Alico Arena will be available Sunday and Monday. The first round of the NCAA Tournament is slated for Friday-Saturday Mar. 20-21.
 
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 fifth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2014-15 campaign. Under his direction, the team completed the season with a record of 29-2, including a 14-0 mark in conference action and earned its first-ever national ranking. With 29 wins already in the 2014-15 season, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 11-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 343-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.8 with a mark of 130-13 (91 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 67-1 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.
 
IT'S AWESOME, BABY
Dick Vitale held a book signing in the Alico Arena Auxiliary Gym on Feb. 25, but it's not too late for fans to still purchase autographed copies of his latest book: "It's Awesome Baby! 75 Years of Memories and a Lifetime of Opinions on the Game I Love" by clicking here or by calling 239-590-7060. All proceeds from the book will be donated to The V Foundation for children battling pediatric cancer.
 
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.