FORT MYERS, Fla. – With an Atlantic Sun Championship record 16 3-pointers made, the top-seeded FGCU women's basketball team advanced to the A-Sun semifinal with a 74-35 victory over No. 8 North Florida in Friday night's quarterfinal. With the win, the nationally-ranked Eagles extend their win streak to 23 games and move to 28-2 on the season, while the Ospreys' season ends at 11-20.
With nine players making at least one long-range shot, the Eagles scored 48 points from the perimeter to match their season high against a Division I opponent. The team saw five double-digit scorers in a well-balanced attack and cruised to its third victory over the Ospreys this season.
FGCU, who entered the game with an official RPI of 17 and an AP Top-25 standing, got off to an eight-point lead right out of the gates as
Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) made back-to-back 3-pointers in the first minute of action and followed with a layup on the right side. The Eagles never looked back and maintained a 15-point advantage through the first half before shooting 58 percent from the field with 10 made shots from beyond-the-arc in the second stanza. UNF was held to just 14 field goals and a 25 percent success rate as the Eagles sailed to their 23rd-straight win and earned a place in the A-Sun semifinals.
"I thought Whitney came out aggressive. She started off hot and gave us a nice lead to start the game and gave us some good energy," said head coach
Karl Smesko. "UNF is a well-coached team and they play strong defense. Our offensive execution in the first half wasn't where we wanted it to be but I thought in the second half we executed better. It was great to see a few of our players each have a burst that extended our lead and it was nice to see our reserves knock down shots late in the game."
Senior
Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) and junior
Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce-Westwood High School/VCU) paced all players with 12 points each, while Knight and
Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) both added 11. Senior
Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) rounded out the team's balanced attack with 10 points and matched Cobb to lead the squad with three long-range shots on the night.
Knight led the team's rebounding effort with eight, with
Katie Meador (Salem, Ill./Salem Community High School) adding seven, while
DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) dished out a team-best six assists.
As a unit, the Eagles recorded 16 assists on 16 jump shots and converted 24-of-53 shots from the floor for a 45.3 percent clip. FGCU set the new A-Sun postseason record at 16 long-range shots and produced a 48.5 percent success rate from beyond-the-arc. FGCU outrebounded UNF 44-33 and forced 14 UNF turnovers but also turned the ball over 14 times through the 40-minute affair.
Knight's eight-straight points gave the Eagles and the crowd a boost of energy to start the game as the Green and Blue took the lead immediately. UNF added one layup but back-to-back long-range shots from Atwater and Chatzigiakoumi forced UNF into a timeout with a 12-point deficit just four minutes in.
Cobb became the team's fourth player to hit a three near the 13-minute mark as she increased the lead to 19-4 before Knight added a layup a minute later. UNF ended a dry spell with a brief four-point run and forced FGCU into a four-minute drought that saw an uncharacteristic three turnovers.
The Eagles' cut the rough streak with a 3-pointer from Atwater and went up 27-10 on a layup from
Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) with five minutes to go in the half. Meador added two shots from the charity stripe two minutes later to move the score to 30-12 but the Eagles were held scoreless in the final three minutes of the half. UNF added three points in that span before the teams went into the break at 30-15.
Cobb sparked a run for FGCU to open the second stanza with five-straight points of her own. Two Atwater free throws and another long shot from Cobb aided an 11-2 run for the Eagles that pushed the lead to 41-17 in the first round minutes of the half.
UNF responded, adding seven buckets in the second half, but the Eagles continued to increase the deficit with strong perimeter shooting. The Green and Blue added 10 long-range shots in the second half with makes from Cobb, Meador, Haas, Chatzigiakoumi and Gradinjan as well as redshirt-freshmen
Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) and
Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wisc./Muskego High School) and extended the lead to a game-best 41 points on Cattani's shot in the final minute.
The Ospreys added two points from the free-throw line on the last possession but gave way to FGCU's 28th win of the season.
FGCU continues postseason play Wednesday, Mar. 11 as the Eagles host the No. 4 seed Jacksonville Dolphins in the A-Sun semifinal. Jacksonville earned its way to the semifinal with a 55-54 win over No. 4 Kennesaw State. Around the league, No. 2 Stetson advanced with a convincing win over No. 7 Lipscomb and No. 3 Northern Kentucky won its first postseason game 64-45 over No. 6 USC Upstate. Tipoff in the Eagles' next postseason contest is slated for 7 p.m. at Alico Arena, while Stetson will host NKU in DeLand. The winners of the two semifinal matchups will meet Sunday, Mar. 15 at 2:30 p.m. with the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
As the No. 1 seed in the 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, the Eagles will host each game of the tournament. Tickets for all A-Sun tournament games are on sale online at FGCUAthletics.com, over the phone at 239-590-7145 or in person at the Alico Arena Box Office. 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 28-2, including a 14-0 mark in conference action and earned its first-ever national ranking. With 28 wins already in the 2014-15 season, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 11-straight 20+ win seasons. He maintains a record of 342-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.8 with a mark of 132-13 (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, BABYDick 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.
