ESTERO, Fla. – After a week off, the FGCU women's basketball team returns to action to face some of the season's toughest competition at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
 
GULF COAST SHOWCASE
The three-day event, which will include defending national runner-up #11 Syracuse, two-time national champion #5 Baylor and #8 Ohio State in the eight-team field, will begin the day after Thanksgiving and run from Friday- Sunday, Nov. 25-27 at Germain Arena, just a few miles from FGCU's beach-lined campus.
 
The Eagles will open up tournament play on Friday, Nov. 25 with a 5 p.m. game against Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State. FGCU is guaranteed to play three games in three days, and will face either Syracuse or reigning Atlantic 10 Conference champion George Washington in its second contest of the showcase.
 
In addition to the aforementioned five teams, #18 DePaul, RV Western Kentucky and Kent State round out the field.
 
BROADCAST INFO
A live video stream of the tournament can be found on Youtube via the bd Global channel. Live Stats will be provided courtesy of StatBroadcast. Links for both are available at FGCUAthletics.com.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU enters the tournament with a record of 2-2 after dropping a heartbreaker to Northern Colorado in double-overtime last week. The last time the Eagles faced a 2OT situation was when they dropped a 90-83 heartbreaker to Ohio State after two time extensions on Nov. 29, 2014.
 
On average, the Green and Blue have been outscoring their competition by a margin of 10.3 points. JUCO transfer Erica Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/Johnson County CC) and redshirt junior Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) have led the team in scoring with 14.3 ppg and 12.3 ppg respectively.
 
Steals have been a strength for FGCU, which has swiped 43 in just four games this season. Eleven Eagles have posted a steal, including China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville/Middle Tennessee State), Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) and Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) who have each collected more than seven. The only team in the tournament with more steals on the season is Syracuse with 66.
 
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State makes it's way to Estero, Fla. after beginning the season with four-straight home games. The Buckeyes enter the weekend at 3-1, with its only loss taking place against #3 South Carolina.
 
The Buckeyes led the Big Ten and were third in the country last season in scoring at 86.0 ppg. So far this year, Ohio State is averaging 94.5 ppg, which ranked fourth in the nation - one spot behind fellow Gulf Coast Showcase contender, Baylor. 
 
Like the Eagles, Ohio State has relied heavily on the talent of tranfers this season. After losing letterwinners to graduation, the Buckeyes brought in redshirt sophomore. Sierra Calhoun (Duke), redshirt junior Stephanie Mavunga (North Carolina) and redshirt junior Linnae Harper (Kentucky). Harper has yet to see action this season, but Mavunga and Calhoun have accounted for 25 percent of the Buckeyes scoring so far this season.
 
FGCU is 0-1 all-time against the Buckeyes with the teams' only meeting taking place on Nov. 29, 2014 at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
 
FIRST ROUND SCHEDULE
The complete schedule for the opening round of the tournament is as follows:
 
11 a.m. – Baylor vs. Kent State
1:30 p.m. – DePaul vs. Western Kentucky
5 p.m. – Ohio State vs. FGCU
7:30 p.m. – Syracuse vs. George Washington
 
UP NEXT
After the weekend, FGCU will have a seven-day break before facing local rival Ave Maria on Sunday, Dec. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
SMESKO
Head coach Karl Smesko earned his sixth-consecutive ASUN Coach of the Year award with a successful 2015-16 campaign and was named the espnW Mid-Major Coach of the Year. Under his direction, the team has compiled two-straight 30-win seasons with four perfect ASUN regular-season slates in the last five years. The team earned its first top-25 ranking and a third NCAA Tournament appearance as a seven seed in 2014-15 where FGCU won its first ever DI NCAA Tournament game against No. 10 Oklahoma State. With 30 wins and counting this year, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 12-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 380-75 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.5 with a mark of 145-13 (91.7 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to a 81-1 record in conference play in the last five seasons.  The six-time ASUN Coach of the Year earned his 400th career win last season in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma, and holds a career record of 441-102 (81.2 W%).  Smesko ranks among an elite list of just four active Division I coaches with a career win percentage of .800 or higher, joining 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.