BOCA RATON, Fla. – The FGCU women's basketball team got its revenge with a 65-50 victory over FAU, which handed the Eagles their first home loss in almost two years last season. With the win, FGCU improves its record to 5-5, while the Owls move to 3-6.
 
"We still have a lot of work to do," said head coach Karl Smesko.  "I thought (Taylor) Gradinjan played really well today. She definitely found her rhythm from a shooting standpoint. We're going to need this kind of performance from her moving forward."
 
Gradinjan drained 6-of-9 from the floor including an incredible 4-of-5 from three-point land, for a season-high 17 points. Defensively, the Wisconsin-native added two steals and now leads the Eagles with 19 on the season.
 
Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) and Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) joined Gradinjan at the top of the stats sheet with 11 and 10 points respectively.
 
With 10 steals on the afternoon, the Eagles reached double-digit for the third-straight game. Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) led the team with three takeaways, while five other players recorded at least one steal. As a team, FAU totaled just four, while turning the ball over 22 times.
 
The Eagles flew around the court in the first quarter, jumping out to a 15-7 lead after a three-pointer from Cattani, which caused the Owls to take a timeout. The teams split the next 12 points, until a triple from Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) swung momentum back in favor of FGCU. The Owls responded with five quick points, but with 0:09 left to go in the quarter, a three from Julien gave the Eagles a 28-18 lead.
 
The Owls started the second quarter with a 14-4 run that tied the game at 32-all. The teams exchange points, knotting up again at 36 with 1:39 left to go before halftime. Missed opportunities prevented either team from gaining an advantage, and the score remained tied going into the break.
 
Gradinjan took control early in the third quarter, knocking down back-to-back threes within a minute of each other. A pair of steals from Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) and a block from Erica Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/Johnson County CC) stifled FAU's offense, holding the Owls to just three points in the quarter. Meanwhile, FGCU climbed to a 14-point lead with more long-range makes from Gradinjan and Cattani.
 
The first two minutes of the fourth quarter remained scoreless until Gradinjan knocked one in at the shot-clock buzzer and drew a foul for a three-point play. The Eagles advanced to a 19-point lead, their largest of the night, after Nelson was fouled on a layup, giving FGCU another three points. Down 61-42, the Owls captured 10 of the next 14 points, but as time ran out, FAU was forced to concede a 65-50 result.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will return to the Nest on Wednesday, Dec. 14 for a 7 p.m. game against North Carolina A&T. Last season, FGCU downed the Aggies 60-36 in its season opener.
 
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 383-78 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.1 with a mark of 145-13 (91.7 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to an 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 444-105 (80.9 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 raise awareness.