FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's basketball team returns to action this week as they host the Hilton Garden Inn Classic. The Eagles welcome Hampton, UC Riverside and Samford for the two-day event.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Fans can find a live broadcast of the Eagles' games on ESPN3. Live stats will also be available from StatBroadcast. For those looking to attend the tournament and support your FGCU Eagles, tickets can be purchased online at FGCUTickets.com or by calling the university's ticket office at 239-590-7145.
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, Dec. 29
4:00 pm: Samford vs. UC Riverside
7:00 pm:  Hampton vs. FGCU
 
Friday, Dec. 30
4:00 pm: Samford vs. Hampton
7:00 pm: UC Riverside vs. FGCU
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
The Eagles enter the tournament at in the middle of a five-game home stretch. After a pair of wins over Chattanooga and St. Thomas last week, FGCU holds an 8-6 overall record and remains perfect at home at 6-0. Redshirt junior Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS), currently holds the title of ASUN Player of the Week after leading the team in scoring with double-digit points in both contests.
 
After coming off the bench to begin the season, Cattani was promoted to the starting lineup following the Gulf Coast Showcase. Since then, she's reached double-figure points four times and tallied career-highs in assists (7) and rebounds (6).
 
While Cattani has had a hot hand lately, it's newcomer Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) who leads the team with 10.4 points per game, including an average of 12.5 points over her last six contests. The JUCO transfer plays tough on defense and causes problems offensively due to her ability to drive hard to the basket or pull back for a long-range shot.
 
Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) is another new addition who's been making an impact for the Eagles. After scoring just eight points in her first three games combined, Alexander has turn things around and racked up 33 in the Eagles' last three contests.
 
SCOUTING HAMPTON
^ Hampton is 5-6 after losing 61-58 to Old Dominion on December 18. Malia Tate-DeFreitas topped Hampton with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Monnazjea Finney-Smith added 13 points and five boards and Kaylah Lupoe had 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
^ Hampton was picked to finish third in the MEAC this season in a preseason poll voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The Lady Pirates wound up third in the conference standings after going 11-5 in MEAC play last season.
 
^ Defense has been a staple of the Lady Pirates during head coach David Six's tenure. The MEAC Defensive Player of the Year award has gone to a Hampton player four times in the last seven seasons, and in each of those seven seasons, the Lady Pirates have ranked top 50 nationally in scoring defense.
 
^ This is the third year that Hampton has participated in a tournament in the Sunshine State. For the last two seasons they have gone to Florida International and have won the FIU Holiday Tournament. In 2014-15, they defeated Bowling Green and Auburn, while last season they defeated Wake Forest and Rhode Island.
 
KEY PLAYERS
0 Malia Tate-DeFreitas - After being named the MEAC Rookie of the Year in 2013-14, Tate-DeFreitas has been named the conference's Player of the Year each of the past two seasons. Coming into 2016-17, she was named the MEAC's Preseason Player of the Year. She could be the first MEAC player to earn three straight Player of the Year honors.
 
2 Monnazjea Finney-Smith - Finney-Smith played her first game in a Lady Pirate uniform in the 67-48 loss at Northwestern and topped Hampton in scoring with 16 points and four 3-pointers. Eleven games into the season, she leads the team with 21 threes and a .356 clip from beyond the arc.
 
31 Kaylah Lupoe - Lupoe has recorded multiple blocked shots in five of the 11 games thus far this year and had a season-best five in the loss at Old Dominion on December 18. For the year she is ranked fifth in the MEAC in blocked shots averaging 1.8 per game. With her 21 blocked shots so far this year, she has moved into sixth place on the career blocked shots list with 91.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Hampton holds a 1-0 all-time record over FGCU, downing the Eagles 70-59 on Nov. 24, 2012 at the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
 
SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE
^ UC Riverside holds a record of 5-5 coming into this week's event following a 90-84 loss at Kansas that snapped a four-game winning steak for the Highlanders.
 
^ As a unit, the Highlanders own the best three-point shooting percentage in the Big West at .370. Senior Simone DeCoud leads the team with 21 makes from beyond the arc.
 
^ UC Riverside has struggled against the boards this season, averaging a conference-low 33.0 rebounds per contest, while opponents are averaging 39.7.
 
^ The Highlanders lead the Big West in assists with 17.7 per game.
 
^ Three Highlanders - Simone DeCoud, Rejane Verin, and Lauren Holt - are averaging double-figure points for UC Riverside this season.
 
KEY PLAYERS
5 Simone DeCoud - DeCoud has been on a tear as the Highlanders approach conference play. The guard is averaging 22.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 steals and is shooting 40.9% from deep (9-22) over her last three games. In UCR's overtime road loss to Kansas, DeCoud poured in a career-high 29 points, tied a career-best with five three pointers made and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds.
 
10 Rejane Verin - Verin transfered to UC Riverside from UNLV and sat out the 14-15 season due to tranfer rules. During her first year of eligibility with the Highlanders, she racked up 544 points - good for second-most on the team. So far this season, Verin leads the Highlanders with 16.9 points per contest.
 
12 Lauren Holt - After tranferring from Portland State and sitting out last season, this is Holt's first season of eligibility with the Highlanders. So far, she's made the most of it, averaging 11.5 points per game with 17 threes and 12 steals on the season.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first-ever meeting between FGCU and UC Riverside.
 
RAINING THREES
The team's moniker Raining Threes isn't just for show. FGCU has made an incredible 4,198 3-pointers in 15 seasons for an average of nine per game. The Eagles are riding a 349-game streak with at least one three ball and have made a long-range shot in 464 of 465 games in program history.
 
PROTECTING THE NEST
Alico Arena stands as the second-toughest place to play in all of NCAA Division I women's basketball. The first: UConn's Gampel Pavilion.  The Eagles hold a record of 141-11 at home since making the jump to Division I in 2007-08 and have won 78 out of 80 ASUN games with the home crowd behind them.
 
RECAPPING ST. THOMAS
The FGCU women's basketball team (8-6) remains perfect at home with a 71-48 win over NAIA foe St. Thomas.
 
The Eagles averaged 46.6 percent from the floor, including 66.7 percent in the third quarter en route to a 13-point win.
 
Three Eagles amassed double-figure points in tonight's game. Jessica Cattani garnered a team-high 13, while Jordin Alexander and Tayler Goodall each tallied 10.
 
Cattani sunk three triples for the second night in a row and contributed on defense with a career-high six rebounds, but it was China Dow who led the pack with eight boards.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles continue their five-game homestand with the Hilton Garden Inn Classic at Alico Arena. FGCU will take on Hampton on Thursday, Dec. 29 before facing UC Riverside on Friday, Dec. 30. Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 7 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 386-79 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.0 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 in 2014-15 in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma, and holds a career record of 447-106 (80.8 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.