FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's basketball team (3-5) rolled to a historic victory on Sunday afternoon, downing local NAIA foe Ave Maria (4-5), 101-34. The win marks the sixth time that the Eagles have recorded triple-digit points since making the jump to Division I in 2007. The last time the Green and Blue hit the century mark was in 2014 against the Gyrenes.
 
FGCU dominated the floor defensively, holding Ave Maria to just 15 points through three quarters and forcing 34 turnovers – the most in DI history. The Eagles once again turned defensive stops into offensive production with 44 points off Gyrenes turnovers.  
 
"We emphasized defensive intensity and positioning heavily this week, and I thought there was definitely a higher energy level and enthusiasm on that side of the ball today," said head coach Karl Smesko. "I give Ave Maria credit. They didn't get down on themselves and they had a nice run at the end of the game, but I thought a lot of our kids competed on the defensive end and that helped us get a big lead early."
 
The Green and Blue improved their shots significantly from last week with a 55.6 percent clip from floor, marking the team's best field goal percentage since recording 56.1 percent against FIU in 2014.
 
Three Eagles reached double-digit points in the game. Erica Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/Johnson County CC) led the pack with 18 points, followed by Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) who set a new career high with 16 and China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville/Middle Tennessee State) who tallied 14.

Freshmen Morgan Meacham (Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall HS) and Samantha Kisiel (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen HS) each recorded the first points of their collegiate career in the fourth quarter of the game – Meacham with a pair of three-pointers and Kisiel with a jumper in the final three minutes.

As a unit, the Eagles collected 22 steals, which ties for fifth most in program history. Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) swiped away a team-high six, while Cattani and Dow added four. Nine of 12 players who saw action for FGCU recorded at least one steal against Ave Maria.

FGCU took control early, forcing four Gyrenes' turnovers before Ave Maria took a timeout. When play resumed, the Green and Blue tallied 14-straight points before finishing the quarter with a 33-8 lead. The Eagles continued to pressure in the second quarter with seven different players recording steals. FGCU allowed just five field goal attempts from its opponent in the quarter and racked up 17 points of their own for a total of 50 going into halftime. The last time the Eagles reached 50 points in a half was when they climbed to 51 in the second half of an 86-33 win over St. Thomas (Fla.) last season.

FGCU was absolutely relentless in the third quarter, scoring 27-straight points and allowing 0 from Ave Maria. Trailing 67-15, the Gyrenes continued to fight. Brooke Pierron provided a spark for AMU with a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter, but the Eagles followed it up with back-to-back layups from Cattani and Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown). After a 12-5 run by Ave Maria, FGCU put the game away with six-straight points. In the final 13 seconds of the game, a three-pointer from Sydnei McCaskill (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips) pushed the Eagles over the century mark for the sixth time in DI history.

UP NEXT
The Eagles face Siena at Alico Arena on Friday, Dec. 9 at 5:15 p.m., before traveling across the state to square off with FAU on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 2 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 381-78 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 last season in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma, and holds a career record of 442-105 (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 #F