FORT MYERS Fla. – Behind a strong defensive effort, the FGCU women's basketball team downed the Siena Saints by a score of 66-42 in the first game of a double header with men's basketball on Friday night. The Eagles have now won two in a row and move to a 4-5 record, while the Saints slide to 2-6.
 
FGCU held Siena to its lowest score of the season and collected almost one third of its points (21) off of 27 Saints' turnovers.
 
"I thought there was definitely improvement today," said head coach Karl Smesko. "Defensively, we looked like a different team. We executed on that side of the ball better than we have so far this season. We were careless with the ball a lot today, but overall it was a better effort. I thought Rosemarie (Julien) was outstanding. Not only did she score the points, but she also guarded their best player all night and really made it tough for her to get good looks at the basket."
 
Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) allowed just six points from the Saints' lead scorer, Jackie Benitez and led the Eagles with a career-high 17 points, including three triples. Her pair of steals early in the first quarter set the pace for FGCU's defense.
 
Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) returned to the Eagles lineup after sitting out four games with an injury and immediately made an impact. Defensively, Laughter picked up two steals and a career-high two blocks, while adding 11 points in just 20 minutes of action.
 
"It was great to have Haley back," Smesko said. "We're just a different team with her out there. Haley was playing great before she got hurt, and really I didn't know until game-time if she'd be able to play. We thought we'd take a look at her early, and she started knocking down threes so we left her in."
 
Notorious long-range threat Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) was back at it tonight, leading the floor with four threes for a total of 12 points. As a unit, the Eagles knocked down 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, a great improvement over their 8-of-31 mark from last game.
 
FGCU stifled the Saints attack early, causing 11 turnovers in the first quarter. Laughter and Julien combined for four steals and eight points en route to a 17-6 lead for the Eagles heading into the second.
 
Siena's Denisha Petty-Evans drained a three for the Saints to start off the second quarter, but the Eagles immediately responded with a four-minute stretch that featured triples from Laughter, Julien and Gradinjan. Siena finished the quarter with a 7-3 run, which put the score at 29-18 heading into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, FGCU racked up seven-straight points with a three-pointer from Julien sandwiched between layups from Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) and Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown).  The teams split the next 16 points. As the end of the quarter drew near, Laughter knocked down a three before a layup from Siena's Kollyns Scarbrough ended the third at 47-32 in favor of FGCU.
 
Julien went on a tear with six-straight points to start off the final quarter. FGCU continued to dominate with a 10-3 run that put the Eagles ahead 63-40 with 1:46 remaining. Finally a three-pointer from rookie Morgan Meacham (Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall HS) gave FGCU a 66-42 win and its largest lead of the night over Siena.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles hit the road for an afternoon game against in-state rival FAU on Sunday, Dec. 11. Tipoff is scheduled for 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 382-78 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 443-105 (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 #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.