FGCU (24-4 | 12-0 A-Sun) vs. Lipscomb (5-22 | 2-10 A-Sun)
FGCU Head Coach: Karl Smesko | Kent State '93 | 14^th Season at FGCU: 369-71 (83.8%) | 17^th Season as Head Coach: 430-98 (81.4%)
Lipscomb Head Coach: Greg Brown | Lipscomb '93 | 4^th Season at Lipscomb: 22-93 (19.1%)
When: Monday, Feb. 22 | 7 p.m.
Where: Alico Arena | Fort Myers, Fla.
Watch: ESPN3 with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton
Stats: via StatBroadcast.com
All-Time Series: FGCU leads 19-0 with a 10-0 mark in home games
Game Notes: FGCU | Lipscomb
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – In the final home contest of the 2015-16 regular season, the FGCU women's basketball team will host Lipscomb University Monday, Feb. 22 in a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Eagles seek their fourth perfect conference season in five years with two Atlantic Sun Conference games remaining.
 
The Green and Blue recently secured its sixth-straight A-Sun Regular Season Championship and its seventh title in eight seasons in the league. FGCU will hold the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage through the 2016 A-Sun Championship with the remaining seeds yet to be determined.
 
GAME DAY ACTION
Tickets for the final home game of the regular season are still available and can be purchased by visiting FGCUAthletics.com/tickets, calling the Ticket Office at 239-590-7145 or by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office Monday after 9 a.m.
 
Like all home games this season, Monday's tilt will be streamed live via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call. Live stats will be available through FGCUStats.com, while fans can also find live, in-game updates on Twitter by following @FGCU_WBB.
 
Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game as the team honors the Play 4 Kay initiative. The Play 4 Kay movement strives for a nation of coaches to raise awareness and funds for women's cancer research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Since its inception in 2007, the Play 4Kay initiative has helped the Kay Yow Cancer Fund support $5.18 million in women's cancer research and related projects. Donations will be accepted in the lobby of Alico Arena.
 
Fans can also purchase "Eagles Don't Fight Alone" T-shirts in the lobby. Short-sleeved shirts sell at a cost of $10 with long sleeved shirts available for $15. Proceeds from shirt sales will benefit Play 4 Kay.
 
QUICK HITS:
-RAINING THREES: FGCU's 263 total 3-pointers made this season ranks fifth nationally, while the 9.4 makes per game ranks seventh among the nation's best.
-The Eagles have held opponents to just 49.3 points per game this season for the nation's second-best defensive mark. The team also ranks among the top-25 in field goal percentage defense by holding foes to a 35.5 percent clip.
-The Green and Blue is the nation's only team to rank among the top-10 in 3-point shooting and the top-50 in team defense.
-With a 12-0 mark in A-Sun play, the Eagles are one of just nine Division I teams to remain undefeated in league play. FGCU joins Connecticut, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Colorado State, UC Riverside, New Mexico State, Arkansas State and Penn in the group.
- The Eagles are 143-13 in A-Sun contests since 2007 with just one regular-season loss since the 2011-12 campaign for a record of 68-1 and a win percentage of .986 in that span. The team boasts three perfect seasons in the last five years has won six-straight regular season championships with seven overall since joining the A-Sun. Currently, the team is undefeated in conference action since Feb. 1, 2014.
-The 41-game win streak against Atlantic Sun Conference foes ranks second in the nation, behind only Connecticut's 72-game run.
-The team's 17-game win streak this season stands fourth nationally, behind Connecticut (63), Colorado State (21) and Notre Dame (18).
-FGCU boasts a 68-game win streak in home games played against Atlantic Sun Conference foes and holds a 92.7 percent win percentage at Alico Arena all-time
-In the latest espnW rankings, FGCU stands as the nation's No. 1 Mid-Major team.
-Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) set a new standard in the A-Sun record books Saturday afternoon as the senior became the league's all-time leader in career blocks with 291 and counting.
-Knight took over as the program's second all-time scorer in Saturday's game passing Adrianne McNally and now stands at 1,425 career points. Knight will become the third ranked rebounder in program history with two more boards.
 
The Eagles continue Atlantic Sun Conference play with an overall record of 24-4 and an unblemished conference mark of 12-0. The team extended the win streak to 17 games with a victory against Kennesaw State Saturday afternoon and is unbeaten since before the Christmas holiday.  With the nonconference success and the unblemished conference slate, the team currently holds an official RPI of 62 with a nonconference strength of schedule rating of 61.
 
ATLANTIC SUN STANDINGS
The Eagles still boast the top league record in the A-Sun at 12-0 and have secured the No. 1 position in the 2016 A-Sun Tournament. The Eagles hold a three-game lead over second as no other team has fewer than three losses on the year.
 

No. 1 FGCU*	12-0	24-4	W17
USC Upstate*	9-3	18-9	W1
Jacksonville*	9-3	17-10	W3
Stetson*	8-4	17-9	W2
Kennesaw State	5-7	10-17	L1
North Florida	2-10	6-21	L8
Lipscomb	2-10	5-22	L2
NJIT	1-11	4-23	L5

*the top-four teams have secured home-court advantage through the first round with final seeding still to be determined.
 
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The nonconference slate put the Eagles up against nine top-125 teams this season to push the team to a strength of schedule rating of 61. The slate included eight teams that made the postseason last year with seven programs that finished the 2014-15 season among the top-100.
 
The Eagles compiled a record of 6-3 against the top-125 teams with a notable victory at George Washington (41) and against Auburn (52), Quinnipiac (102), Harvard (103), Western Michigan (118) and Arizona (124). The triumph over GW in Washington, D.C. stands as the team's strongest win of the season as it was a true road game played without reigning A-Sun Player of the Year Whitney Knight. The Eagles were also without Knight during losses to top-50 teams Ohio (27) and Arkansas State (44), while the senior played limited minutes on doctor's orders when the team battled No. 13 Mississippi State (32) to a 65-60 finish in Puerto Rico.
 
WITH WHITNEY
Knight missed the first eight games of the season while battling a foot injury but picked up right where she left off upon return with 16 points and 10 rebounds at Providence on Dec. 12. In 19 games on the court, Knight has led all players with 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. She also tops the team and the league with 57 blocks in her 19 games played. During her recovery, the team faced tough competition in Ohio, Arkansas State, George Washington and Harvard and amassed a 5-3 record to start the year. With Knight, the team is 18-1 with a 17-game win streak and has outscored opponents by an average of 61.9 to 46.1 points per game.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce-Westwood High School/VCU) currently tops FGCU's three double-figure scorers at 13.8 points scored per game through the season's 28 contests. Atwater has added 5.5 rebounds per contest with 87 assists and 37 steals. Since her return from injury, Knight has added 13.1 points per game with a team-high 6.3 rebounds. Knight has blocked 57 shots so far this season with 49 shots made from the perimeter. Knight produced double-doubles in three of the last four games with 21 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's win over Kennesaw State. Sophomore Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) has also contributed double-digits for the Eagles with 10.0 points per contest. The strong shooter has made a team-best 68 3-pointers this season.
 
Senior captain DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) has facilitated the offense with 122 assists on the year. Dunson's assist to turnover ratio of 3.05 ranks fifth nationally.
 
As a unit, the Eagles have score 63.7 points per game, while holding opponents to just 49.2 points per contest. The defensive mark ranks second nationally, only behind Connecticut. FGCU has converted 38.6 percent of shots with 9.4 makes from 3-point range per game. The Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded 36.4 to 37.6 boards per game but hold a heavy advantage in turnovers as the squad has forced 16.9 miscues per game with only 11.0 turnovers of its own. The margin of 5.9 ranks 10th nationally, while the limited number of turnovers is the country's second-best mark.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The Eagles are known nationally for their success at home, but this season the team is excelling away from Southwest Florida as well. FGCU holds an 11-0 record in games played on the home court of its opponent with an average margin of victory of over 19 points. The team has held foes to just 49.2 points per game with a 35.5 percent clip from the floor. The road slate this year includes a win in Washington, D.C. over A-10 power George Washington (while Knight was out with injury). The Eagles are one of just four teams nationwide with an unblemished record on the road, joining Connecticut (14-0), Green Bay (10-0) and South Carolina (9-0).
 
POWERFUL WINS
After defeating the Pac-12's Arizona in Puerto Rico before the holidays, the Eagles have now defeated at least one team from each of the Power Five conferences since making the jump to Division I. With a home win over Auburn to end 2015, the team has picked up 11 total wins against the BCS programs.  – SEC: Auburn (Dec. 30, 2015), LSU (Dec. 28, 2012), Florida (Nov. 14, 2008); ACC: Clemson (Nov. 28, 2014) Virginia Tech (Dec. 16, 2012/Dec. 21, 2011/Nov. 25, 2010), Big Ten: Michigan State (Nov. 19, 2011), Indiana (Dec. 21, 2010); Big 12: Oklahoma State (Mar. 21, 2015); Pac-12: Arizona (Dec. 20, 2015).
 
RAINING THREES
FGCU tops the Atlantic Sun with 9.4 3-pointers made her game and 263 long-range makes on the year. The Eagles' signature shot has produced 789 of the team's 1,784 points on the year. On the national stage, the total 3-pointers made rank fifth among the NCAA's 349 teams, while the makes per game mark stands at seventh. The team has consistently ranked among the nation's top 3-point shooters and held the NCAA single-game record with 22 made on 41 attempts until recently when Sacramento State hit 25. The Eagles led the nation during the 2012-13 season with 342 long-range makes and followed with 319 in the 2013-14 season. That mark 342 now stands as the third-best performance in NCAA history. The team also sank 10.7 3-pointers per game in that season, an average that also stands as the third-best overall mark.
 
THE LIPSCOMB BISONS
The Lipscomb University Bisons travel to Southwest Florida for the final Monday night contest of the 2015-16 regular season. Lipscomb is 5-22 on the year with a 2-10 league record after dropping games to Jacksonville and Stetson recently. The team previously lost 17-straight games but picked up home wins against NJIT and UNF to hold a tie for sixth-place in the A-Sun standings.
 
The team went 8-21 a year ago with a 3-11 mark in conference play and returned two starters from last year's squad. With its top scorer Ashley Southern back, the Bisons were voted sixth in this season's preseason poll.
 
As a unit, the Bisons average 63.5 points per game but have allowed foes to 73.4 points per contest in 27 games this season. Lipscomb has shot 39.1 percent to rank fourth in the league and tops the conference with a 34.1 percent clip from 3-point range. The Bisons stand just behind FGCU with 7.3 long-range shots a game.
 
Southern paces the Bisons and ranks second in the league with 18.1 points per game. The post player missed eight games midway through the season but has returned to action without skipping a beat. Southern has converted shots at a rate of 48.8 percent this season with 9.1 rebounds per game and 18 total blocks.  Alex Banks and Riley Northway contribute 10.2 and 8.3 points per game, respectively, while Loren Cagle has facilitated the offense with 178 total assists. The sophomore ranks among the nation's top-10 with 7.0 assists per game and has added 8.2 points per game. Senior Chandler Cooper has also contributed heavily on offense with 7.9 points per game. Cooper is the team's strongest 3-point shooter with a shooting percentage of 41.4 and 53 makes from distance.
 
In his fourth season, head coach Greg Brown holds a record of 22-93. Brown's squad holds and official RPI of 334 this season.
 
FGCU holds a 19-0 advantage over the Bisons since their first meeting in 2008 with an 18-0 record in regular-season action. The team defeated Lipscomb twice last season and again defeated the Bisons71-39 earlier this season to move to 9-0 at Allen Arena. FGCU averages 77 points per game in contests against the Bisons and has held LU to 50 or fewer points on 10 occasions, including the last five meetings. FGCU has defeated Lipscomb 10 times at Alico Arena.
 
MILESTONES MOUNTING
With such an experienced squad, several players on the team hold and are within reach of program milestones.
 
Dunson leads the team and ranks second in program history with 387 career assists.
 
FGCU CAREER ASSISTS

1	Shannon Murphy	2007-11	419
2	DyTiesha Dunson	2012-16	387
3	Megan Jones	2002-05	338
4	Adrianne McNally	2006-10	335
5	Courtney Chihil	2008-12	328

 
Knight tops the FGCU record book with 291 blocked shots in her career and took over the top spot in the league records Saturday, Feb. 20 and will edge closer to the top position in the season's remaining games.
 
ATLANTIC SUN CAREER BLOCKS

1	Whitney Knight	2011-16	291
2	Jessica Bobbit	Belmont 05-09	290
3	Katie Beth Pate	Lipscomb 03-07	264
4	Albena Branzova	FIU 91-95	250
5	Denise Hogie	CoC 91-93	248

 
On the offensive end, Knight passed Adrianne McNally to move to second all-time with 21 points scored Feb. 20.
 
FGCU CAREER POINTS

1	Sarah Hansen	2009-14	1,895
2	Whitney Knight	2011-16	1,425
3	Adrianne McNally	2006-10	1,415
4	Kelsey Jacobson	2008-12	1,251
5	Shannon Murphy	2007-11	1,185

 
Knight also ranks fourth in the FGCU record books with 185 career steals, 12 away from the program record.
 
FGCU CAREER STEALS

1	Sarah Hansen	2009-14	247
2	Courtney Chihil	2008-12	197
3	Whitney Knight	2011-16	185
4	Shannon Murphy	2007-11	168
5	Brittany Kennedy	2011-13	145

 
Knight entered the 2015-16 season with 516 career rebounds and will continue to climb the FGCU records. She currently stands fourth all-time and is on pace to finish second in the record books.
 
FGCU CAREER REBOUNDS

1	Sarah Hansen	2009-14	882
2	Adrianne McNally	2006-10	658
3	Robyn Swain	2002-04	640
4	Whitney Knight	2011-16	639
5	Courtney Chihil	2008-12	603

 
Gluesing tops the squad with 129 games played through a four-year career. The senior is on pace to break Sarah Hansen's all-time appearances record, while Haas and Meador also stand in the program's top-five.
 
FGCU CAREER APPEARANCES

1	Sarah Hansen	2009-14	132
2	Jaime Gluesing	2012-16	129
3	Stephanie Haas	2012-16	128
	Adrianne McNally	2006-10	128
5	Kelsey Jacobson	2008-12	124
	Shannon Murphy	2007-11	124
	Katie Meador	2012-16	124

 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will travel to DeLand, Fla. Saturday, Feb. 27 for the regular-season finale. The team will take on Stetson in a 1 p.m. tipoff at the Edmunds Center in the quest for a fourth perfect season. The Eagles will return to Alico Arena for the A-Sun Championship Tournament beginning Friday, Mar. 4 and will hold home-court advantage through the three-game tournament as the No. 1 seed. Complete details on ticketing, schedule and opponent for the A-Sun Championship can be found on FGCUAthletics.com as it becomes available.
 
SMESKO
Head coach Karl Smesko earned his fifth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2014-15 campaign. Under his direction, the team compiled a Division I program best record of 31-3, including a 14-0 mark in conference action and earned its first-ever national ranking last season. The team earned its third NCAA Tournament appearance as a seven seed and won its first ever DI NCAA Tournament game against No. 10 Oklahoma State. With 24 wins and counting, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 12-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 369-71 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.9 with a mark of 143-13 (91.6 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 79-1 record in conference play in the last five seasons.  The six-time Atlantic Sun 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 430-98 (81.4 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.