FORT MYERS, Fla. – After eight lead changes and eight tie scores, the top-ranked FGCU women's basketball team rallied to outscore No. 4 Stetson in the fourth quarter and earned a 61-46 win in the Atlantic Sun Conference Semifinal Wednesday night at Alico Arena. With their 21st-straight win, the Eagles move to 28-4 on the season and advance to the A-Sun Championship for the fifth-straight season, while the Hatters fall to 19-11.
 
The Eagles will take on No. 2 Jacksonville University Sunday, Mar. 13 at 2 p.m. in the 2016 A-Sun title game. The Dolphins defeated No. 3 USC Upstate 67-56 Wednesday night in Jacksonville and are now 21-10 on the season. Jacksonville will appear in its third A-Sun final and first since the 2010-11 season.
 
Tickets for the A-Sun Championship are available at FGCUTickets.com or through the Alico Arena Ticket Office.
 
Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce-Westwood High School/VCU) got things started quickly for the Green and Blue with a layup in the opening seconds but it was a back-and-forth battle the entire way. Stetson held a one-point lead after one quarter, but the Eagles rebounded to take a 23-21 lead at halftime. Stetson went 6-for-8 from the field in the third quarter to reclaim the lead down the stretch, but the Eagles outscored the Hatters 13-3 in the final five minutes to seal the thrilling victory.
 
"Obviously, this was a very tough game," said head coach Karl Smesko. "I give Stetson a lot of credit. They were very well prepared, they were very intense. Fortunately, we played well at the beginning of the second half and the last part of the fourth quarter and it was enough to win. Stetson played an excellent game and made things very tough on us."
 
Atwater led all players with her sixth double-double of the season. The senior scored 25 points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds. Atwater went 9-for-11 from the free throw line, with a 5-for-5 performance in the fourth quarter. Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) also produced double figures for the Green and Blue with a season-high 15 points. Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) contributed another well-rounded game for FGCU with seven points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
 
As a unit, the Eagles shot a season-low 31.7 percent from the floor with a 16 percent performance from 3-point range. FGCU allowed Stetson to a 33.3 percent clip but held the Hatters to a 14.3 percent mark from beyond-the-arc and outrebounded the Hatters 49-33. Despite poor shooting from the field, the Eagles sank 19-of-23 shots from the free throw line and limited the Hatters to a 59.1 percent mark from the charity stripe.
 
Atwater started the contest with a perfectly executed play on the game's opening drive but FGCU's lead was short lived. The Eagles and Hatters traded possessions and the lead in the first quarter with the visiting team taking a 12-11 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Neither team connected more than two baskets in a row in the second period but back-to-back layups from Haas and Atwater were enough to push the Eagles ahead before halftime. The first half saw six tie scores before FGCU took the 23-21 lead at the break.
 
The Eagles increased their offensive intensity in the third stanza and produced a 10-1 run with layups from Atwater and 3-pointers by Haas and Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School). The run gave FGCU a 33-22 lead three minutes in, but the advantage was again short lived. Stetson compiled a 10-1 run of its own over the next two minutes with help from three FGCU turnovers as the squads again tied at 37 with two minutes to play.
 
With 10 minutes to go, the Hatters held a 41-40 advantage.
 
Haas started the final period with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and gave FGCU a spark with an eruption from the crowd. DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) added two made shots from the free throw line two minutes later to give FGCU a 45-41 lead. The teams traded layups in the next two minutes before a sequence of plays by Knight tipped the momentum in FGCU's favor.
 
Knight grabbed a steal and dished to Gradinjan for a layup and followed with an offensive rebound with five minutes on the clock. The A-Sun Player of the Year was fouled on the put back and knocked in two free throws to extend FGCU's lead to six points at 49-43. Knight picked up her fifth foul on Stetson's next possession but her team maintained the lead with her on the sideline.
 
Stetson added a single free throw before Atwater pushed the score to 51-44 with an offensive rebound and layup with four minutes on the clock. The teams traded empty possessions over a two-minute span but Atwater again extended the lead to 10 points with a traditional 3-point play with 1:23 left to play.
 
The Eagles went 7-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to finish with the 15-point victory over the Hatters.
 
The team will vie for a fourth A-Sun Championship title Sunday in the 2 p.m. contest against Jacksonville. The game will be available live on ESPN3 with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
 
General-admission tickets for the Championship start at just $15 and are available via FGCUTickets.com or through the FGCU Ticket Office. FGCU students with a valid Eagle ID are admitted free of charge, while students from other A-Sun institutions are $5. Complete information can be found at FGCUTickets.com
 
Game Notes: Jaime Gluesing became the FGCU record holder for appearances at 133 games in a four-year span…FGCU won its 21st-straight game of the season for the nation's fourth best win-streak…the Eagles are undefeated in A-Sun action since Feb. 1, 2014; the 45-game win streak in conference play stands as the nation's second-best streak behind only UConn…the team won its 71st straight home game against an A-Sun opponent…FGCU is now 13-1 in A-Sun postseason play…The Eagles have won eight-straight games against Stetson since falling in 2013 and hold a 19-3 record against the Hatters since 2008.
 
SMESKO
Head coach Karl Smesko earned his sixth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2015-16 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 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 27 wins and counting this year, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 12-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 373-71 at FGCU for a win percentage of 84.0 with a mark of 145-13 (91.7 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 81-1 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 434-98 (81.5 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.