DELAND Fla. ­– The FGCU women's basketball team (12-6, 1-0) stunned Stetson (11-5, 0-1) in an 84-71 road victory to open up conference play and capture its sixth-straight win. Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) led the team with a monstrous 36 points, which sets a new Division I single game record for the Eagles and marks the most points from an ASUN player so far this season.
 
FGCU's program record was previously held by Kaneisha Atwater, who amassed 33 points in a win against Providence College on Dec. 11, 2014.
 
"It's definitely exciting anytime you go and play a really good team and win on the road," said head coach Karl Smesko. "It's a great way to start the conference season. Rose was spectacular today. She was guarding their best player the whole game and on top of that, she put in 36 points. Incredible shooting from the perimeter for her and also got to the rim some. That performance was one of the best we've had in our program, so hopefully that's something that carries over for her."
 
Once again, the Eagles made it rain from three with 12 makes from beyond the arc, marking their 12th game this season with double figure threes. They also forced 21 Hatters turnovers, while committing just six, which ties a season-low.
 
Julien finished the game shooting 11-of-14 from the field, including 6-of-7 from the perimeter. Defensively she snagged two steals and held Stetson's lead scorer Brianti Saunders, who averages 16.6 points per game to just 12 points.
 
China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville/Middle Tennessee State) also gave an impressive performance coming off the bench for a career-high 18 points in 24 minutes of play, while Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS), Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) and Erica Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/Johnson County CC) contributed with eight points each. Alexander added a career-high six assists in the contest.
 
The fierceness of the FGCU-Stetson rivalry was evident as both teams started fast out of the gate, exchanging points until things tied up at nine-all. A triple from Nelson gave the Eagles the lead, but the Hatters immediately rebounded with eight-straight points. After makes from Alexander and Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman), the quarter ended at 21-19 in favor of the Hatters.
 
Gradinjan knocked down the first shot of the second quarter, tying the game at 21-all. The teams swapped leads three times before a jumper from Breana Bey gave the Hatters a five-point cushion. After five-straight points from Julien followed by a Dow three-pointer, the Eagles took a one-point lead. Julien racked up another five in the final 1:30 of the half to give FGCU a 39-33 advantage going into the break.
 
After four points from Stetson to start the second half, the Eagles went on a 10-point tear highlighted by treys from Gradinjan and Nelson. Saunders briefly put a stop to the Eagles run with a three of her own, but her efforts were countered by a three-point play from Dow. The Hatters continued to fight and pulled within three, but a Julien layup followed by a three from Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) ended the quarter with the Eagles up 61-53.
 
FGCU continued to roll through the fourth quarter taking a 13-point lead after Julien's fifth and sixth three-pointer. Dow added four more points on a layup and a pair of free throws as the clock winded down to 1:00. Five of the next six points went to the Hatters, but with just 0:30 to go, Julien knocked down four free throws to give the Eagles an 84-71 win in their first conference game of the year.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will enjoy a week off before traveling embarking on a two-game roadtrip with contests against Lipscomb and Kennesaw State. FGCU faces the Bisons on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 1:30 p.m. ET before squaring off with the Owls on Monday, Jan. 16 at noon.
 
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 391-79 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.2 with a mark of 146-13 (91.8 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to an 82-1 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 452-106 (80.9 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.