FORT MYERS, Fla. - The FGCU women's basketball team (7-2) will square off against Southeastern University (11-0) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in Alico Arena. The game will count as a regular season matchup for the Eagles, but will be an exhibition for the Fire.

The matchup, which signifies the first home game for the Eagles since a season opening win over Illinois on Nov. 12, will mark the first meeting between the two teams since Jan. 25, 2003, which resulted in a 103-31 win for FGCU.

Fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys as part of the department's Toys For Tots drive throughout the first few weeks of December. Boxes will be available in the Alico Arena lobby, and men's and women's basketball players will personally deliver all donated toys to the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida prior to Christmas.
 
The presenting game sponsor is Powerade.

TAY-GRAD GOES FOR 1,000
The top storyline entering Tuesday's matchup will be Taylor Gradinjan's pursuit of 1,000 career points. The sixth-year senior is currently just one point away from becoming just the 10th player in program history to reach the milestone and only the 9th player in the program's Division-I era. She is also 18 points away from passing Courtney Chihill (1,016, 2008-12) for 8th place on the program's Division-I career scoring list.

Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) is currently averaging 11.7 points over nine games this year. She poured in a season-high 18 points in the team's 94-55 win over Abilene Christian on the road Sunday. In that game, she matched a career-high with six 3-pointers on 60 percent shooting from long range. She has tallied 10 or more points in six games this year, and 29 of her 34 field goals have come from long range. On top of that, she is shooting a career-best .433 from 3-point range. In her career, which included five games in 2012-13 before back-to-back season-ending injuries, she has tallied 46 double-digit scoring games.

HOME SWEET HOME
With its win over Abilene Christian, FGCU completed an eight-game road trip that spanned 19 days. During the trip, the Eagles ventured from Miami, Fla. to Akron, Ohio to Loudonville, N.Y. to Las Vegas, Nev. to Abilene, Texas. The team produced a 6-2 record during the stretch that included a win over then #21 DePaul in the Play4Kay Showcase at Mandalay Bay. The team's two losses came to #8 Ohio State and Belmont - two teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year. In the game against Ohio State, Kelsey Mitchell broke the NCAA's career 3-point shooting record.

Beginning with Tuesday's game against Southeastern, FGCU will play 10 of the next 11 games in Alico Arena, which includes a showdown against #20 Kentucky on Friday, a battle with undefeated Ave Maria on Sunday, matchups against Harvard and SIU Edwardsville in the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Classic on Dec. 20-21, a tilt against South Dakota State on Dec. 29 and the beginning of conference play on Jan. 6.

STABLE, VETERAN LINEUP
FGCU has started the same five players all nine games - Gradinjan, Rosemarie Julien, Nasrin Ulel, Tytionia Adderly and Erica Nelson. Gradinjan, Julien and Nelson are all seniors, while Ulel and Adderly are both sophomores.

Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) leads the team in scoring at 13.1 PPG while shooting .404 from 3-point range. She is third on the team in 3-point field goals made (23) behind Gradinjan (29) and Ulel (26). Ulel (Murrietta, Calif./Murrietta HS) is second on the team in scoring at 12.8 PPG. The sophomore guard exploded for a team-high 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range against Abilene Christian. She now has at least 17 points in five of nine games this year, including a career-high 28 in the team's win over FIU on Nov. 15.

Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS), who leads the team in assists with 26, is averaging 7.6 PPG. She tied a career-high with seven assists against #8 Ohio State and poured in a season-high 19 points against Belmont. Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) leads the team in rebounding at 7.9 RPG, while contributing 6.4 PPG. She has at least five rebounds in all but one game, including a season-high 16 in the win over FIU on Nov. 15.

BENCH PRODUCTION
The FGCU bench is led by China Dow, who is averaging 11.2 PPG, which is fourth best on the team, and Lisa Zderadicka, who checks in at 6.9 PPG and is tied with Nelson for the team-high in assists with 26. Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) has scored at least 10 points in four of nine games, including a season-high 26 in the win over #21 DePaul. Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) has two double-digit scoring games.

Another bench player who has been coming on of late is Chandler Ryan (Groveland, Ill./Morton HS), who had a season-high 11 points in the win over Abilene Christian. She is averaging just over 7 PPG over the past three outings.

SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN
The Fire (11-0) enter Tuesday's game having won 35 consecutive regular season games dating back to Feb. 10, 2016 - a 70-64 loss to Thomas University. On top of that, they haven't lost a game in the state of Florida since Jan. 26, 2016 (Keiser University, 56-51). They are the two-time defending Sun Conference regular season and tournament champions, and they have made the NAIA Division II National Tournament three consecutive seasons, including a quarterfinal appearance last year.

Southeastern currently leads the NAIA Division II rankings in field goal percentage at 55.2, and they rank second in 3-point shooting at 42.4 percent. They have shot 50 percent or better in nine of 11 games this year, including three above 60 percent. The Fire have won their 11 games by an average margin of 32.8 points. Defensively, they are third in the nation in field goal defense, holding opponents to 31.6 percent from the field and only one team has shot better than 37 percent against them this year - Northwestern College. 

Furthermore, Southeastern has defeated ranked NAIA teams #13 Indiana University East (101-72), #17 Northwestern College (80-75), #20 Loyola University (80-63), RV Keiser University 116-48 and RV Xavier University 60-39. They have scored 100 or more points four times this year, including three of the past four games.

The Fire is led by Tim Hays, who is in his second year at Southeastern. During his time, the team has compiled a 39-1 record, and he led the team to regular season and tournament championships in the Sun Conference last year and a trip to the NAIA quarterfinals. He was previously a head coach at NCAA Division II Colorado Christian for six years, where he led them to a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national title in the 2011-12 season and berths in the NCAA Division II tournament in 2010-11 and 2014-15. He has also coached professionally in Australia and was a walk-on at Boise State in his playing days.

RAINING THREES
FGCU has now made 4,522 3-pointers in 15+ seasons for an average of 9.14 per game. The Eagles are riding a 379-game streak with at least one three-ball and have made a 3-pointer in 494 of 495 games in program history.

IN-STATE SUCCESS
FGCU is 143-23 against in-state opponents in 15+ seasons, including an 88-52 win over FIU on Nov. 15. The Eagles went 11-3 against Sunshine State foes last year and are scheduled to face nine more this year.

NOTES
In the first-ever meeting between FGCU and Southeastern in 2003, Jill Bair produced a career-high 28 points to lead FGCU to a 103-31 road victory. The game was played during FGCU's first year of women's basketball, and the team's scoring output still stands as the program's ninth most in a single game.

According to WarrenNolan.com, FGCU is currently ranked 39th in RPI.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the women's basketball program, follow @FGCU_WBB on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook at /FGCUWBB.

COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko rallied the 2016-17 Eagles to their seventh-straight 25-win campaign, which culminated in the team's fourth NCAA tournament appearance in six seasons of eligibility. The seven-time ASUN Coach of the Year was named the espnW Mid-Major Coach of the Year in 2015-16 following a run that witnessed the Eagles finish a best-ever 33-6. Over a five-year stretch starting in 2011-12, FGCU racked up four ASUN seasons with a perfect record and capped the run with back-to-back 30 plus win seasons. In 2014-15, the team earned its first top-25 ranking and another NCAA Tournament trip as a seven seed, where FGCU won its first ever NCAA Division-I Tournament game against No. 10 Oklahoma State. With 26 wins in 2016-17, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 13-straight 20-win seasons.  He maintains a record of 411-84 (.830) at FGCU, including a 160-15 (.914) mark in ASUN play. Over the past six seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 93-3 (.969) record in conference play. Smesko earned his 400th career coaching win in 2014-15 in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma. He holds a career head coaching record of 472-111 (.810). 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.

TOYS FOR TOTS 
The FGCU Police Department, FGCU Athletics Department, the Lee County Sheriff's Office and Heroes Unlimited are participating in a Christmas toy drive for sick children at Southwest Children's Hospital. We have placed collection boxes in the lobby of UPD, the FGCU Family Resource Center and in the lobby of Alico Arena. The boxes will be collected on Dec. 20. The toys will be wrapped and then given to children on Friday, Dec. 23. The FGCU Family Resource Center is also participating, and they will have a box in their lobby as well.  No toy is too small and all of the wrapping will be done after collection.