FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's basketball team (20-7, 9-1 ASUN) stifled Kennesaw State (7-17, 6-4 ASUN) offensively, resulting in a 69-35 victory at Alico Arena on Saturday evening. The win gives the Eagles their 13th-straight 20-win season and a perfect 14-0 record at home.
 
Another ASUN victory in front of the home crowd also extends FGCU's streak to 75-straight conference wins at home. The Eagles have not fallen in a regular-season ASUN game at Alico Arena since Jan. 8, 2009.
 
Prior to tipoff, the Green and Blue clinched a top-four spot in the ASUN postseason and will host a tournament game thanks to Jacksonville's win over NJIT.
 
"I was really excited about the effort defensively," said head coach Karl Smesko. "It was a great first half especially, limiting their shots and not letting their scorers get into a good rhythm. All five kids were competing on every possession on the defensive end. I think we looked like a totally different team than we did in Jacksonville. That roadtrip was a really bad time to let down some of our defensive intensity, but I'm really happy with how our team has responded. "Jordin (Alexander) has taken her defense to a new level. Rosemarie (Julien) has been really good all year, and then Tytionia (Adderly) was outstanding today. She only played half the game and she had 14 rebounds, eight offensive. That's just crushing the boards."
 
Not only did Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) crush it on the boards, she snagged 11 points for her second double-double of the season in just 21 minutes of play. The freshman recorded her first double-double when the Eagles traveled to face Kennesaw State earlier in the season.
 
For the eighth time this season, Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) led the Eagles in scoring with 15 points, knocking down 6-of-8 field goals including a pair of three pointers. Seven Eagles finished the game with at least five points, en route to a collective 48.1 shooting percentage on the night.
 
While the offense ran smoothly, the real story of the game was the Eagles' stingy defense. FGCU held the Owls to just 28.9 percent from the floor and allowed 1-of-11 three pointers resulting in just 35 points- the lowest score from an FGCU D1 opponent since the Eagles held NJIT to 31 in last year's ASUN Tournament. The Green and Blue also forced 21 turnovers and gave up just two points to best scorer, Deandrea Sawyer, who's averaged 12.3 on the season.
 
The Eagles asserted dominance early with a 10-0 run to start the game, highlighted by back-to-back triples from Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School). Defensive pressure caused six Owls turnovers in the first 10 minutes of play. That, paired with another FGCU three from Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) resulted in a 23-10 Eagles lead by the end of the first quarter.
 
After allowing a KSU layup to start the second period, FGCU went on a 15-1 run that included treys by Mikala McGhee (St. Louis, Mo./Pattonville HS/George Mason/Missouri State), Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) and Julien. Trailing 13-38, the Owls two more points on the board with a layup, giving them a total of 15 in the first half. After putting up three more points in the final minute of play, FGCU proceeded to the locker room for halftime with a 26-point advantage.
 
The Owls scored first out of the break, but the jumper from Deja McPhee was quickly negated by another triple from Julien, her second of the night. The teams split the next eight points, before Gradinjan got rolling from long-range with two more threes on back-to-back possessions. Four more points were exchange as the quarter came to an end.
 
With a 56-25 lead entering the fourth quarter, FGCU went on a 6-2 run, giving the Eagles a game-high 38-point advantage. The Owls captured eight of the next 10 points, cutting their deficit to 34 as time ran out.
 
UP NEXT
The Green and Blue host Lipscomb on Monday Feb. 13. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 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 398-80 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.2 with a mark of 152-14 (91.1 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to a 90-2 (97.8) 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 459-107 (81.1 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.