SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The FGCU women's basketball team (22-7, 11-1 ASUN) tallied its 400th program win after taking down USC Upstate (9-18, 2-10 ASUN) 80-50 at the Hodge Center.
 
With the victory, the Eagles clinch a top-two seed in the ASUN Tournament. 
 
"We got off to a good start, and I was happy with our defensive effort," said head coach Karl Smesko. "As the game went on, we weren't executing offensively as well as we'd like, but I was happy with the performance overall."
 
As a unit, the Eagles knocked down over 50 percent of their shots for the third time this season, including a 10-of-14 (71.4%) run in the first quarter.
 
Sharpshooter Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) had a hot hand again tonight, draining three threes for a total of 10 in her last two games. The North Carolina native along with JUCO transfer Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) led the team in scoring with 13 points each.
 
Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) has been playing some of her best basketball over the past few weeks, and is clearly becoming more and more comfortable in Smesko's system. Tonight she went 6-of-8 from the floor for 12 points, while leading the team with five assists and three steals. She's averaging 12.4 points, 3.2 steals and 3.4 assists over her last five contests.
 
Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) also contributed offensively with 12 points, after knocking down a career-high 21 earlier this week against Lipscomb.
 
Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) racked up double-digit rebounds for the third-straight game with 13 boards on the night. With 7.2 rebounds per contest this season, Adderly is on pace to record the most rebounds by a freshman in FGCU history.
 
A technical foul on the USC Upstate administration started the game off on a positive note for FGCU. Laughter wasted no time hitting shots from long-range, draining her first in the first 30 seconds of play. After a layup from USC Upstate's Breanna Jefferson, the Eagles went on a 12-0 run highlighted by a pair of threes from Julien and Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS). The teams split the last 16 points of the quarter evenly, giving FGCU a 24-10 advantage going into the second.
 
The Eagles started off the second quarter with four-straight points. USC Upstate responded with a 7-3 run of their own. The teams went scoreless for the next two minutes of play until a layup from Julien broke the drought. FGCU got hot again in the final two minutes, scoring eight points before hitting the locker room for halftime.
 
The second half began with another signature three-pointer from Laughter. USC Upstate's lead scorer Raven Jefferson answered with a three of her own, but a minute later Laughter nailed another – her third of the night. FGCU ended the quarter on a 13-6 run, which included two more triples by Cattani and Mikala McGhee (St. Louis, Mo./Pattonville HS/George Mason/Missouri State).
 
With 35 points separating them, the teams split the first 10 of the fourth quarter evenly. About halfway through, the Eagles subbed out their starters. After a second triple from Cattani, the Spartans went on a 14-8 run as time expired.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles travel north to face NJIT to wrap up their final regular season road trip. The Eagles are 5-1 this season during the second half of weekend series. The game tips off Monday at 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 400-80 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.3 with a mark of 156-14 (91.8 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to a 93-2 (97.9 W%) 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 461-107 (81.2 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.