JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The FGCU women's basketball team (18-7, 7-1) saw its 12-game win streak come to an end after a 73-65 loss to Jacksonville (17-6, 6-2) on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles battled back from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to come within one point before ultimately falling short of a comeback.
 
"I thought we got a little more aggressive in the fourth quarter," said head coach Karl Smesko. "We pushed the ball harder. We had more pace. That will be a good lesson for us – you can't wait until you're down by nine in the fourth to play at that speed. Now we're tied with Stetson and only one game ahead of Jacksonville, so we know we've got our work cut out for us in these last few games."
 
Even with the loss, FGCU controls its own destiny in the ASUN thanks to a victory at Stetson early in the season.
 
The bright spot of the game for the Green and Blue was undoubtedly the impressive play of Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown). The FGCU transfer gave the best performance by an Eagle since Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) put up a record-breaking 36 points at Stetson. Alexander, who played all 40 minutes of the game, connected on 8-of-11 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws for 24 points, marking a new career-high as an Eagle. She also set a career record with five steals and added an assist and an offensive rebound while committing no turnovers.
 
"I thought Jordin had a tremendous game," Smesko said. "She played both ends of the court, and she was a big reason we were in it until the end."
 
A big game from Alexander was definitely needed after the Eagles' lead scorer, Julien, fouled out of the game after clocking just 20 minutes of play. Even with shortened time, Julien collected 11 points for FGCU, including two signature threes.
 
In the absence of Julien, China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville/Middle Tennessee State) gave the Eagles big minutes off the bench with two important fourth quarter triples. In total, Dow racked up 10 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter, a team-high five rebounds and a career-high seven assists on the afternoon.
 
In a rematch of last year's ASUN Tournament Final, FGCU battled its way to a 19-18 lead by the end of the first quarter with the help of three threes from Alexander, Julien and Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS).
 
FGCU continued to roll at the beginning of the second quarter as points from Alexander and another triple from Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) extended the Eagles' lead to seven. With 6:44 to go in the quarter, the Dolphins went on a tear with 14 unanswered points. Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) ended the Eagles' scoring drought with a layup, sparking a 9-2 run for FGCU which tied the game at 36. With 12 seconds left to go in the half, JU's Brandi Buie split a pair of freebies to give the Dolphins a one-point advantage going into the break.
 
After swapping baskets to start the second half, Julien was flagged for her fourth foul just 1:30 into the third quarter. In her absence, Jacksonville went on an 11-5 run, which included three of the team's seven three pointers of the afternoon. Alexander and JU's Christin Mercer swapped jumpers to end the third at 54-47 in favor of Jacksonville.
 
Mercer extended the Dolphins lead to nine with a layup just seconds into the fourth quarter. Julien returned to the court, but was immediately hit with her fifth foul. Dow got the team going, nailing a three-pointer, which reenergized Eagles fans in the crowd. FGCU used the momentum to outscore Jacksonville 11-5 over the next six minutes to cut its deficit to one. Leading 62-61 with two minutes to play, the Dolphins increased their physicality and fired off back-to-back shots from long-range. The Eagles continued to fight, pulling within five off a layup from Alexander, but were forced to start fouling as the clock ran down.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will return to the Nest for their second game against North Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 8. 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 397-80 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.2 with a mark of 152-14 (91.6 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to an 88-2 (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 458-107 (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.