DELAND, Fla. – The No. 2 FGCU women's basketball team will fight for its fourth ASUN crown on Sunday when the team faces No. 1 Stetson at the Edmunds Center. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. The winner earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament. With the FGCU men's basketball team already in possession of a spot, a victory over Stetson would mean both programs would earn a tournament berth in the same year for the first time in University history.   
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Fans can follow a live video broadcast the game on ESPN3. You can also choose to listen to the radio broadcast from David Moulton at fgcuathetics.com. Live stats are available from StatBroadcast.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
> FGCU travels to Stetson for its sixth-straight ASUN Championship Final on Sunday. No other team in ASUN history has reached the final in six consecutive seasons. The Eagles are 3-2 in their previous five appearances.
 
> ASUN Newcomer of the Year, Rose Julien scored a career-high 36 points in FGCU's victory at Stetson to begin conference play. The 36 points were the most by any ASUN player this season.
 
>  Erica Nelson had a breakout performance in the ASUN Semifinal when she scored a career-high 27 points. The junior has three consecutive double-digit scoring games, averaging 18.3 PPG in those contests.
 
> FGCU was on a nine-game win-streak against Stetson before falling to the Hatters in overtime of this year's regular season finale at Alico Arena.
 
SCOUTING STETSON
> Stetson is 15-2 at home this season and outscoring their opponents by an average of 18.8 ppg (74.0 to 55.2).  Over the past 96 home games, the Hatters are 86-11 (.886).  That dates back to the 2010-11 season.
 
> In ASUN play, the Hatters allowed an average of 54.3 points per game, and their scoring defense ranking has dropped to 25th in the NCAA at 56.4 points allowed per game. 
> Stetson is outscoring its opponents by 191 points in first quarters this year (565-374). Stetson has led after the first quarter in all 16 ASUN games, and in 25 of the team's 31 games this year (the Hatters are 23-2 in those games).
 
> The Hatters rank fourth overall in the NCAA with a free throw percentage of .790.  Among all individuals, Brianti Saunders ranks second in the NCAA with a .938 percentage.
 
KEY PLAYERS
1 Sarah Sagerer - Sagerer was named ASUN Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in rebounds  (9.0 pg) and blocks (95).
 
10 Brianti Saunders - Reigning ASUN Player of the Year, Saunders leads the team and ranks second in the conference with 15.7 points per contest and became the team's all-time leading in scorer in both men's and women's basketball throughout the course of the season.           
 
23 Breana Bey - Bey earned Second Team All-Conference honors and ranks first on the team with a 58.7 field goal percentage.
 
ASUN POSTSEASON AWARDS
Four Eagles garnered ASUN Postseason Awards this season, as announced by the league on Thursday. Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College) was named ASUN Newcomer of Year, while Jordin Alexander (Fisher, Ind./ Hamilton Southeastern HS/Brown) was placed on the Second Team and Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman) earned All-Freshman accolades.
 
Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) was recognized for her achievements on and off the court as a member of the eight-person ASUN All-Academic Team.
 
#RAININGTHREES
The team's moniker Raining Threes isn't just for show. FGCU has made an incredible 4,390 3-pointers in 15 seasons for an average of 9.0 per game. The Eagles are riding a 368-game streak with at least one three ball and have made a long-range shot in 483 of 484 games in program history.
 
PROTECTING THE NEST
Alico Arena stands as the second-toughest place to play in all of NCAA Division I women's basketball. The first: UConn's Gampel Pavilion.
 
The Eagles hold a record of 149-12 at home since making the jump to Division I in 2007-08 and have won 86 out of 88 ASUN games with the home crowd behind them.
 
ASUN LEADERS
This season the Eagles are leading the ASUN in scoring offense (72.1) scoring defense (55.5 pg), assists (15.0 pg), FG made (851), 3pt FG made (322), 3pt FGs per game (9.8) and turnover margin (6.76).
 
ASUN SUCCESS
The Eagles joined the ASUN for the 2007-08 season and immediately saw success among the conference ranks. The team has won six-straight regular-season championships with a conference record of 93-3 over that span. The Eagles have won seven total regular-season championships and have never finished lower than second in the final conference standings. FGCU holds a record of 157-15 all-time in conference games. Since earning postseason eligibility during the 2011-12 season, the Eagles have won three of four ASUN Tournament Championships.
 
FLORIDA FOES
Since transitioning to Division I in 2007, the Eagles hold a record of 89-21 over teams from the state of Florida.
 
SMESKO'S OFFENSE
The Eagles run a motion offense with five equal parts constantly moving to create the best shots. Don't be surprised to see five 'G's in the starting lineup as 11 of the team's 15 players are listed as guards.
 
THREES IN 2016-17
The Eagles have made the second most three-pointers in the NCAA so far this season with 322 in 33 games. Their average of 9.8 per contest ranks fifth in the nation.
 
TEAM (3FG MADE)
1. Washington – 324
2. FGCU – 322
3. Idaho – 320                      
4. Sacramento St. – 320
5. Saint Francis (PA) – 319
 
TEAM (3FG PG)
1. Sacramento St. – 10.7
2. Saint Francis (PA) – 10.6
3. Idaho – 10.3
4. Washington – 10.1
5. FGCU – 9.8
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - (ASUN Semifinals vs. Jacksonville 3/8)
With a trip to the ASUN Finals on the line, the No. 2 FGCU women's basketball team gave an outstanding performance to defeat No. 3 Jacksonville, 68-64 at Alico Arena on Wednesday night. Knocking off the reigning ASUN champs was particularly satisfying for the Eagles, whose 2015-16 conference tournament run came to an end when the Dolphins topped FGCU by two in the final three seconds of last year's championship game.
 
The win will advance the Eagles to their sixth-straight ASUN Championship, though this time they'll have to travel. FGCU is slated to face No. 1 Stetson this Sunday in Deland, Fla. to battle for an NCAA tournament berth. Tip off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
 
Erica Nelson (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/Johnson County CC) undoubtedly gave one of her best performances as an Eagle with a career-high 27 points. Although she knocked down 3-of-4 triples, her biggest play of the game may have been when she drew a fifth foul on JU's Brandi Buie, and converted both free throws to give FGCU a two-possession lead with two minutes remaining.
 
Jordin Alexander is another Eagle who came in clutch from the charity line tonight. Up by three with just eight seconds to go, the senior transfer ended the game by converting 1-of-2 from the line to give FGCU a four-point advantage. Alexander, who owns the team's best free throw percentage 81.0, finished the game with 10 points and three rebounds.
 
As usual, Tytionia Adderly came up big for the Eagles on the defensive end, snagging a team-high 13 rebounds and four steals. After getting out-rebounded in both of the teams previous meetings, the Eagles out-rebounds Jacksonville 33 to 25 on the night.
 
Rosemarie Julien of course held Buie to 1-of-7 shooting with five turnovers, but she also contributed on the offensive end with 12 points and a team-high four assists.
 
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 403-81 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.3 with a mark of 159-15 (91.4 W%) in ASUN contests and has led the team to a 93-3 (96.9 W%) record in conference play in the last six 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 464-108 (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.