KENNESAW, Ga. - Rosemarie Julien scored a game-high 19 points as the FGCU women's basketball team (18-3, 4-0 ASUN) defeated Kennesaw State 78-57 at the KSU Convocation Center on Saturday.

With the victory, FGCU extended its season-high winning streak to eight. The Eagles have also won 12 of the past 13 and will be back in action Monday evening at Lipscomb to continue a stretch that sees the team on the road for six of eight games.

"We had a good start, but had trouble maintaining our intensity," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Ty, Rose and Lisa had great games (to help us get the win)." 

Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) split her six field goals evenly from inside and beyond the 3-point line, and she made all four of her free throw attempts while adding three rebounds, two assists and two steals. In fact, with her performance at the foul line, Julien (.821) has currently overtaken Kelsey Jacobson (.819, 2008-12) for the program's best career free throw percentage.

Early on, Julien went 3-for-4 from the field as her eight first quarter points matched Kennesaw State's total as a team. Along with China Dow's six points, the duo helped the Eagles jump out to a 20-8 lead through the first 10 minutes. The margin was helped by a 12-0 advantage in points off turnovers and a 14-2 advantage in points in the paint.

The second quarter, however, saw the FGCU offense shoot just 7-for-19 from the field, including a 1-for-10 performance from 3-point range. The lone field goal from long range came from Nasrin Ulel as the Eagles were outscored 16-15, but they took a 35-24 lead into the break.

Julien had 10 of her 19 points in the first half, while Erica Nelson contributed three assists and two steals.

In the third quarter, both teams combined to shoot 16-for-34 from the field as FGCU scored 25 of the 47 points. The Eagles made the only three 3-pointers, including a pair from Taylor Gradinjan, and converted all six of their foul shot attempts to push its lead to 14.

Early in the final quarter, Julien picked up one of her two steals, and Jessica Cattani buried a triple try on a third offensive opportunity following a couple offensive rebounds from Tytionia Adderly.

A few minutes later, Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) converted a layup as the shot clock expired. Alyssa Blair and Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) hit layups in the final 90 seconds to push the margin above 20.

In addition to Julien, three others reached double figures including Gradinjan (12), Lisa Zderadicka (11) and Dow (10). Gradinjan missed her first career double-double by one rebound, although she added two assists and a steal. Four of her season-high nine rebounds came on the offensive glass.

Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) went 4-for-8 from the field to produce her scoring total, while adding three rebounds, one assist and one steal. Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) had four rebounds and three assists in addition to her 10 points.

Cattani recorded nine points and five rebounds. Ulel (Murrietta, Calif./Murrietta HS) finished with eight points, and Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS) tallied seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Blair (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie HS) scored her lone two points on the late layup, while Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) had 10 rebounds (nine offensive), three assists and one steal despite not scoring.

Due in large part to Adderly, FGCU had 20 of its 40 rebounds on the offensive end, which led to a 19-2 advantage in second chance points. Defensively. the Eagles forced 24 turnovers, leading to a 30-6 advantage in that category. FGCU also held a 44-20 advantage in paint scoring.

NOTES
The Eagles are now 21-2 all-time against Kennesaw State and pushed its winning streak against the Owls to 15 dating back to the 2010-11 season. They are now 9-2 in road games in series history, too.

With her 11 points, Zderadicka is now averaging 10 points per game in ASUN games, which gives FGCU five scorers averaging double figures in conference play. The others include Julien (13.8), Dow (12.5), Ulel (10.8) and Nelson (10.0). Cattani is also contributing nine per contest.

Adderly, who averages more rebounds per game than anyone in the program's Division-I era, now has 437 in her career. She is 11 shy of passing Gradinjan for seventh place on the career list, and her 181 career offensive rebounds is three shy of passing Courtney Chihil (183, 2008-12) and six shy of Kaneisha Atwater (186, 2013-16) for eighth and seventh place, respectively.

Gradinjan, meanwhile, continued her ascent up four career categories - games played, starts, minutes and field goals made. She broke a tie with DyTiesha Dunson (132, 2012-16) and Sarah Hansen (132, 2009-14) and is now two games played shy of tying Katie Meador (135, 2012-16) for the third most in program history.

Her 111th start ties her with Chihil for third place and is seven shy of Adrianne McNally (118, 2006-10) for second place. Her 34 minutes against Kennesaw State also pushed her past Kelsey Jacobson (3,330, 2008-12) for sixth most all-time with 3,338. Offensively, she passed Kate Schrader (376, 2005-07) for eighth most field goals made (377). She is eight shy of tying Jacobson for seventh place.
 

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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 422-85 (.832) at FGCU, including a 161-15 (.915) mark in ASUN play. Over the past six + seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 97-3 (.970) record in conference play with four undefeated seasons. 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 483-112 (.811). 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.