FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Nasrin Ulel scored five points over the final 1:13, including a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left that proved to be the difference, as the FGCU women's basketball team (5-2) survived a 28-point fourth-quarter surge from Houston (3-5) to produce a 76-71 win at Alico Arena on Wednesday. It is the team's third consecutive win.

"Basically, we just hung on at the end," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought we got off to a really good start, got the lead early. In the second half, I thought it looked like we were running out of gas with a lot of front rim misses. All of a sudden, our defense, that I thought was really good in the first half, making them take tough shots, keeping them out of the paint, wasn't getting back as early. We left some gaps, and they were aggressively attacking the paint and getting a lot of layups on us.

"It was a tough game. We turned the ball over too much. A lot of them led to easy baskets. So, there's a lot that we can learn from that. We feel good that we beat a good team."

FGCU, which had a short turnaround after just returning from Hawaii late Monday, got a career-high 19 points on 5-for-7 shooting off the bench from Chandler Ryan, along with 17 points from Ulel (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta HS). Lisa Zderadicka chipped in 15 points, while Keri Jewett-Giles had 14. Those four players combined for all but 11 of the Green and Blue's point total.

The Eagles led 61-43 entering the final quarter, but Houston scored 19 of the first 21 points to trim its deficit to just one with 2:39 left. The two teams then traded free throws until Jewett-Giles found a cutting Ulel for a layup and a three-point lead. Houston responded with another pair of free throws, but Ryan (Groveland, Ill./Morton HS) found Ulel for a 3-pointer and a four-point lead with 37 seconds left.

On the ensuing possession, Houston was called for an illegal screen, which spurred a technical foul on head coach Ronald Hughey. Ryan then buried four straight free throws, including the two technical shots, to push the lead to eight and essentially seal the game.

Ryan's previous career-high was the 13 she scored against Florida Memorial on Nov. 12, and it was her fourth double-digit performance of the season. She has scored just 26 points fewer this year (62) than all of last season (88) through only seven games.

Ulel, meanwhile, has five straight games in double figures - averaging 17.2 PPG over that stretch. Zderadicka's (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) tally was one shy of her season-high, while Jewett-Giles produced her sixth straight game with at least 14 points while adding a game-high five assists and a team-high two steals.

Destiny Washington-Mabon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North HS), who earned her first start of the season, produced four points, seven rebounds, three assists and a team-high two blocks. Tytionia Adderly led the team in rebounds with eight, while adding five points, two assists and a steal before fouling out late.

The Green and Blue opened the game on a 12-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Ulel and Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS). A three-point play from Zderadicka pushed the margin to 17 with 5:38 left in the half before back-to-back 3-pointers from Ryan helped FGCU take a 19-point lead into the break. In the third, the lead hovered between 11 and 19 before Houston's fourth-quarter surge.

Angela Harris (16), Serithia Hawkins (13) and Myyah West (12) led Houston in scoring.

Next Up
FGCU will be back in action next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Saint Francis (Pa.). They will return home Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. against Johnson and Wales (Fla.).

Notes
With her eight rebounds, Adderly became just the sixth player in program history to record at least 600 career rebounds. In fact, she also vaulted Courtney Chihil (603, 2008-12) for fifth-place on the program's all-time list. Next up is Robyn Swain's 640 from 2002-04.

Head coach Karl Smesko was honored prior to the game for recording his 500th career victory in this past Sunday's win over American.
 
WE'VE GOT YOUR SEAT
Experience FGCU basketball this season. The following ticket opportunities are on sale now:
Punch Pass
- Three entries for $15 or seven entries for $30. Remaining Punch Pass games: Men vs Colgate and Keiser; Women vs Johnson and Wales, Abilene Christian, Coppin State, and UAB. Purchase online HERE or call 239-590-7145.
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Young Alumni
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COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko led the 2017-18 Eagles to another historic season. The Green and Blue finished 31-5 overall and 13-1 in ASUN play, capturing the program's eighth ASUN regular season championship and fifth ASUN tournament championship. The team finished the season ranked 25th in the final USA Today Coaches Poll, recaptured the NCAA record for most 3-point field goals made in a season with 431 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in seven seasons, where the Eagles knocked off 5th-seeded and No. 15 ranked Missouri in the opening round. It was the team's second tournament win over the past three appearances. Over the course of the season, FGCU knocked off three ranked teams - No. 15 Missouri, No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 DePaul.

Over the past four seasons, Smesko has guided FGCU to three 30 plus win seasons while recording a 121-23 (.840) record overall. The now eight-time ASUN Coach of the Year rallied the 2016-17 team to its seventh straight 25-win campaign, culminating in an ASUN tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance. In 2015-16, he was named the espnW mid-major coach of the year following a run that witnessed the Eagles claim a WNIT runner-up finish and a Division-I program best ever 33-6 record. In 2014-15, the team achieved its first-ever top-25 ranking and made another trip to the NCAA Tournament, where the Eagles earned a No. 7 seed and won the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament game, toppling No. 10 seed Oklahoma State.

Including the 2017-18 campaign, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 14-straight 20-win seasons and eight-straight 25-win seasons. He maintains a record of 501-116 (.812) overall in his career, including a 170-16 (.914) mark in ASUN play. Over the past seven seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 106-4 (.964) 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. Entering 2016-17, he ranked 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. Over the past year, first-year NCAA Division-I head coaches Nancy Fahey (Illinois) and Bart Brooks (Belmont) pushed the list to six.

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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 contribute, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.