Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - China Dow scored a game-high 24 points, and Erica Nelson made the game clinching steal to give the No. 25 FGCU women's basketball team (21-4, 7-1 ASUN) a 65-63 win over Jacksonville in Historic Swisher Gymnasium this afternoon.

The win allowed the Eagles to regain sole possession of first place in the ASUN standings over Jacksonville (16-7, 6-2 ASUN) with six games left in the regular season. Along with a 63-58 win last week, FGCU also holds the ASUN championship home court tiebreaker should the two teams tie for the regular season crown.

The Dolphins led close for much of the game, but a 16-6 run to close the third quarter gave the Eagles a bit of breathing room. Then, Taylor Gradinjan's layup with 6:13 left gave FGCU a 63-54 lead. Jacksonville responded with a 7-0 run, however, to trim its deficit to just one possession. Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) answered with a layup to push the margin back to four, but Jacksonville answered on the next possession.

In the final two minutes, Dow missed a layup and Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) missed a 3-pointer, but Jacksonville also missed twice on potential game-tying shots. However, the Dolphins had one chance left with 13.4 seconds remaining. Defensively, FGCU forced several passes before Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS) swiped a pass at mid-court and got fouled. The Eagles in-bounded the ball and ran out the clock.

"I thought the intensity was excellent," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We were competing. We were pushing. After we got the lead, Jacksonville made a strong push on us. I was just happy to see us make enough plays down the stretch to win the game."

Dow tallied a game-high 24 points while making 4-for-6 from 3-point range. She tied her career-high for long distance makes while adding four rebounds, one assist and one steal. Lisa Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) also came through in the clutch for the Eagles as the junior notched a season-high 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting while adding five rebounds and tying a season-high with three steals.

Gradinjan added nine points and three rebounds, and Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) had four points, a team-high seven rebounds and a block. Nelson finished with four points and three rebounds along with her steal.

Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wis./Muskego HS) added three points and a steal in eight minutes, while Nasrin Ulel (Murrietta, Calif./Murrietta HS) had six points and tied her career-high with one block. She also set a new career-high for made free throws (4).

The Eagles won despite its second straight game without Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS). The program's all-time leader in rebounds per game in the Division-I era sat out due to injury. The team hopes to have her back next week.

NOTES

FGCU is now 9-2 all-time as a top 25 team.

With their performances, Dow and Zderadicka both eclipsed career scoring milestones as Dow now has 920 points while Zderadicka has 713. Zderadicka's previous season-high was 13 points, which she accomplished three times, with the most recent time coming Dec. 21 against SIUE.

Also, with her nine points, Gradinjan moved within three of eclipsing Stephanie Haas (1,135, 2012-16) for seventh most points all-time. She is now three games shy of passing Haas (139) for second most games played, and four shy of pushing past Jaime Gluesing (140, 2012-16) for most in program history. On top of that, she made her 115th career start, which is four shy of Adrianne McNally (118, 2006-10) for second most all-time.

Smesko will coach his 600th career game on Tuesday against North Florida at 7 p.m. in Alico Arena. In his 16th year at FGCU, he previously spent time at Walsh University and IPFW and has compiled a 486-113 (.811) record overall, which includes a 425-86 (.831) record with the Eagles.

The Eagles are now 22-3 all-time against Jacksonville, including a 9-2 record on the road.

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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. Including this year, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 14-straight 20-win seasons. He maintains a record of 425-86 (.832) at FGCU, including a 164-16 (.911) mark in ASUN play. Over the past six + seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 100-4 (.962) 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 486-113 (.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.