FORT MYERS, Fla. - A trio of players led the way as the top-seeded FGCU women's basketball team (30-4) pulled away in the second half to claim a 68-58 win over No. 2 Jacksonville (24-8) in the ASUN Championship final on Sunday in Alico Arena.

With the victory, the Green and Blue clinched the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season and the fifth time in the past seven years. They'll find out their opening round opponent during Monday night's 7 p.m. selection show.

"I'm just really proud of the effort our young ladies had out there," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Jacksonville is an excellent team. They're definitely one of the most physical teams we ever play. It's always a challenge for us. We found a way to compete on the boards with a great rebounding team. We had players step up and just have outstanding performances that helped with a very tight, contested game."

China Dow earned her second consecutive tournament MVP award after producing 18 points, including 15 in the first half, while adding five rebounds. Rosemarie Julien scored 17 of her game-high 19 points in the second half, and Lisa Zderadicka contributed a season-high 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting while adding three steals and two assists. The trio combined for 54 of the team's 68 points, or 79 percent.

Furthermore, with the win, FGCU collected its ASUN record fifth tournament championship - and they've all come in just seven years of NCAA Division-I postseason eligibility. In breaking the record, the Green and Blue passed Stetson (1988-89, 2004-05, 2010-11, 2012-13) for the most titles.

The Eagles are now 19-2 all-time in tournament play, 16-2 as the No. 1 seed and 23-3 all-time against Jacksonville - including four consecutive wins. This was the fourth consecutive season the two teams met in the tournament, and the Green and Blue are now 3-1 in those games.

On top of that, FGCU tied a season-high with its 10th straight win, and they've also won 20 of the past 21 and 24 of the past 26 contests.

This year's NCAA tournament appearance will represent the program's 11th consecutive postseason appearance, including NCAA appearances in 2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2016-17.

The first half highlight was Dow's (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) 15 points, which allowed the Eagles to take a 30-28 lead at the break. Julien scored her first points in nearly three full halves on a layup in the final minute, and that momentum would carry over after halftime as her (5-for-7) and Zderadicka (5-for-8) combined to shoot 10-for-15 for 30 of the team's 38 points in the second half. The two either scored or assisted on all but two second half field goals - Dow's jumper off the glass in the paint with 7:12 remaining and Erica Nelson's layup one minute into the third quarter.

Early in the second half, it appeared the visitors were gaining momentum as Jacksonville's Jasmyn Brown had made a pair of free throws to put her team up five just over two minutes in. In fact, it was part of a 9-2 run to open the quarter.

Following that, however, Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) and Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) made back-to-back layups to kick start the offense, and then Zderadicka added a 3-pointer, a steal and a dish to Julien for a layup that put the Eagles up 42-39 with 2:44 left in the quarter.

Zderadicka added two more layups and an assist on a Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) 3-pointer in the final 1:33 of the quarter to give FGCU a 49-41 lead. Then, a 6-0 run early in the fourth - capped by four straight points from Julien - gave the Eagles an 11-point lead with just over five minutes left. Moments later, the lead was up to a game-high 13 following a pair of free throws from Zderadicka, and Jacksonville couldn't pull within any closer than eight down the stretch.

Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS), who played all but five minutes in the regular season against Jacksonville due to injury, contributed a team-high eight rebounds and tied Zderadicka for the game-high with three steals.

FGCU forced 19 turnovers, and they are now 29-0 this year when forcing at least 15. On Sunday, they turned those into 23 points going the other way and also held an 18-9 advantage in second chance points.

NOTES
With Sunday's win, FGCU clinched the program's fifth 30 win season, including the third of the Division-I era. They join the 2002-03 (30-1), 2006-07 (34-1), 2014-15 (31-3) and 2015-16 (33-6) teams.

The No. 1 seed is now 63-14 all-time in ASUN tournament history.

Dow is the first back-to-back ASUN tournament MVP since Siarre Evans of East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

FGCU made just five 3-pointers on 5-for-15 shooting. It was the team's second lowest single game total of the season, but they now have 407 this year, which is just 18 shy of breaking the NCAA's all-time single season record of 424 held by the 2014-15 Sacramento State program.

The Eagles are now 39-11 (.780) all-time in the month of March, including a 22-4 (.846) record over the past five seasons. 

Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS), who added nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals despite picking up her fourth foul early in the second half, remains two blocks shy of entering the program's top 10 all-time for most in a career.

FGCU is now 5-2 this year against current NCAA RPI top-100 teams, including three wins over Jacksonville (97th) and one apiece against DePaul (19th) and Harvard (51st). Two of the team's losses are also ranked within the top-100 - Ohio State (6th) and Belmont (57th), which both already clinched NCAA tournament berths via conference championships.

FGCU is 247-18 all-time in games at Alico Arena dating back to the program's inception in 2002-03. Among those, the Eagles are 170-12 all-time in Division-I era contests and 90-2 in ASUN regular season games. In ASUN tournament games, the Green and Blue have recorded 13 wins in 14 contests. This year, the Eagles (18-0) have the most home wins without a loss among all Division-I teams and are just one of three Division-I schools in the country to win at least 16 games on its home court while also being undefeated - joining Baylor and Mississippi State.

ASUN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
China Dow (FGCU) - MVP
Rosemarie Julien (FGCU)
Lisa Zderadicka (FGCU)
Naqaiyyah Teague (Jacksonville)
Jasmyn Brown (Jacksonville)
Loren Cagle (Lipscomb)
Keonna Farmer (North Florida)

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the women's basketball program, follow @FGCU_WBB on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook at /FGCUWBB.

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 Division-I 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 434-86 (.835) at FGCU, including a 170-16 (.914) mark in ASUN play. Over the past six + seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 105-4 (.963) 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 495-113 (.814). 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.