STANFORD, Calif. – Unfazed by a bigger and taller SEC member, the 12th-seeded FGCU women's basketball team (31-4) out-executed and out-played 5th-seeded Missouri (24-8) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at Stanford's Maples Pavilion, making a statement in advancing to the Second Round with an 80-70 victory.
 
With the win, FGCU – which led for all but eight minutes – becomes the lowest-seeded team so far in this year's tournament to advance to the Second Round with just a handful of other contests in the First Round remaining.
 
FGCU moves on to face either host and 4th-seeded Stanford (22-10) or 13th-seeded Gonzaga (27-5) in the Second Round on Monday at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. local).
 
China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) scored a team-high 21 points off the bench to lead FGCU, which won its second all-time NCAA Tournament game at the Division-I level. Rosemarie Julien added 12 points, Erica Nelson netted 11 and Jessica Cattani rounded out the quartet of FGCU double-figure scorers with 10 as the Eagles shot 49 percent from the floor (25-51) and limited Missouri to 40 percent (21-52).
 
One of the game's biggest keys came in the form of protecting the ball as the Eagles committed just nine turnovers which Missouri turned into five points, while FGCU forced the Tigers into 16 giveaways and converted 20 points off those. The Green and Blue are now 30-0 this year when forcing at least 15 in a game.
 
"Obviously it was a great win for our program and a great effort by every kid we had that got on the floor," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "They all contributed in a big way to the success at different points during the game, and I'm proud of them."
 
An at-large selection out of the SEC, Missouri – which defeated three nationally-ranked teams during the year, including defending national champion South Carolina – became the third nationally-ranked opponent FGCU has knocked off this year as the Tigers came into the contest ranked No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
 
"It's an upset in terms of seeding, but we definitely came in with the mindset that this was a game we can win if we executed at a high level," Smesko added. "A big thing that we emphasized was the last four times we've been here, we performed well. But at the beginning of each game, there was a sense of a little bit of nervousness or tension, and we never got off to good starts. So we made a real emphasis this time to let our team know, hey, you belong here; you're just as good.
 
"And this was the first time that from the jump ball, I thought we were all in and believed that we could get it done," Smesko concluded.
 
In a first quarter which featured five lead changes and two ties, it was the Eagles who created a little bit of separation at the end by closing the first 10 minutes on a 6-0 run to open up a 15-11 lead – which they ultimately never gave up – on a buzzer-beating layup from Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS/Chipola College). The Green and Blue did much of their damage in the low blocks against the SEC member, out-scoring the Tigers in the paint in the first, 10-2.
 
FGCU – which has played in either the WNIT or NCAA Tournament in each of its 11 years as a D-I member – carried that momentum into the second quarter and extended to, at the time, its largest lead of the afternoon, 28-20, after a pair of Cattani (Muskego, Wisc./Muskego HS) 3-pointers in a one-minute span to prompt a Mizzou timeout at the 6:38 mark.
 
The Eagles – who have now won a season-high 11 straight and 21 of their last 22 – maintained nothing less than a four-point lead the rest of the 1st half, and on a Cattani layup inside the closing minute of the stanza they took their first double-digit lead of the game, 41-30, before settling for a 41-32 halftime lead.
 
FGCU shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, while Missouri connected at a 53-percent rate; however, the Eagles shot 15-29 compared with the Tigers' 10-19 as the Green and Blue forced Mizzou into 10 turnovers which they turned into 12 points and only committed one of their own. The lead could have been even larger for the Eagles – who also had foul-ridden Julien on the bench for eight minutes – but they connected at only a 40-percent rate (6-15) from the free-throw line.
 
The FGCU lead got as large as 13, 45-32, following a pair of Julien free throws in the early minutes of 3rd quarter, but the Tigers whittled their deficit down to as little as four, 54-50, with starting point guard Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS/ Johnson County CC) and Julien – who was tied for the team lead with 12 points at the time of her 4th foul – on bench.
 
However, the Eagles responded with a patented 3-point ball, but it came from an unexpected source. Left open on the wing, forward Tytionia Adderly– FGCU's second-tallest player – rose up and knocked down arguably the game's biggest shot and just her 10th 3-pointer of the season to quell the Missouri push and extend the lead back to seven, 57-50. The Eagles added another point to their advantage in the closing minute and carried a 61-53 lead into the 4th quarter.
 
The first bucket of the 4th quarter came off a drive by Nasrin Ulel (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta HS) to push the FGCU lead back to 10, 63-53, and from there the Eagles were never threatened and led the rest of the contest by double figures.
 
FGCU's previous NCAA Tournament victory came in 2015, when the 7th-seeded Eagles took down 10th-seeded Oklahoma State, 75-67 – also the only other time the Green and Blue led an NCAA Tournament game at halftime.
 
Making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in only seven years of postseason eligibility, FGCU took every punch Missouri All-American Sophie Cunningham had as she led all scorers with 35 points, including going 14-16 from the free-throw line. However, she was the only Tiger in double figures.
 
The Eagles entered the contest needing 18 3-pointers to break the all-time NCAA single-season record for makes (424 – Sacramento State, 2014-15) and hit seven on Saturday (7-17, 41 percent). FGCU instead took advantage down low, out-scoring Missouri in the paint, 36-28.
 
Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) finished with seven points and a game-high-tying nine rebounds, while Nelson passed out four assists. Lisa Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) tallied seven points, grabbed four rebounds and issued three assists for FGCU, which has now won 31 or more games in three of the last four seasons.
 
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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 now eight-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 435-86 (.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 496-113 (.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.