FORT MYERS, Fla. - Four players scored in double figures as the FGCU women's basketball team (14-4, 5-0 ASUN) dished out 26 assists in an 82-40 win over Lipscomb (2-16, 0-5) in Alico Arena on Tuesday. It was the fifth straight victory for the Green and Blue, who have now won 113 of 117 ASUN regular season games since 2011-12.

"I really liked how we got out to a fast start," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We had a 10-point lead pretty early. I like when we show up ready to go and have the type of intensity to be a really good team. We got contributions from a lot of players today, a lot of contributions off the bench from Alyssa (Blair) and Kerstie Phills."

Junior forward Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) became just the third player in program history to reach 700 career rebounds. Her second rebound in the game's opening minutes allowed her to join Sarah Hansen (887) and Whitney Knight (735) in the club. She finished with six total over 17 minutes and is on pace to become the program's first to reach 1,000. Smesko ranked her as the best rebounder in program history following the game.

"You call it a rebounding radius, where some kids will only get balls that come directly to them, but she'll get a ball she has no business getting," Smesko said. "It will be eight or nine feet away from her, and she'll just go get it. My first year, we had Robyn Swain. She was an excellent rebounder. She was 6-4 and was around the basket. She got more rebounds than Ty in a particular season, but we've never had anyone who's gone after the ball as well as Ty."

Offensively, Nasrin Ulel and Keri Jewett-Giles each had a game-high 17 points, while Kerstie Phills (13) and Destiny Washington (10) joined the fun. Lisa Zderadicka (7) and Jewett-Giles (6) combined for 13 assists, and Washington led the team in rebounds with seven. Alyssa Blair also had nine points on 4-for-4 shooting off the bench.
 
Ulel (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta HS) scored 15 of her points in the first half on 5-for-9 shooting from long distance, while Jewett-Giles (Fort Myers, Fla./Dunbar HS) tied her season-high in assists. Washington (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North HS) reached double figures for the fifth-straight game, and the scoring total for Phills (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Christian) was a season-high. In fact, she finished 6-for-8 from the field, while adding five rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes.

FGCU opened the game with seven straight points and led 14-2 following a steal and fast break layup from Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg) 4:20 into the game. Phills then scored four of the team's six points in the final two minutes as the Eagles opened up a 23-9 lead. The Green and Blue closed the first half with a 9-2 run and pushed the margin to 40 on a layup from Phills with one minute left in the third. They led by as many as 46 after back-to-back layups from Blair (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie HS) in the opening minute of the fourth.

Notes

FGCU is now 24-0 all-time against Lipscomb. They've never won by fewer than 11 points in the series.

The team's 26 assists is tied for the fifth-most against an ASUN team in program history.

The Eagles are now 175-16 all-time against ASUN teams in the regular season, including 113-4 since 2011-12. At home, they've won 85 of the past 86 against conference teams since Jan. 22, 2009 and are a dominant 92-2 in Alico Arena overall.

Zderadicka (958) and Washington (922) continue to approach 1,000 points in their NCAA careers.

Next Up

FGCU will look for its sixth straight win when they host North Florida on Sunday at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear white.
 
WE'VE GOT YOUR SEAT
Experience FGCU basketball this season. The following ticket opportunities are on sale now:
Group Sales
Bring your group of 20 or more to an FGCU men's or women's basketball game. All group tickets include an FGCU hat ($15 value), a $5 game day discount at The Boardwalk restaurant, in-game group recognition and more. For more information on group outings, click HERE or call 239-590-7145.
Single Game Tickets
Single game tickets are available for all remaining home games. Discounts are available for current or former Military and Youth ages 3-15. Purchase online HERE or call 239-590-7145.

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 510-118 (.812) overall in his career, including a 175-16 (.916) mark in ASUN play. Over the past seven + seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 113-4 (.966) 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 2018-19, 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.

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.

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.
 
SUPPORT THE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM
Do you enjoy watching or following the FGCU women's basketball program? Would you like to play a role in the growth of the program and help take it to heights never before experienced? If so, you can reach out to Director of Advancement, Matt Ring, about opportunities to make an impact on the experiences of our student-athletes. He can be reached by email at mring@fgcu.edu or by office phone at 239-745-4434.