FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball hosts the FGCU Homewood Suites Classic the day after Thanksgiving at Alico Arena. The Eagles welcome Cal Baptist, Chattanooga and Penn to the City of Palms for the holiday event starting Friday.
Three out of four teams competing in the MTE reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago, FGCU, Cal Baptist and Chattanooga all pushed their March Madness ticket. FGCU is scheduled to take on Cal Baptist (0-5) on Friday at 4 p.m. and then Chattanooga (4-3) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Friday's contest is Friday Movie Night and Saturday's matchup is FansGiving, donate non-perishables inside the Alico Arena drop-off location and go home with a prize. Penn (3-3) will play Chattanooga at 1 p.m. Friday and Cal Baptist at 1 p.m. Saturday. Only the FGCU matchups will be streamed on ESPN+.
FGCU (3-2) returns to Fort Myers fresh off an inaugural Atlantic Slam championship, with wins over Georgetown and Cincinnati on Prince Edward Island in Canada. First-year head coach Chelsea Lyles remained undefeated at 3-0 after taking over for FGCU women's basketball coaching legend Karl Smesko. Lyles is just one of three coaches to currently hold a perfect win percentage, joining Jan Jensen (6-0) from Iowa and Gavin Peterson with Utah (2-0).
Emani Jefferson was named the Atlantic Slam MVP Sunday. She scored 10 points against the Hoyas and added another team-high 19 against the Bearcats. For the season, Jefferson is averaging a team-leading 14 points per game, scoring double digits in all five games thus far.
Dolly Cairns also made the All-Tournament Team list in Canada. Maddie Antenucci hit six threes over the course of the two-day event, providing the long-ball dagger against both the Big East and "Power 4" opponent down the stretch. As a team, FGCU is averaging 7.2 made 3-pointers per game this season.
FGCU holds the nation's second-longest active home win streak of 33 consecutive victories at Alico Arena. The last FGCU home loss occurred December 11, 2022, against Duke.
The Eagles checked in at No. 7 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. FGCU has not dropped lower than seven this season, and began the year at No. 2 overall.
