Four Eagles reached double figures Thursday as Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball flew past North Florida 89-54 in Jacksonville, Florida.
"We had a number of people step up and play well for us tonight," first-year head Coach Chelsea Lyles said. "It was a full team effort."
Emani Jefferson, the Atlantic Sun Conference Preseason Player of the Year, led the charge with a season-high 23 points. Lauryn Taylor had 13 points and 14 rebounds in her second double-double performance of the year. Casey Santoro also tallied 13 points Thursday for her own season high, while Dolly Cairns contributed 12 points in FGCU's fifth straight win and 3-0 start in league play.
FGCU stands as the last remaining undefeated team in the ASUN after Thursday night's results across the league. FGCU (12-3) extended its win streak against ASUN opponents to 36 consecutive victories, and also downed the Ospreys (4-12, 0-3 ASUN) for the 15th consecutive time.
The Eagles shot a season-best 54.1 percent from the field in their first true road win of the season. Entering Thursday, FGCU was 0-2 on the road. Prior to tonight's game, FGCU had not had a true road game since Nov. 11, the second game of the season at Columbia. The Eagles spent the entire month of December in the friendly confines of Alico Arena.
FGCU looked comfortable outside of the City of Palms from the jump. The Eagles drained a three on their very first possession courtesy of sharpshooter Cairns. FGCU connected on its first three 3-point attempts as the Green and Blue secured a 10-point lead to close the opening quarter, 23-13, capitalizing on back-to-back turnovers by North Florida in the waning seconds.Â
The Eagles forced 20 turnovers Thursday, doing so for the seventh time this season. The Green and Blue has now limited 14Â of its 15Â opponents to 58 points or fewer with the nation's seventh-best scoring defense, allowing just 52.3 points per game.
FGCU held UNF scoreless for nearly seven minutes in the second period and used an 8-0 run at the beginning to obtain a 42-19 lead at halftime. FGCU marched out to its commanding lead hitting just a single 3-pointer in the period, but defensively, the Eagles held the Ospreys to just six points.
Lyles and company kept their foot on the gas in the third as the Green and Blue turned in a 34-point quarter to lead by a suffocating 40 points, 76-36, going into the final period. Neither man or zone defense could stop FGCU's from shooting 92 percent in the third period, going 13-of-14 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from long range.
Cairns hit the Eagles' eighth triple at the 1:12 minute mark of the third. FGCU improved to 10-0 this season when the Eagles hit eight or more treys in a game. FGCU would finish with nine threes Thursday but also produced 48 points in the paint.
FGCU will remain in Jacksonville this weekend to face Jacksonville University Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. Jacksonville defeated Stetson 68-60 Thursday to improve to 7-8 overall and 1-2 in the ASUN.
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