Of course, personally for me, Illinois was my childhood university that I always wanted to go way before I moved to Florida, and despite the outcome in the end, Illinois will always be in my heart.
Going into the first quarter, redshirt senior Taylor Grandijan would start the scoring brigade for the Eagles with a quick 3-pointer with an assist from sophomore Tytionia Adderly. After senior Erica Nelson shot two free throws after being fouled by junior Jaelyne Kirkpatrick, the Illini would get on the board after a Kirkpatrick layup. Nelson would add two more point off of a layup with an assist from Grandijan.
After senior Rose Julien drew a foul, Smesko sent redshirt senior China Dow and redshirt junior Lisa Zderadicka to the court while Julien and sophomore Nasrin Ulel headed to the bench. Zderadicka was making her FGCU debut after graduating early from Houston Baptist University and transferring with two years of eligibility. Zderadicka, despite coming from another D1 school, was automatically eligible to play because she is a grad student for FGCU. In addition, Zderadicka is the first two-year graduate transfer in the program’s history.
With 7:27 left on the clock in the first quarter, Zderadicka would score her first basket with FGCU on a layup. Two minutes later, after redshirt senior Jessica Cattani checked in, the Illini would get their second basket off a jump shot from junior Alex Wittinger, but another layup from Zderadicka made the score 11-4 FGCU with 4:47 left on the clock.
With 4:06 on the clock, the Illini would get a 3-pointer off the hands of sophomore Petra Holešínská followed by a jump shot from fellow sophomore Brandi Beasley before Holešínská gave the Illini the lead with 2:23 left, but Grandijan, with a hot hand, helped the Eagles with another 3-pointer to give back the lead for the Eagles. Ulel would add one more 3-pointer with one minute left one the game clock before redshirt sophomore Cierra Rice made one more free throw before the first quarter ended with the Eagles on top 17-13.
Going into the second quarter, freshman Alyssa Blair made her on-court debut as she subbed in for Julien. With less than nine minutes left on the clock, Holešínská would cut the Eagles lead to two after hitting a successful jump shot, but a 3-point shot from Ulel, with an assist from Zderdicka, gave the Eagles a five point lead before senior Alli Ball cut the Eagles lead to three. Grandijan would then bring the Eagles lead back to five points with a layup with an assist from Nelson. With 7:05 left on the clock, Dow would bring the Eagles lead to 12 with a layup before a media timeout.
With 5:13 left, Wittinger would cut the Eagles lead to 10 with a good jumper, but a defensive rebound lead Adderly to go coast-to-coast with a layup before Wittinger hit another good jumper, but Adderly would extend the Eagles lead to 13 with a 3-pointer from an assist from Cattani. After another Wittinger jumper at the 2:50 mark, Julien would shoot a 3-pointer of her own with an assist from Zderadicka before Ulel hit a 3-pointer with an assist from Grandijan.
The Illini would get another good jumper off the hands of sophomore Ali Andrews, but a late foul from Holešínská to Dow gave the Louisville transfer a successful attempt of shooting two free throws before the end of the first half. The Eagles would take the first half 42-25.
Going into the start of the third quarter, Ulel would score the first bucket with a layup. Two minutes later, Wittinger would hit another good jumper before Julien pulled another 3-pointer with an assist from Ulel. Wittinger would shoot another jump shot before Julien was fouled by redshirt senior Kennedy Cattenhead. After making one of two free throws, Julien would then steal the ball from Holešínská, who missed a layup and grabbed an offensive rebound before Grandijan missed a 3-point shot, signaling a defensive rebound by Wittinger leading to a Beasley layup.
Grandijan would increase the Eagles lead to 20 after hitting a 3-pointer with an assist from Zderadicka, and after another Wittinger jumper, Julien would hit a 3-pointer of her own with an assist from Nelson. Wittinger would then 3-pointer of her own Holešínská with five minutes left before hitting a layup while being fouled by Zderadicka and completing the and-one. After Adderly missed a layup and Beasley grabbed the defensive rebound, Kirkpatrick would hit a 3-pointer with an assist from Holešínská, but Ulel would return the favor as she completed an and-one of her own.
With less than three minutes on the clock, Dow would get fouled by Beasley and make one out of two free throws. Julien would then get fouled by Wittinger. After making one of two free throws, Dow would collect an offensive rebound and hit a layup.
With 1:19 left on the clock, Julien, after grabbing the offensive rebound, was sent to the line after an Andrews shooting foul and was able to shoot two successful rebounds. 39 seconds left, Dow would hit a layup with an assist from Zderadicka. With five seconds left, Cattani would miss an open 3-pointer, but with an offensive rebound from Grandijan, Cattani recovered with an open layup before the third quarter ended. It would be 67-42 FGCU.
One quarter remained in the game. After Nelson fouled Cattenhead, sending her to the line where she made one of two free throws before hitting a good jumper. Nelson would return the favor and get an and-one after being fouled by Kirkpatrick. Grandijan would follow with her fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Nelson would grab the defensive rebound off of a Cattenhead missed layup before Dow hit a layup until the Illini called for a 20 second time out. This would send Blair and redshirt freshman Chandler Ryan to sub into the game. Ryan was also making her season debut after sitting the entire last season with a knee injury.
After back-to-back threes from Andrews and Beasley, Nelson would follow with a layup to the paint before Ulel and Zderadicka reentered the game.
With 4:32 left on the clock, Zderadicka would get fouled and was sent to the line where she made one of two free throws. Beasley was soon fouled by Adderly and made one of two free throws before Blair picked up the defensive rebound.
After a missed 3-pointer, Rice would drive in a layup with an assist from Andrews, but a 3-pointer from Ryan, which lead to an and-one, increased the Eagles lead to to 28 before another Rice layup and an and-one dropped it to 25. From there, Smesko would empty the bench and send freshmen Sheahen Dowling and Liberty Brown onto the court. Dowling and Brown would make their on-court debuts as well. Ryan would add two more free throws before Blair reentered for Dow.
After a jumper made by Lyric Robins, freshman Jnaya Walker would be sent to the free throw line where she made one of two free throw shots before Brown secured the defensive rebound before being fouled and sent to the line where she made one of two free throws. Walker would make the final free throw as it signaled the end of the games with the Eagles on top.
"This is definitely a good win for us," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Illinois has a lot of good players and a lot of them are returning from last year. They're really well-coached. The defensive intensity we had early kind of set the tone for us. We had a lot of players play well. I'm happy to win. (Illinois) is a team that beat us last year with the same players."
The Eagles shot 13-for-32 (45.9%) from the 3-point line and 16-for-21 (76.2 %) at the free throw line.
Offensively, Ulel lead the team with a career-high 17 points (6-for-7 FG, 4-for-5 3FG, 1-for-1 FT), two rebounds and two assists.
Grandijan had 14 points (5-for-11 FG, 4-for-10 3FG), two rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Julien finished with 13 points (3-for-4 FG, 3-for-3 3FG, 4-6 FT), two rebounds and one steal.
Nelson finished with nine points (3-for-7 FG, 3-for-3 FT), five rebounds, four assists, one block and two steals.
Adderly finished with seven points (3-for-7 FG, 1-for-3 3FG), nine rebounds, one assist and three steals.
Off the bench, Dow finished with 11 points (4-for-10 FG, 3-for-4 FT), four rebounds and one assist, Ryan finished with six points (1-for-2 3FG, 3-for-3 FT) in four minutes, Zderadicka finished with five points and five assists, Cattani, who was supposed to be a starter originally before being sidelined with a foot injury, finished with two points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal, Brown had one point, and one rebound, and Blair contributed with two rebounds.
Sophomore Samantha Kisiel was unable to play due to an injury, but was able to celebrate the win on her birthday.
Transfer students, Kerstie Phills, Davion Wingate and Keri Jewett-Giles are ineligible as part of the NCAA transfer rule.
For the Illini, Wittinger lead the way with 20 points (9-for-13 FG, 1-for-1 3FG, 1-for-1 FT), nine rebounds, one block and one steal. Wittinger was the only Illini with double digit points.
Beasley and Holešínská finished with eight points and a steal each. Beasley added seven rebounds and four assists while Holešínská added four rebounds and two assists.
Andrews and Kirkpatrick finished with five points and three rebounds each. Andrews added an assist while Kirkpatrick added two assists and one steal.
Cattenhead had three points, five rebounds and a steal.
Rice finished with six points, one rebound and one assist.
Ball, Walker and Robins had two points each. Walker added two rebounds to the mix.
Sophomore Courtney Joens and redshirt sophomore Cydnee Kinslow also contributed to the game. Joens had one rebound while Kinslow had one steal.
"I think they {FGCU} came out and they established their defense right from the beginning," Illinois head coach Nancy Fahey said. "They were more physical, they tied us up offensively in that first half. We adjusted as the game went on, but that's something we have to react better to."
"I talked to the team after the game and we're just trying to get in fighting mentality. I think one thing they're looking at is how hard this team that we played tonight fought. There are a lot of one-day preps here so this young team is going to have to grow up fast, and they will."
Up Next:
FGCU will face FIU in Miami as part of their nine-game road trip. They will compete against Kent State and host Akron in the Akron Classic, face Siena College at Siena, competed in the Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas against numerous teams and like Depaul, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 14 Stanford, Memphis, Gonzaga and Belmont before wrapping up the road trip with a game against Abilene Christian.
Below are several pictures of me with some of the players after the game:
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| With Dow |
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| With Wingate |
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| With Grandijan |
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| With Adderly |
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| With Cattani |
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| With Brown, who happened to be my neighbor |
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| With Kisiel |
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| With Zderadicka |
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| With Dowling since we're Chicago natives and Cub fans |
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| With Ryan |
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