FGCU WBB @ Abilene Christian Recap

There is a saying in Texas: "Everything is bigger in Texas." Of course for Abilene Christian, it was no big game for them to try and beat the FGCU women's basketball team. The Eagles (7-2) tamed and slaughtered the Wildcats by a score of 94-55.

"We shot the ball very well today," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "And we did a good job moving the ball to our open shooters. We look good when we share the ball."

In front of 1,103 fans, it made no difference for the Wildcats and catching up to the Eagles proved to be impossible. For FGCU, it was redemption after finishing fourth in the Play 4 Kay Shootout in Las Vegas. After a slow start in the first quarter ending by a score of 15-13, the Eagles went on a 33-15 run in the second quarter before the second half began, but it made no difference as Abilene could not catch up in the second half.

Sophomore Nasrin "Nas" Ulel led the team with 19 points (7-for-11 FG, 5-for-9 3FG) and added two assists.

Senior Erica Nelson had eight points (3-for-4 FG, 2-for-3 3FG), five rebounds and three assists.

Senior Rose Julien had 10 points (3-for-8 FG, 2-for-7 3FG, 2-for-2 FT), one rebound, three assists and one steal.

Sophomore Tytionia Adderly had nine points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Redshirt senior Taylor Grandijan had 18 points, all from behind the three point line. The Cudahy, Wisconsin native is now one point away from reaching the 1,000 point mark. With one more point, Grandijan will become the ninth player in the program's Division-I era with 1,000 points and only the 10th overall since the program started in 2002-03.

Personal Note:

I guess when Smesko pulled Grandijan out, he was probably saving her to score her 1,000th point at home, which actually makes sense since the Dirty Birds would love to see that accolade.

Off the bench, redshirt senior China Dow had seven points, three rebounds and three assists, redshirt freshman Chandler Ryan had a season-high 11 points, one rebound, two assists and one steal, redshirt junior Lisa Zderadicka had five points and four assists, freshman Sheahen Dowling had seven points and one assist.

Sophomore Samantha Kisiel and freshmen Alyssa Blair and Liberty Brown also contributed to the game. Kisiel added one rebound, Blair had two rebounds and two blocks and Brown added five rebounds.

The Eagles shot a program record-tying 22 3-pointers in the game. The performance tied for the third most in NCAA Division I single game history behind Sacramento State, who tallied 25 twice in the 2015-16 season.

Sunday's game, which was the first ever meeting between the two teams, marked the end of an eight-game road trip for FGCU. The team now returns home to face Southeastern University (11-0) on Tuesday at 4:30 pm, #22 Kentucky (7-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Ave Maria (10-0) next Sunday at 2 p.m.

The games against Southeastern and Ave Maria are dubbed as whiteouts while for Kentucky, it is a greenout.