In a battle of the first in the A-SUN Conference, both the FGCU men's and women's basketball teams were taken to the limits against Jacksonville (JU) for conference play at FGCU.
In the women's game, both FGCU and JU were tied for first place in conference. Going back and forth between the two teams, the Eagles (20-3, 6-0 A-SUN) managed to come out on top and beat the Dolphins (15-6, 5-1 A-SUN) by a score of 63-58.
"It was a very tough game. It was probably the most physical game we've played all season," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought Jacksonville played with a lot of energy. They played very physical. We got fortunate that some of their best players got in foul trouble, and we got fortunate that they missed some foul shots down the stretch. But, we feel really good about beating a good team. Despite getting beat on the boards, we found a way to compensate and get the win."
Before the women's basketball game began, five cheerleaders and two FGCU Dancing E'Gals were recognized for their senior day.
Leading the way offensively for the Eagles was senior Erica Nelson. Nelson finished with 14 points (2-6 FG, 1-2 3FG, 9-10 FT), three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal.
Sophomore Nas Ulel had 13 points (5-7 FG, 2-3 3FG, 1-3 FT), two rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals.
Senior Rose Julien had 11 points, five rebounds and one assist. Julien was 6-7 at the free throw line.
Sophomore Tytionia Adderly was held to two points and one defensive as the Jupiter native only played five minutes in the first quarter and did not return due to an injury. Adderly has 448 career rebounds and remains eighth all-time.
Redshirt senior Taylor Grandijan had seven points, six rebounds and one steal. With her seven points, Grandijan has 1,115 and is 21 away from surpassing current video coordinator Stephanie Haas (1,135) for seventh all-time in career points. In addition, Grandijan's six rebounds puts her at 458 career rebounds and is 51 away from surpassing Kaneisha Atwater for sixth all-time and is tied with Katie Meador for third all-time in career games played (135).
Off the bench, redshirt senior China Dow had 12 points and four rebounds while redshirt junior Lisa Zderadicka had four points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
"I thought both teams played their hearts out, both teams wanted to win the game and unfortunately, someone had to lose and we were at that end this time," stated Head Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. "There were some key moments in the game that I felt we didn't capitalize on and some key possessions that we'll be able to watch film on and be ready for when they come to our place."
"Florida Gulf Coast did their job, they protected their home floor. Now we need to do our job when they come to our place and go from there. That's going to be the focus; we'll learn from this. We have to move on to the next game, exude toughness, and protect home court."
For the Dolphins, senior Naqaiyyah Teague led the way with 15 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Teague did get a technical foul in the game.
Junior Lindsay John had 10 points, one rebound and one assist.
Senior Brandi Buie had nine points, five rebounds and one steal.
Senior Kayla Gordon had six points, 13 rebounds and two steals.
Junior Jasmyn Brown was held to four points and three rebounds.
Off the bench, four players contributed for the Dolphins: sophomore Alexis Burns (five points, one rebound, one assist), redshirt sophomore Shalonda Neely (four points, two rebounds, one steal), redshirt junior La'Karis Salter (three points) and redshirt junior Shakayla Nevitt (two points, six rebounds, two blocks).
With the win, the Eagles are on a 10-game winning streak, 21-3 overall against JU and are in sole possession of first place.
Fast forward to the men's game. The Eagles (16-8, 7-0 A-SUN) managed to beat the Dolphins (11-13, 5-2 A-SUN) by a score of 68-62.
"It wasn't pretty, and we were very streaky, but our defense bailed us out tonight. We got some timely stops," stated FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. "But give JU credit; they switched and did some things defensively which put us in harm's way. The ball stuck for us tonight and that hurt us offensively, but our defense got stops late when it mattered most."
Leading the way for the Eagles was the duo of redshirt senior Brandon Goodwin and redshirt junior Zach Johnson. Goodwin had 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals while Johnson finished with 18 points, three rebounds, one assist and three steals.
Junior Dinero Mercurius had six points and three rebounds.
Redshirt junior Michael Gilmore finished with six points and 10 rebounds.
Redshirt senior Antravious Simmons contributed with two rebounds and one assist.
Off the bench, senior Christian Terrell had 11 points and two rebounds.
Redshirt sophomore Brady Ernst had seven points and four rebounds.
Sophomore Christian Carlyle had two points, six rebounds and one assist.
Freshman Brian Thomas had two points, seven rebounds and one block.
"I thought we were able to do some good things in the second half, but as the game wore on, our inability to keep [the ball] in front just killed us," said Head Coach Tony Jasick
For the Dolphins, junior Jace Hogan had 23 points (10-16 FG, 1-2 3FG, 2-2 FT), three rebounds and one assist.
Freshman JD Notae had 15 points, three rebounds and one steal.
Senior Antwon Clayton had nine points, six rebounds, one assist and two steals.
Redshirt senior Devin Harris had seven points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Freshman Jalyn Hinton had six points, three rebounds and two steals.
Off the bench, three players contributed for the Dolphins: sophomore Tanner Rubio (two points, one rebound, one assist), redshirt senior Cody Helgeland (two rebound, two steals) and junior Radwan Bakkali (two rebounds).
"We're awfully close, but we're light years away if we won't commit to guarding the basketball," said Jasick.
With the win, the Eagles are on a nine-game winning streak.
Up next for both teams, the men's team will play UNF at home on Monday, January 29 at 7 pm where it will be a white out.
For the women, they will be on another two-game road trip in Jacksonville as they play UNF on Thursday, February 1 at UNF and a rematch against Jacksonville at JU.
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