FGCU WBB vs Upstate Recap

The FGCU women's basketball continued to dominate in the A-SUN as they went head-to-head with USC Upstate. The Eagles (17-3, 3-0 A-SUN) had no problem beating the Spartans (6-12, 1-2 A-SUN) as the Eagles won 93-60. With the win, the Eagles are now 18-2 overall against Upstate.

"We got off to a really fast start," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought we played a great first quarter, (which) gave us a little bit of a cushion. The second and third quarters were really even. Upstate is hard to guard and if you don't use the right technique, they're going to get open shots, and I think they did that in the second and third quarters. Fortunately at the beginning of the fourth quarter, we made one final push to kind of extend it and put the game away."

The leader on offense for FGCU was redshirt senior China Dow. Dow, playing on bench role for most of the season, finished with a double-double of 22 points (9-for-12 FG, 1-for-2 3FG, 3-for-6 FT) and 10 rebounds. Dow also added three assists and three steals.

As far as starters, senior Erica Nelson had 14 points (5-for-8 FG, 2-for-3 3FG, 2-for-3 FT), three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals.

Senior Rose Julien had 11 points (5-for-8 FG, 1-for-2 3FG), three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Sophomore Nasrin Ulel had 14 points (5-for-10 FG, 4-for-8 3FG), two rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Sophomore Tytionia Adderly finished with six points, seven rebounds (two offensive rebounds, five defensive rebounds), four assists and one steal. Adderly's two offensive boards put her at 172 and remains now 12 away from surpassing Courtney Chihil (183) for seventh all-time in career offensive rebounds.

Redshirt senior Taylor Grandijan finished with nine points, two rebounds, one block and one steal. Grandijan's nine points all came from behind the 3-point line. Grandijan is 52 points away from passing current video coordinator Stephanie Haas (1,135) for seventh all-time in career points.

In addition to her three 3-pointers, Grandijan has 263 of them and is 32 away from surpassing former WNBA player Whitney Knight (294) for second all-time in career 3-pointers. Grandijan also has 100 steals in her career, tying DyTiesha Dunson (132) and Sarah Hansen (133) for fourth place in career games played and needs one more start to tie Chihil (111) for third most games started.

Aside from Dow providing sparks off the bench, other players that contributed to the game and/or got in the game include redshirt senior Lisa Zderadicka, redshirt senior Jessica Cattani, redshirt freshman Chandler Ryan, freshman Alyssa Blair, Sheahen Dowling and Liberty Brown and sophomore Samantha Kisiel.

Zderadicka had 10 points (5-for-9 FG), six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal.

Cattani had four points, three rebounds, one assist and two steals.

Ryan contributed with one assist.

Blair had two points and two rebounds.

Dowling had one point and one rebound.

Kisiel contributed with one rebound.

For the Spartans, junior DeNisha Swain led the way with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Freshman Anda Kuzmina had 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Senior A'Lexxus Davis had nine points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Sophomore Riley Popplewell had eight points, three rebounds, two assists and one block.

Redshirt sophomore Morgan Williams had six points, three rebounds, two assists an one steal.

Off the bench, junior Tamera Thorpe had six points and four rebounds, sophomore Rylie Parkhurst had three points, four rebounds, one assist and one block, freshman Diamon Shiflet had two points, one rebound, one assist and three steals, redshirt freshman Latasha Johnson had two points, freshman Michaela Gibbons contributed with three rebounds, junior Camilla Kilinc contributed with two rebounds and redshirt sophomore Victoria Hadler added one assist. Sophomore Breanna Jefferson and junior Bailey Wensler also entered the game.

Up next, the Eagles will be on a two-game road trip for conference as they face Kennesaw State on Saturday, January 20 at 2 PM before traveling to Nashville to face Lipscomb on Monday, January 22 at 7:30 PM eastern/6:30 PM central. Both games will air on ESPN 3.