"I was really proud of our effort defensively," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought we really competed on the defensive end. Offensively, Duke has some really good athletes (with) length, and I thought they made us a little tentative in our zone offense attack. We weren't moving the ball as well as we would have liked and that led to us having some tough shots, and when we got wide open shots maybe we were a little rushed or something, but we didn't shoot it like we were hoping to."
Junior Nasrin Ulel led the Eagles offensively with 11 points.
Fellow junior Tytionia Adderly added eight points, eight rebounds and a team-high three steals, while redshirt senior Destiny Washington had seven points and team-highs in rebounds (9) and blocks (3). As a team, the Green and Blue shot just 7-for-37 (18.9 percent) from 3-point range and had 15 points over the game's final 21 minutes.
Neither team played particularly well early on as Adderly's shot clock buzzer-beating 3-pointer with 4:46 left in the first quarter was the first field goal for either team. FGCU had each of its four first-quarter field goals from 3-point range, and the final two were banked in from Ulel and sophomore Alyssa Blair to give the Eagles a 13-6 lead through one.
Duke opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run and pushed its lead to six following a three-point play from redshirt junior Haley Gorecki with 3:21 left in the half. Washington and Adderly, however, combined for all six points in a 6-0 run that knotted the game at 26 apiece with 1:08 left in the half.
Following a timeout, however, Duke closed the half on a 5-0 run and opened up a seven-point lead following a Miela Goodchild layup 1:15 into the second half. Ulel responded with five straight points to pull the Green and Blue within two, but the Blue Devils answered with a 5-0 run of their own and opened up a 44-35 lead through three.
From there, the Eagles failed to trim the deficit. A 3-pointer from redshirt sophomore Kerstie Phills with 5:45 left was her team's first points of the quarter, and they ended up accounting for half of FGCU's points in the quarter, and that included a buzzer-beating putback layup from redshirt senior Brittany Johnson to end the game.
FGCU assisted in 11 of its 16 field goals, led by four from redshirt junior Keri Jewett-Giles.
With her eight total rebounds, Adderly now has 662 and has passed Adrianne McNally (658, 2006-10) for third all-time in overall rebounds. Her next milestone is to pass Whitney Knight (735, 2011-12, 2013-16) for second all-time. Adderly needs 74 to pass Knight.
With four of her boards on the offensive and defensive end, Adderly now has 275 offensive boards and 387 defensive boards. For the offensive boards, Adderly remains 55 shy of passing Sarah Hansen (329, 2010-14) as the all-time leader. For the defensive boards, Adderly is 18 away from passing Robyn Swain (404, 2002-04) for fourth all-time.
Up Next:
The Eagles await 2019 as they open up for A-SUN Conference play on Saturday, January 5 against Liberty at the Alico Arena at 4 p.m. The game will be featured as a doubleheader as the men will also open conference at the Alico Arena against Liberty at 7 p.m.
Fellow junior Tytionia Adderly added eight points, eight rebounds and a team-high three steals, while redshirt senior Destiny Washington had seven points and team-highs in rebounds (9) and blocks (3). As a team, the Green and Blue shot just 7-for-37 (18.9 percent) from 3-point range and had 15 points over the game's final 21 minutes.
Neither team played particularly well early on as Adderly's shot clock buzzer-beating 3-pointer with 4:46 left in the first quarter was the first field goal for either team. FGCU had each of its four first-quarter field goals from 3-point range, and the final two were banked in from Ulel and sophomore Alyssa Blair to give the Eagles a 13-6 lead through one.
Duke opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run and pushed its lead to six following a three-point play from redshirt junior Haley Gorecki with 3:21 left in the half. Washington and Adderly, however, combined for all six points in a 6-0 run that knotted the game at 26 apiece with 1:08 left in the half.
Following a timeout, however, Duke closed the half on a 5-0 run and opened up a seven-point lead following a Miela Goodchild layup 1:15 into the second half. Ulel responded with five straight points to pull the Green and Blue within two, but the Blue Devils answered with a 5-0 run of their own and opened up a 44-35 lead through three.
From there, the Eagles failed to trim the deficit. A 3-pointer from redshirt sophomore Kerstie Phills with 5:45 left was her team's first points of the quarter, and they ended up accounting for half of FGCU's points in the quarter, and that included a buzzer-beating putback layup from redshirt senior Brittany Johnson to end the game.
FGCU assisted in 11 of its 16 field goals, led by four from redshirt junior Keri Jewett-Giles.
With her eight total rebounds, Adderly now has 662 and has passed Adrianne McNally (658, 2006-10) for third all-time in overall rebounds. Her next milestone is to pass Whitney Knight (735, 2011-12, 2013-16) for second all-time. Adderly needs 74 to pass Knight.
With four of her boards on the offensive and defensive end, Adderly now has 275 offensive boards and 387 defensive boards. For the offensive boards, Adderly remains 55 shy of passing Sarah Hansen (329, 2010-14) as the all-time leader. For the defensive boards, Adderly is 18 away from passing Robyn Swain (404, 2002-04) for fourth all-time.
Up Next:
The Eagles await 2019 as they open up for A-SUN Conference play on Saturday, January 5 against Liberty at the Alico Arena at 4 p.m. The game will be featured as a doubleheader as the men will also open conference at the Alico Arena against Liberty at 7 p.m.
