The FGCU women's basketball team (8-2) remain at home as they host the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic. The Eagles welcome Coppin State (0-9) and UAB (9-1) to the Alico Arena on Wednesday, December 19 (vs Coppin State) at 5 p.m. and Friday, December 21 (vs UAB) at 7 p.m. Coppin State and UAB will also play each other on Thursday, December 20 at 7 p.m.
This will be the final two non-conference games at home for the Eagles before the new year and A-SUN Conference play.
In addition, the game against Coppin State will be a part of a doubleheader as the men's team (4-8) will face NAIA Keiser (4-9, 2-4 TSC) at 7:30 p.m.
Last Time Out:
The Eagles hosted NAIA Johnson and Wales and Abilene Christian at the Alico Arena on Friday, December 14 (vs J&W) and Monday, December 17 (vs Abilene Christian). The Eagles pulled away with an overall program record-tying 109-64 win against J&W and an 81-65 win against Abilene Christian. The Eagles' 109 points did break the D1 single-game program record (108 vs Lipscomb 2/27/14).
Offensively, it's the duo of redshirt junior Keri Jewett-Giles and junior Nasrin Ulel that led the way.
Jewett-Giles is averaging 15.3 points and 3.1 assists per game. Although she had only six points against J&W, Jewett-Giles made up for it and finished with 19 points and six assists against Abilene Christian.
Ulel is averaging 15 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Ulel had 14 points against J&W and eight points and three rebounds against Abilene Christian.
Junior Tytionia Adderly has been on key as far as rebounding. Adderly is averaging 7.3 rebounds and 5.7 points per game. Although she did not score against J&W, she did have four defensive rebounds while against Abilene Christian, she had 12 points and nine rebounds with five of them being on the offensive side.
Adderly has 262 offensive rebounds in her career while the four defensive rebounds put her at 366, which is 16 shy of passing Taylor Grandijan (381, 2012-13, 2014-2018) for sixth all-time. In overall rebounds, the Jupiter native has 628 and is 13 away from passing Robyn Swain (640, 2002-04) for fifth all-time.
Redshirt senior Destiny Washington has started in four straight games and has been on top of her game. Washington is averaging 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as well as 1.3 blocks per game. Although she had four points and five against J&W, the Ball State/Loyola Chicago transfer had one of her best games against Abilene Christian as she was flirting for a triple-double with 18 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. Her seven steals were the third-most in a single-game in the program's Division-I era and Alico Arena history.
Bench Role:
Off the bench, it's been the tails of redshirt sophomore Chandler Ryan, redshirt junior Davion Wingate and freshman Tanner Bryant.
Although she was held to six points against Abilene Christian, Ryan is currently averaging 10.4 points per game. Against J&W, Ryan had another one of her best games this season as she set a new career-high with 21 points, all from the 3-point line (seven to be exact: another career high) while earning her first start of her career.
A wild card for the team, Wingate came out of nowhere. The Atlanta native is averaging 6.6 points per game. The unexpected moment was against J&W in which she scored a career-high 28 points. In fact, Wingate's 28 points topped her career-high when she was playing at Stony Brook (25 points vs FAMU, 12/20/16) in which she became one of 12 players in program history to produce at least 28 points at least once. As a result, Wingate was named the A-SUN Newcomer of the Week. Wingate had six points against Abilene Christian
Bryant is averaging 5.3 points per game and has been on track among the freshman class. Although she only had one rebound and one assist against Abilene Christian, she set career-highs in points (16), rebounds (7), minutes (31) and field goals (5) against J&W. As a result, Bryant was named A-SUN Freshman of the Week, becoming the first FGCU player in program history to receive A-SUN Freshman of the Week honors
Scouting Coppin State:
This will be the first time both teams meet and will be FGCU's second "Battle of the Eagles" this season (first vs American University).
The Golden Eagles are coming off of a 71-69 loss to Niagara. They have yet to win their first game of the season while entering a 16-game losing streak that includes seven straight losses last season.
Junior Chance Graham leads the way for the Golden Eagles as she is averaging 16.8 points and 11.7 per game and leads the team in blocks (13) and steals (22). Against Niagara, Graham had a double-double of 31 points and 22 rebounds and five steals.
Senior Brooke Fields follows Graham as she is averaging 12.1 points per game. Against Niagara, Fields had 18 points and five rebounds.
Scouting UAB:
Like Coppin State, this will be the first time the Eagles will face UAB.
The Blazers are coming off of a 62-48 win over Alabama State. So far, their lone loss was to #11 Tennessee (73-69 OT) in the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. On their record, they did beat Power 5 Oklahoma 89-94 in the same tournament.
The Blazers are led offensively are led by three players that are averaging at least 13 points per game: senior Deanna Kuzmanic (13.7) and juniors Rachael Childress (13.5) and Katelynn Thomas (13.4).
Against Alabama State, Kuzmanic had 15 points and seven rebounds, Childress was held to two points and six rebounds, and Thomas had 16 points and six rebounds.
Junior Miyah Barnes has also been a factor for the Blazers as she is averaging 10 points per game and scored 17 points against Alabama State.
How to Keep Up:
Both games for the Eagles will have livestats and will air livestream on ESPN+. As for the game between Coppin State and UAB, it has not been determined at the moment. Commentary for both games will be led by play-by-play commentator David Moulton and color commentator J. Webb Horton.
Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_WBB
Coppin State: @Coppin_WBBall
UAB: @UAB_WBB
Promotions:
There will be an ugly Christmas sweater contest for the doubleheader with an appearance from Santa Claus.
For the game against UAB, it is dubbed as a blue out, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear blue to the game.
ESPN+:
FGCU will air on the subscription-based digital platform ESPN+, the new home for all A-SUN sports. Subscribers can try the new app for free for 30 days, which follows to $4.99 a month fee afterwards.
Livestats Links:
vs Coppin State- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=242054
vs UAB- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=242056
Coppin State vs UAB: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=242055
Livestream Links:
vs Coppin State: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/b0acc2ec-d730-4709-9441-9de82c7333e3/coppin-state-vs-florida-gulf-coast
vs UAB: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/cc78eaf9-b0a6-4784-985e-4dfc3d9b0e0b/uab-vs-florida-gulf-coast
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