In a rematch from last season, the FGCU women's basketball team (8-2) defeated Abilene Christian (7-3) 81-65. With the win, the Eagles are now 2-0 against the Wildcats.
"This was kind of a wild game," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I give Abilene credit. They came after us and pressured us. We didn't do a good job taking care of the basketball. Fortunately, we shot it well enough to overcome way too many turnovers, and we forced a number of turnovers ourselves. We turned those into points quite a few times, and that might have been the difference in the game."
Offensively, it was redshirt junior Keri Jewett-Giles and redshirt senior Destiny Washington that led the Eagles. Jewett-Giles pulled of 19 points (7-12 FG, 2-3 3PT, 2-3 FT), two rebounds and six assists.
Washington finished with a season-high 18 points (8-11 FG, 2-3 FT), eight rebounds and seven steals. Her seven steals were the third highest in a single-game in the program's Division-I era and Alico Arena history.
Junior Tytionia Adderly was rebound shy of a double-double as she finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. With five of her rebounds on the offensive side, Adderly now has 262 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. With her nine total rebounds, Adderly now has 628 and is 13 away from passing Robyn Swain (640, 2002-04) for fifth all-time.
Redshirt senior Lisa Zderadicka and junior Nasrin Ulel finished with eight points each while redshirt sophomore Chandler Ryan and redshirt junior Davion Wingate finished with six points each.
Jewett-Giles, Adderly, Zderadicka, Ulel and Ryan finished with two steals each.
Sophomore Alyssa Blair also added four points and a rebound while freshman Tanner Bryant added a rebound and an assist.
Senior Sara Williamson scored 22 points on 9-10 shooting from the field and junior Dominique Golightly added 19 points.
Despite the double-digit victory and the lead only changing hands twice, the game was a fight the whole way for the Eagles.
Jewett-Giles beat the shot clock with a deep 3-pointer to give FGCU 15-9 lead with 4:38 left in the opening quarter, but the Wildcats scored the final seven and 13 of 15 to take a 24-19 lead through the first 10 minutes.
Ryan scored all six of her points in the second frame on a pair of key 3-point field goals, while Adderly had five points as the Eagles shot 6-for-13 from the field and outscored Abilene Christian 17-9 to take a three-point lead into the break.
With her team clinging to a two-point lead with just under three minutes left in the third, Washington hit a short jumper in the paint and then grabbed an offensive board before scoring two more points on a layup to give FGCU a 53-47 lead.
Moments later, she produced a steal that led to a fast break layup from Blair as the Green and Blue completed a 6-0 run. In the final minute, Washington had a defensive rebound that led to a pair of free throws by Jewett-Giles to give FGCU an eight-point lead.
Abilene Christian trimmed its deficit to six on two occasions over the first three minutes of the fourth, but Washington grabbed a steal and finished a fast break layup to spur an 8-0 run that was finished by both fourth-quarter 3-pointers from Jewett-Giles. Zderadicka then added one of her own to stretch the margin to 15 with 3:50 left. The lead grew to as many as 18 late on a 3-pointer from Wingate.
Up Next:
The Eagles close out their final two home games of the season for non-conference as they host the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic and welcome Coppin State (0-9) and UAB (9-1) to the Alico Arena on Wednesday, December 19 (vs Coppin State) and Friday, December 21 (vs UAB). Coppin State and UAB will play each other on Thursday, December 20.
"Coppin State is coming off a game where they lost a buzzer beater, so I'm sure they'll be hungry to get a win," Smesko said of Wednesday's opponent. "And we'll have a short turnaround to get ready for them. UAB is one of the best mid-majors in the country. That will be really tough. They have so many really good players. They shoot it so well and they have a really good post presence. Plus, they're well-coached. They took Tennessee to overtime on a neutral court, so we'll have to play exceptionally well to have a chance to win."
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