"I was a little concerned early because we got a lot of good really wide open looks, whether it was in conversion or within our offense, and we didn't shoot well," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "You get nervous when you play a team this good and leave that many points out there early. But we were able to get to the rim and get some layups (as it progressed)."
FGCU was led offensively by redshirt senior Destiny Washington. The reigning A-SUN Newcomer of the Week got her first double-double with FGCU as she finished with a season-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Washington also added an assist, two blocks and a steal. Both her point and rebound totals were season-highs, and it was her first double-double since March 5, 2018 (vs MTSU, 15 points and 12 rebounds with Ball State).
Junior Nasrin Ulel chipped in with nine points and three rebounds.
The Eagles began with their first five points off the hands of Washington from a layup and a 3-pointer. Five minutes later, she capped a 17-5 run to open the game with her second 3-pointer, which is a new career-high after 11 games with one.
Junior Brittany Panetti, who is the reigning A-SUN Player of the Week, then scored four points in an 8-0 run as the Lions trimmed the deficit to eight with 8:30 left in the half.
Junior Tytionia Adderly, who finished with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal, responded by scoring six straight for FGCU, while Zderadicka and Jewett-Giles followed with back-to-back layups moments later.
Two more layups from Washington, who had 14 points in the first 20 minutes, with under two minutes left then helped the Green and Blue take a 34-21 lead into the break.
In the opening half, FGCU had twice as many field goals made (14-7) and forced 13 turnovers, but North Alabama made 7-for-12 from the foul line for one-third of their points.
Jewett-Giles and Zderadicka each shouldered the load in the second half as the duo combined for seven straight points just under seven minutes into the third to give the Eagles a 48-32 lead.
North Alabama, however, responded with a 9-2 run to close the quarter and then opened the fourth with a layup from junior Emma Wallen to pull within seven. Washington ended the run with a second chance layup, and Zderadicka beat the shot clock buzzer with a right-wing 3-pointer to push the lead back to 12 with 8:27 left. Those buckets spurred a 10-2 run, capped by three free throws from Ulel to give the Green and Blue a 60-45 lead with 4:42 left.
From there, the Eagles never led by fewer than 12 and pushed its lead to as many as 18 following a pair of free throws from Jewett-Giles with 1:04 left.
Panetti and junior Ivy Wallen finished with 14 points each while fellow junior Kenysha Coulson finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Junior Emma Wallen was held to five points and four rebounds.
Adderly's six boards put her at 674 in her career. With two of her boards were on the offensive front, Adderly now has 278 in her career and is 52 shy of passing Sarah Hansen (329, 2010-14) as the all-time leader in career offensive rebounds. With the four other rebounds on the defensive end, Adderly has 396 and is nine shy of passing Adrianne McNally (404, 2002-04) for fifth all-time.
Up Next:
FGCU will be back in action on Saturday against North Florida. They will then close a three-game road trip at Kennesaw State the following Saturday before returning home on Jan. 22 against Lipscomb.
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