"(UNF has) a really good zone," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought we did a good job moving the ball against it and catching it ready to shoot, so when we did get an opportunity, we shot a really good percentage from three."
"We really struggled executing our defensive game plan and protecting the three-point line,"said UNF head coach Darrick Gibbs. "We didn't play with enough awareness or toughness to give ourselves a chance today."
Five Eagles scored in double figures: redshirt seniors Destiny Washington (10) and Lisa Zderadicka (14), redshirt juniors Keri Jewett-Giles (19) and Davion Wingate (12) and junior Nasrin Ulel (18).
Washington earned her second straight double-double as she added 10 rebounds and a block to her regime. Washington's block put her at 115 career blocks, including the amount she had with Loyola Chicago and Ball State. Washington's 10 points put her at 893 in her career
Zderadicka also had a double-double as she added 10 assists. This was Zderadicka's first ever collegiate double-double. Zderadicka's 10 assists was a career-high for her and now has 311 career assists, including the 152 assists with Houston Baptist. Zderadicka's 15 points put her at 940 career points and is 60 shy of reaching 1,000. In addition, Zderadicka became the fourth player to record double-digit assists against an A-SUN opponent as her 10 assists tied with Brittany Kennedy (12), associate head coach Chelsea Banbury (10) and Shannon Murphy (10 twice) for the fifth most in a single game.
Jewett-Giles added four assists and a steal while Ulel added two blocks and three assists. Ulel's 18 points put her at 689 in her career as she passed DyTiesha Dunson (673, 2012-16: 19th), Robyn Swain (675, 2002-04: 18th) and Delia De La Torre (683, 2006-08: 17th). Ulel sits 17th all-time with two more upcoming milestones in sight: to become the 17th player to reach 700 career points and surpass Andrea Clarke (726, 2003-05) for 16th all-time.
Wingate added two rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. Wingate's 12 points put her at 740 and is now 270 away from reaching 1,000.
Junior Tytionia Adderly joined Washington in double-digit rebounds as she finished with five points and 11 rebounds (two offensive, nine defensive). With her two offensive boards, Adderly has 280 and is 50 shy of passing Sarah Hansen (329, 2010-14) as the all-time leader in career offensive rebounds while for her nine defensive rebounds, she now has 405 in her career as she passed Robyn Swain (404, 2002-14) for fifth all-time. In overall rebounds, Adderly's 11 put her at 685 (3rd all-time) and is now trails only Whitney Knight (735, 2nd all-time) and Sarah Hansen (887, all-time leader). In addition, Adderly is 13 points shy of reaching 500 career points.
Four Ospreys finished scored in double figures: seniors Arianna Emanuel-Wright (17) and Ty Purifoy (12) and juniors Jazz Bond (11) and Adrienne Jackson (10).
Emanuel-Wright added six rebounds, Purifoy followed with eight assists, Bond finished with five rebounds and Jackson added five rebounds and four blocks.
"All wins are important," Smesko said. "Road wins are especially important. To be able to play good defense on the road, rebound on the road and give yourself a chance to win on the road is always a challenge after traveling a lot, but I thought our players had really good intensity throughout the game and played really well."
In all, 11 different players scored for the Eagles which included freshman Tanner Bryant (six points and three assists), redshirt sophomore Kerstie Phills (five points) and redshirt freshman Tyra Cox (five points), three points from sophomore Alyssa Blair (three points) and redshirt senior Brittany Johnson (two points).
The game featured just one tie (2-2) as FGCU reeled off 10-0 and 8-0 runs in the first quarter to open up a 23-12 lead. After UNF trimmed its deficit to 10 early in the next quarter, the Eagles went on a 15-2 run and led 50-29 at the break.
A 3-pointer from Jewett-Giles in the final minute of the third pushed the lead to 33, and Wingate added nine points in the first two minutes of the fourth to make it 88-47. A 3-pointer from Cox gave FGCU 100 with 2:28 left, and Johnson's layup with 1:11 left was the Green and Blue's final points of the game.
As a team, FGCU finished 38-for-69 from the field, including 19-for-37 (51.4 percent) from 3-point range to tie the team's season-high in long distance makes. The offensive efficiency also led to the third 100-point game of the season for the Eagles, which is a new Division-I era record for most in a season and ties the 2004-05 team for the overall mark.
Furthermore, the 105 points is also the second most scored against an A-SUN opponent in the regular season (Lipscomb, 108, 2/27/14), and the 18th time in program history reaching the century mark. The 19 3-pointers also pushed the Eagles back into first-place nationally with 193 - ahead of Denver (186) and DePaul (184).
The win was FGCU's third straight to open the calendar year. The team also pushed its regular season A-SUN winning streak to 10 straight and 16 of the past 17 dating back to last year. Nine of those 17 have come on the road, including two this year. The Eagles have now won 111 of its past 115 conference regular season games dating back to the 2011-12 season, and the team will close out a three-game road trip this coming Saturday at Kennesaw State.
FGCU's 38 field goals made and .551 field goal percentage are both season-highs against Division-I opponents this year. Their .514 3-point percentage (19-for-37) is the 10th-best against an A-SUN team in regular season play, and it's the only performance among the 10 with more than 14 makes.
The Eagles wrap up their first three-game road as they travel to Kennesaw to take on Kennesaw State (5-10, 1-1 A-SUN) on Saturday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
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