Junior Nasrin Ulel netted a game-high 24 points, while redshirt senior Destiny Washington produced a double-double in historic fashion as the FGCU women's basketball team (23-4, 14-0 A-SUN) clinched an outright A-SUN regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the A-SUN tournament with a 79-48 win over Kennesaw State (8-18, 4-9 A-SUN) in Alico Arena on Saturday. With the win, the Eagles are now 24-2 all-time against Kennesaw State.
The Eagles are now just two wins shy of the program's ninth-straight 25-win season. They previously captured its 15th-straight 20-win season.
The Eagles remain one of just seven among 351 teams across 32 conferences in NCAA Division-I play to have an undefeated record in league play. The others include: UConn, NC A&T, Baylor, Mercer, Rice and Quinnipiac.
It represents the program's ninth A-SUN regular season title. The Eagles have now won 14 straight overall, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak in the nation, and they have tallied wins in 21 straight and 27 of the past 28 A-SUN regular season games dating back to last season.
"I thought we've had a couple really good days of practice," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We came out and executed great for the first 10 minutes. We had a 20-point lead at the end of the first quarter. I was really happy with the way we came out of the gate. Destiny had an exceptional game - 8-for-8 from the field, 19 and 11. She just keeps getting better and better. It's nice to see. And Nas had a big offensive night."
Prior to the game, the team's four seniors - Keri Jewett-Giles, Lisa Zderadicka, Washington and Brittany Johnson - were honored as part of senior night.
Ulel finished 9-for-16 from the field, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range, while adding four assists and a game-high four steals. She ran her career scoring total to 862 points, which ties Rosemarie Julien (2016-18) for the 10th-most points in the program's Division-I era. She has also tallied 10 consecutive double-digit scoring performances, including three 20-plus efforts. Ulel has now produced 221 points in 14 A-SUN games this season - 101 more than she did all of last year in the same number of games. Her 16.9 PPG average at home this season is tied with Sarah Hansen (2012-13) for the third-best in program history. She also moved into eighth-place in career 3-point field goals made in Alico Arena with 75. Her 15.6 PPG average overall this year is the second-best in the Division-I era behind Hansen, who averaged 16.3 over 34 games in 2012-13.
Washington, meanwhile, had 19 points, a game-high 11 rebounds, a game-high four blocks, two steals and two assists. In the first quarter alone, the graduate transfer had 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Overall, she finished 8-for-8 from the field (career-best 3-for-3 from 3-point range), which allowed her to become one of just two players in program history, including the first in Alico Arena, to finish perfect from the field with at least eight attempts (Joyce Iamstrong, 03-08-13, 9-for-9 vs UNF).
As a team, the Eagles scored the game's first six points, went on an 8-0 run moments later and later compiled a 15-0 run that pushed their lead to 17 with 8:35 left in the half. Ulel then scored 12 points in the first four minutes of the second half to spearhead a 17-2 run that gave the Green and Blue a 60-21 lead - the largest of the game.
Jewett-Giles added 11 points, a game-high five assists, four rebounds and three steals. redshirt junior Davion Wingate chipped in eight points off the bench.
The Eagles, who were playing without starting point guard Zderadicka, finished 31-for-61 (.508) from the field, including 10-for-20 from 3-point range. It was the 15th time the team has made double-digits from long range - the 11th-straight season the team has reached that benchmark.
FGCU has held opponents to single-digit quarters 19 times in conference play, including an eight-point first quarter against Kennesaw State.
The Green and Blue are now tied for the sixth-longest winning streak in the program's Division-I era.
Junior Tytionia Adderly finished with six points and five rebounds. With her five rebounds, Adderly now has 785 career rebounds and remains second all-time behind Hansen (887). Four of Adderly's boards were on the defensive end, which puts her at 470 while her one offensive board puts her at 315 and is now 15 shy of passing Hansen (329) as the all-time leader in career offensive rebounds.
Alexis Poole had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Kennesaw State, while Kamiyah Street added 16 points, six rebounds and four steals. Both players played all 40 minutes. Conversely, Ulel scored her 24 points in 23 minutes.
Next Up:
FGCU will return to action in one week when it travels north to Jacksonville for a 2 p.m. matchup against the Dolphins on March 2. They will then close the regular season at home against Stetson on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.
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