-Davion Wingate scored 18 points off the bench and junior Tytionia Adderly achieved a trio of rebounding milestones as the 32nd-ranked and top-seeded FGCU women's basketball team (26-4) toppled 8th-seeded NJIT (6-24) 58-45 in an A-SUN quarterfinal matchup at Alico Arena on Friday.
With the victory, and via a new re-seeding rule in the conference tournament, the Eagles advance to host a semifinal round game against 7th-seeded Kennesaw State, who upset 2nd-seeded Stetson on the road, on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
"It was a really competitive game," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Give NJIT a lot of credit. They really competed, played great defense and had a nice run against us in the second half. Fortunately, we had a couple players step up - particularly Davion and Keri - who helped carry a lot of the load."
Wingate tied with senior Keri Jewett-Giles for the game-high in points. Junior Nasrin Ulel also finished in double-figures with 11, while Adderly added six points, an A-SUN tournament program-record 14 rebounds and a game-high three steals.
The game got off to a sluggish start for both teams as the Eagles and the Highlanders combined to shoot 7-for-29 in the first 10 minutes. NJIT, however, turned the ball over six times, which led to a 7-0 margin in points off turnovers and a 12-6 overall point advantage for the Green and Blue.
Wingate had a team-high five points during that stretch, while redshirt freshman Tyra Cox added a 3-pointer. On the other end, after 21 such occurrences in conference play, FGCU allowed single-digits in a quarter for the first time in the postseason.
The Eagles shot a scorching 9-for-16 in the second quarter, including a 4-for-6 finish from 3-point range, and outscored NJIT 24-13. A 13-2 run to open the quarter proved vital, while senior Keri Jewett-Giles had 11 in the quarter on a trio of 3-point field goals and a buzzer-beating layup just before halftime. Ulel added seven points during that stretch as the duo combined for a 7-for-10 slate from the field in the quarter.
FGCU held a 16-0 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half, but that changed in the third quarter as the Eagles were outscored by five behind just one Highlander turnover. It was Wingate who helped kickstart the Green and Blue offense. After the visitors pulled within nine, she hit the second of a pair of 3-point field goals and added two free throws to finish with eight of the team's 12 points in the quarter.
Jewett-Giles opened the final quarter with five straight points to push the margin to 19 and put away any hope of a comeback for NJIT. She finished with four 3-point field goals, which is tied for seventh-most in an A-SUN tourney game in program history.
Adderly became just the second player in program history to eclipse 800 career rebounds. She now has 816 and trails Sarah Hansen (887, 2010-14) by just 72 rebounds in her quest for the top spot.
Furthermore, after previously tallying 13 rebounds twice in the A-SUN tournament, the junior forward increased the record by one on Friday. She is now just six offensive rebounds shy of breaking Hansen's all-time record of 329 and moved into a tie with Candy Myers (141, 2003-06) for the eighth-most steals in a career.
On top of all that, Adderly now owns 466 rebounds in Alico Arena, which breaks Sarah Hansen's previous record of 463 from 2010-14. She previously broke the arena's career offensive rebound mark.
Furthermore, four of Adderly's boards were on the offensive end, which puts her at 324 in her career and is now six shy of passing Hansen (329) as the all-time leader in career offensive boards.
With her 11 points against NJIT, Ulel now has 451 this year, which is the 10th-most in a single-season in the program's Division-I era. She is just eight points shy of 900 in her career, and she currently sits in 10th-place on that list, as well.
Notes
Defensively, FGCU held NJIT's leading scorer and one of the top 10 3-point shooters in A-SUN history, Kelly Guarino, to just three points. In fact, those all came in the final seconds on her team's final possession of the game.
As a team, FGCU is now 20-2 all-time in the NCAA tournament. With a win on Wednesday, they can clinch their eighth-straight championship game appearance (5-2).
Wingate is now averaging 16.5 PPG over her past two contests. She has put together her first back-to-back double-digit scoring performances of the season after previously recording four performances with 10 +, including a career-high 28 on Dec. 14.
A-SUN Tournament Schedule/Results:
Quarterfinals
Friday, March 8
No. 1 FGCU d. No. 8 NJIT 58-45
No. 3 Liberty d. No. 6 Jacksonville 65-53
No. 5 North Florida d. No. 4 North Alabama 55-53
No. 7 Kennesaw State d. No. 2 Stetson 67-59
Semifinals
Wednesday, March 13
No. 1 FGCU vs No. 7 Kennesaw State, 7 p.m.
No. 3 Liberty vs No. 5 North Florida, TBA
Final
Sunday, March 17
FGCU/Kennesaw State vs Liberty/North Florida, 3 p.m.
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