Redshirt senior Davion Wingate poured in a game and career-high 29 points to lead the FGCU women's basketball team (3-0) to a 72-50 win over UCF in Alico Arena on Wednesday.
With the victory, the Eagles have now won 19 consecutive regular season games dating back to the beginning of conference play last year, and they are 3-0 to start a season for the fourth time in the program's Division I era.
"This is a quality win against a quality team, so we're really excited that we played well and got the win," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought we did a good job on the boards. (UCF) had a big size advantage, but I thought we were physical and rebounded. I thought we had a lot of really good performances. Davion was someone who kept us in the game early with her production. Overall, we're really happy to beat a quality opponent."
Wingate finished 10-for-15 from the field, including a 7-for-11 performance from 3-point range, while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. She became just the 10th player in the program's Division I era to record at least one career 29-point effort, and she finished only one made 3-point field goal shy of tying FGCU's single-game record.
"It just felt fun out there," Wingate said.
The Eagles got off to a slow start, missing the first five shots as a team and allowing UCF to take a 4-0 lead through the first two plus minutes. The fifth miss, however, was put back for a layup by Wingate, who scored eight straight points over a one-minute stretch and helped the Eagles take a 16-8 lead with just under five minutes left in the quarter. UCF responded, however, with an 11-0 run to close the quarter and take a three-point lead.
Redshirt junior Kerstie Phills then combined with Wingate for 18 of FGCU's 24 points in the second quarter after Phills ended a five-minute scoring drought for the Eagles with a layup on the opening possession.
The lone two baskets in the quarter by players other than Phills or Wingate came on a desperation, shot clock buzzer-beating 3-pointer from senior Tytionia Adderly and a 3-pointer from classmate Nasrin Ulel in the final minute as the Green and Blue closed the half on a 12-2 run to open up a 40-30 lead.
A left-corner 3-pointer from redshirt sophomore Tyra Cox in the final minute of the third quarter pushed FGCU's lead to 21. The defense then held UCF to just seven points over the final 10 minutes as the Eagles led by as many as 24 on two occasions.
Phills and redshirt senior Keri Jewett-Giles each added 13 points for FGCU, while Adderly contributed a game-high 13 rebounds along with five assists. In fact, Jewett-Gileshad a team-high six assists, while Ulel had eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
Notes:
This was the first time in seven years that FGCU and UCF had met, and the Eagles improved to 4-1 all-time in the series.
The other three teams to start a season 3-0 or better are the 2017-18 (6-0), 2013-14 (3-0) and 2010-11 (14-0) squads.
Adderly continues her push to become the program's all-time rebounds leader. The senior has 28 this year and 874 for her career, which is only 14 shy of surpassing Sarah Hansen (887, 2010-14) for the record. She is also attempting to become the first player in program history with 1,000 rebounds, which would also make her only the 12th in A-SUN history to achieve that milestone. On Wednesday, she surpassed Lamilia Ford (Stetson, 1993-96, 873) for 20th. Next up is Jessica Bobbitt (Belmont, 2005-09, 878).
Wingate is now 13-for-20 (.650) combined from 3-point range through three games this year. She has 66 points in 69 minutes played overall.
The Eagles continue to have several players nearing 1,000 points in their NCAA career: Ulel (958), Jewett-Giles (950), Wingate (944) and grads student Ashli O'Neal (872).
FGCU assisted on 21 of 24 field goals. As a team, they're 49-for-129 (.380) as a team from 3-point range, including a season-best percentage (.410, 16-for-39) on Wednesday.
With her eight points against UCF, Ulel tied Candy Myers (521, 2003-06) for the 10th-most career points in Alico Arena history.
Up Next:
The Eagles will travel to New Jersey on Sunday to battle Princeton (2-0) at 1 p.m. in another battle of mid-major powers.
Fun Fact:
The Eagles are 4-0 against the Ivy League.
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