FGCU WBB @ Houston Recap

Senior Tytionia Adderly and grad student Ashli O'Neal combined for 31 points to lead FGCU women's basketball team (9-1) to its sixth-straight victory in a 57-45 win over Houston (4-5) on the road in the Fertitta Center on Wednesday afternoon.

The 9-1 start is the second-best in the program's Division I era behind a 14-0 beginning for the 2010-11 team. It was the first time the Eagles have played Houston on the road, and they improved to 2-0 in the all-time series.

"Ty was outstanding, and Ashli gave us a big spark off the bench," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Keri also really helped us on the boards today. Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job for most of the game. Offensively, we were a little stagnant, but our defense kept us in it."

Adderly matched her season-high on 7-for-12 shooting while adding seven rebounds, two steals and one assist, while O'Neal shot 3-for-7 from long distance and made all four of her free throw attempts.

Redshirt senior Davion Wingate added 11 points and a career-high three blocks, while classmate Keri Jewett-Giles had nine points and seven rebounds, which tied Adderly for the team high.

The Green and Blue never trailed in the game, getting a go-ahead 3-pointer from Adderly with 7:46 left in the opening quarter as the senior tallied seven of her team's first nine points. The Cougars were able to tie the game for a second time at 11 apiece, but O'Neal and redshirt junior Kerstie Phills hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give FGCU a four-point cushion through one.

Wingate scored four points during a 6-0 run that give the Eagles a 26-16 lead with 5:53 left in the half. She later teamed with O'Neal on a 5-0 run that stretched the margin to 15 with 53 seconds left before FGCU went into the break with a 33-20 lead.

The Cougars were able to cut their deficit down to nine with 3:37 left in the third quarter, but a 7-2 run by the Eagles pushed the lead back up to 14.

O'Neal then scored the final five points of the frame and tacked on four more to open up the fourth, which gave her team a game-high 16-point lead with 6:39 left. The Eagles lead never dipped below 11 the rest of the way.
Notes:
With her seven rebounds, Adderly has 947 in her career, which moves her past Kristy Brown (Stetson, 2001-05, 941) for 14th-most in A-SUN history. Next up is Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956). She is looking to become one of only 12 players in conference history to reach 1,000 career rebounds.

O'Neal pushed her career scoring total to 940, which puts her 60 shy of becoming the fourth player on this year's team to reach 1,000 in an NCAA career.

Lisa Zderadicka, who played for the Eagles over the past two years and led the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, was in attendance at the game.

Up Next:
FGCU will now return home for three straight, beginning with a 7 p.m. tilt against Florida Memorial on Dec. 9. Following that, they'll host Central Connecticut State on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. before a big showdown with No. 25 LSU on Dec. 19 inside Alico Arena.