After being on the road for four straight games, the FGCU women's basketball team (10-1) returned home for a lite game as they defeated NAIA Florida Memorial (6-5) 91-47 at the Alico Arena. With the win, the Eagles are now 12-0 against the Lions.
Five Eagles ended up in double figures with grad student Ashli O'Neal leading the pack with 15 points (6-for-10 FG, 3-for-5 3PT) and a rebound. Redshirt junior Kerstie Phills followed with 13 points (6-for-10 FG, 1-for-2 3PT), eight rebounds and an assist, while redshirt senior Keri Jewett-Giles had 12 points (4-for-7 FG, 2-for-3 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), three rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Redshirt junior Anja Marinkovic finished with 11 points (4-for-10 FG, 3-for-8 3PT), two rebounds and a steal, while junior Sheahen Dowling rounded out the order with a tied season-high 10 points (4-for-6 FG, 2-for-3 3PT), four rebounds and three assists.
"I thought we got off to a good start," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We pushed the ball in transition and were looking to share it. When we created space for one another, we were pretty good. Ashli gave us a spark off the bench, and Emma (List) and Sheahen did really well coming in with some quality minutes."
The game began with the crowd being silent as part of the Silent Night Game. The Eagles began with a 3-point shot from Jewett-Giles and two back-to-back layups by Phills before the Lions got their first points off of back-to-back 3-pointers by seniors Ashleign Gary and Shawnice King. With the score 7-6 FGCU, the fans finally got loud as redshirt senior Davion Wingate hit a 3-pointer to finally break the fans' silence. Shortly thereafter, a 9-0 run that was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Wingate and Phills gave FGCU a 16-6 lead. O'Neal then scored five of the team's final seven points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, to push the margin to 18.
The Green and Blue used a 17-6 run to open the second quarter. The spurt featured five points from Jewett-Giles and gave FGCU a 43-14 lead with 5:14 left as the Eagles eventually led by 26 at the break.
After Florida Memorial opened the scoring in the third quarter, the Green and Blue went on an 18-6 run, capped by a Marinkovic 3-pointer, to push the lead to 38 with 3:38 left. A 9-2 spurt to open the fourth pushed the advantage to a game-high 45 points with 5:14 left, and the FGCU defense allowed just seven points in the entire quarter.
Senior Tytionia Adderly needed just 14 minutes to tally a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three points and three assists. She is averaging a career-high 10 rebounds per game this year.
Redshirt junior Erna Normil added a season-high six rebounds off the bench, while junior Alyssa Blair had the team's lone block along with five points, three rebounds and two assists. Redshirt junior Chandler Ryan had two steals in eight minutes off the bench, which matched Jewett-Giles for the team-high.
Notes:
FGCU finished 15-for-40 (.375) from 3-point range to increase its nation-best made total to 143 this year. The Eagles entered the night 36 ahead of the next closest team (South Dakota, 94).
The Eagles debuted at No. 15 in the first official NCAA RPI of the season earlier on Monday. They also sat in the receiving votes section of the AP Poll for the second-consecutive week, but increased its vote total from 28 to 39 despite continuing to have the 27th-most votes. The Coaches Poll, where the Eagles had the 28th-most votes last week, comes out on Tuesday afternoon.
The 10-1 start is FGCU's best in nine years and the second-best in the program's Division I era behind a 14-0 spurt to open the 2010-11 season.
Wingate finished with eight points, failing to tally double-figures for the first time this year.
O'Neal now has 955 points in her NCAA career as she continues her push for 1,000. Adderly, meanwhile, has 956 career rebounds. She tied Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956) for 13th-most in A-SUN history on Monday and is looking to become only the 12th player in conference history to reach 1,000 - including the first in FGCU history.
Next Up:
FGCU will host Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the Eagles produced a 71-52 win on Nov. 23, 2007.
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