FGCU WBB @ Lipscomb Recap

Senior Tytionia Adderly registered a season-high 28 points on a career-high seven 3-pointers to lead the No. 22 FGCU women's basketball team (25-2, 12-0 A-SUN) to a come-from-behind 78-45 win over Lipscomb (5-20, 2-10 A-SUN) on the road Saturday.

"I thought Lipscomb came out and played a great first half," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "Their pace was really good. We made defensive mistakes, and they made us pay for all of them. It made us play at a different level in the second half. I'm glad that we raised our energy and execution levels, and we were able to play the second half the way we are capable of playing."

With the victory, the Eagles clinched at least a share of their third consecutive A-SUN regular season championship. FGCU has won 14 straight overall and 40 in a row against conference opponents, and they'll get their first chance to win the regular season title outright and claim the top seed in the A-SUN tournament on the road Monday at Kennesaw State.

Furthermore, the Green and Blue also clinched the program's 10th-straight season with at least 25 wins, and they improved to 27-0 all-time against Lipscomb.

Adderly began to resuscitate an offense that started the game 1-for-14 from the field and trailed 17-5 by splashing a 3-pointer from the right wing with 13 seconds left in the opening quarter. She went on to add eight more to open the second quarter en route to 11 straight points all by herself to pull the Eagles within one.

After Lipscomb pushed its lead back up to six, senior Nasrin Ulel hit a 3-pointer and Adderly scored five more to help FGCU take a 30-29 lead into the half.

The Eagles, who outscored the Bisons 22-12 on 5-for-10 shooting from long distance in the second quarter, produced a 13-2 advantage in points off turnovers in the half. Adderly finished with 17 points and etched a new career-high in made 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes alone.

The Green and Blue proceeded to open the second half with 16 consecutive points, highlighted by seven from redshirt senior Davion Wingate, and pushed their lead to as many as 18 in the quarter on a 3-pointer from redshirt sophomore Tyra Cox in the final seconds.

In the final frame, FGCU tacked on six of the team's 17 3-pointers as redshirt sophomore Emma List, redshirt junior Anja Marinkovic and sophomore Tanner Bryant all joined the action from long distance.

In addition to her 28 points, Adderly also added a team-high eight rebounds, while redshirt senior Keri Jewett-Giles had 13 points, four assists and three steals. Ulel chipped in a game-high five assists, and Cox had a game-high four steals in 15 minutes off the bench.

Notes:
Ulel tied her current assistant coach Shannon Murphy (219, 2007-11) for 12th-place on the A-SUN's career list in Saturday's win. It also represents the fourth-most in program history.

With her eight rebounds, Adderly moved up to sixth-place on the A-SUN's all-time list with 1,114. She passed Sametria Gideon (Kennesaw State, 1,111, 2009-13), Felecia Autry (Campbell, 1994-98, 1,112) and April Cromartie (Campbell, 1998-2002, 1,113) on Saturday. She now needs six more to move up to fourth place.
 
The Eagles extended their streak of consecutive seasons with at least 12 wins in conference play to 13, which includes every season they've been in the A-SUN. In fact, over that span, all other members who have been in the conference since then have tallied a total of seven combined such seasons.

By clinching at least a share of the A-SUN regular season championship, FGCU becomes the first team in A-SUN women's basketball history (past or present) to win 10 regular season conference titles. They were previously tied with FIU at nine, and they can make it 10-for-10 in outright championships on Monday at Kennesaw State.

Wingate's seven points against Lipscomb allowed her to tie Kelsey Jacobson (1,263, 2008-12) for the eighth-most NCAA points scored by a player to wear the Green and Blue. Ulel needs three more to reach 1,300 and become the fourth player in the program's Division I era to reach that milestone.

Jewett-Giles, who remains in fifth-place on the aforementioned list with 1,369 points, tied Rosemarie Julien (862, 2016-18) for the most points ever scored by a two-year transfer in program history. She produced her 25th double-digit scoring effort of the season against Lipscomb.

Adderly's 20-plus point effort was the fifth of her career, including her second this year. She needs two more steals to surpass Courtney Chihil (199, 2008-12) for third-place on the program's career list.

FGCU 14-game winning streak ties the 2010-11 team for the seventh-longest in the program's Division I er