FGCU women take first step while the men are one win away

Backed by a heavy defensive presence, the top-seeded FGCU women’s basketball team defeated No. 8 NJIT 60-31 Friday night in the Atlantic Sun Conference Quarterfinal at Alico Arena. With their 20th-straight win, the Eagles move to 27-4 on the season and advance to Wednesday’s A-Sun Semifinal. NJIT’s first season in the league ends at 4-26.

The Eagles move on to the second round of the conference tournament for the fifth time in five seasons of postseason eligibility and will face No. 4 Stetson University Wednesday, Mar. 9 at Alico Arena. The Hatters defeated No. 5 Kennesaw State 74-56 in Friday’s first-round game and are 19-10 on the season.

Tickets for the A-Sun Semifinal are available at FGCUTickets.com or through the Alico Arena Ticket Office.

The Eagles wasted no time taking the lead as senior Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce-Westwood High School/VCU) drove to the rim in the game’s first five seconds to set the tone for FGCU. The Eagles held the Highlanders scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game and allowed the opponent to just one field goal in the first quarter as they took an 11-3 lead after 10 minutes. The Green and Blue limited the Highlander’s offensive production and extended the lead to 28-10 at the break with nine points each from Atwater and Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School). FGCU’s defensive advantage continued into the second half as the team held the Highlanders to 21 second-half points and cruised to the 29-point victory.

The Eagles shot just 32.4 percent on the night but produced 12 made 3-pointers and held the Highlanders to a 19.5 percent success rate to hold the advantage. FGCU outrebounded NJIT 44-39 and forced 20 turnovers. The Eagles lost the ball just six times, while dishing out 16 assists and grabbing 11 steals in the quarterfinal contest.

FGCU produced a perfect shooting percentage from the free throw line with two makes on two attempts and saw as the Highlanders went 12-for-14 from the line for 38 percent of their total points and an 85.7 percent mark.

Individually, freshman Tayler Goodall (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North High School) led all players with 11 points, all in the second half. The rookie went 3-for-6 from 3-point range with four rebounds in 11 minutes on the court. Atwater and Knight each added nine points, with Atwater leading the team’s rebounding efforts with nine caroms. Knight pulled down seven rebounds with three assists, three blocks and two steals for another well-rounded effort from the A-Sun Player of the Year.

“I thought we had a really good defensive effort tonight,” said A-Sun Coach of the Year Karl Smesko. “We executed well and didn’t give up very many open shots in the first half. Offensively, I liked our ball movement and the quality of our shots but we didn’t shoot it as well as we would like. If we’re going to advance any further from here, we are going to have to shoot it better.”

The Eagles took the lead immediately as Atwater drove to the rim on the first drive of the game. FGCU continued with the strong intensity and forced five NJIT turnovers in the opening minutes to take a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter. FGCU’s offensive production slowed but the Eagles maintained the lead as they held the Highlanders scoreless for the first seven minutes of the game.

NJIT scored its first point of the game with 2:27 left in the quarter with a single free throw and added just one field goal through the rest of the quarter. The Eagles held the Highlanders to an 11.1 percent clip from the floor in the first stanza and entered the second with an 11-3 advantage.

After starting the contest 0-for-10 from 3-point range, the Eagles quickly added three makes from long-distance to start the second quarter. Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) and Knight combined for nine points out of the gates and pushed NJIT into another timeout with 6:30 left in the half.  The Highlanders added two points from the free throw line to cut FGCU’s lead to 20-5 with six minutes to play and pushed the score to 20-10 on a seven-point run. The Eagles responded with eight-straight points of their own and went into the break with a 28-10 lead.

The Eagles shot just 29.7 percent from the floor in the first half but held the Highlanders to a 10 percent clip through the first two quarters. FGCU added six 3-pointers and forced nine NJIT turnovers to take control.

Both teams started the third quarter slow with a combined seven missed shots in the opening minutes. DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) scored the first points of the half near the seven-minute mark but NJIT responded with four-straight points to bring the score to 30-14 at the midpoint of the third quarter. The teams traded buckets in the final minutes before Goodall knocked down her first long-range shot of the day and brought the score to 40-18 at the end of the third.

The fourth quarter opened with back-to-back 3-pointers by Goodall to extend FGCU’s lead to 46-18. Haley Laughter (Asheville, N.C./Carolina Day School) and Sydnei McCaskill (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips High School/Georgia) followed with 3-pointers of their own to push FGCU’s lead to a game-high 29 points with six minutes to play.

The teams traded points in the final minutes, each extending their total by eight, as FGCU maintained the heavy lead and ultimately earned a 60-31 victory in the first round of the post season.

The win pushes FGCU closer to a fifth-straight appearance in the A-Sun Championship Final and pits the Eagles against the No. 4 Stetson Hatters in Wednesday’s semifinal.

General-admission tickets for the semifinal start at just $15 and are available via FGCUTickets.com or through the FGCU Ticket Office. FGCU students with a valid Eagle ID are admitted free of charge, while students from other A-Sun institutions are $5. Complete information can be found at FGCUTickets.com

Game Notes: Whitney Knight moved to second all-time in the FGCU record books with 665 rebounds…Jaime Gluesing matched the FGCU record for appearances at 132 games in the semifinal contest…the 31 points scored by NJIT stands as the fewest of any team in A-Sun Tournament history…FGCU holds 30-point average margin of victory in five A-Sun Quarterfinal games…FGCU won its 20th-straight game of the season for the nation’s fourth best win-streak…the Eagles are undefeated in A-Sun action since Feb. 1, 2014; the 44-game win streak in conference play stands as the nation’s second-best streak behind only UConn…the team won its 70^th straight home game against an A-Sun opponent.