FGCU women’s basketball team headed to second round of NCAA Tournament

Florida Gulf Coast University’s women’s basketball team may have busted some brackets on Friday as they won their first-round game of the NCAA Tournament.

It was not an easy win by any means. That’s why they call it March Madness. The game was all tied up with just 90 seconds to go. But the Eagles were able to upset fifth-ranked Virginia Tech.

The excitement surrounding the Lady Eagles win was palpable. Lilly Lakich was visibly excited. “God bless and go, Eagles,” said Lilly.

Max Damm said, “It’s exciting.”

The FGCU Eagles managed to knock off the Virginia Tech Hokies. And, they knocked down some crucial threes to help get the job done.

“We hit some really big shots when we needed them,” said the Eagles head coach Karl Smesko.

March Madness, as we know, is all about brackets being busted. Lakich plays soccer at FGCU, so she knows what a big deal it is to beat a major program. “It’s a smaller school, so it’s huge,” said Lakich.

After battling it out on the hardwood, a smaller school got a massive win. “We were all watching it before our match here, so we were all cheering for them, and we are happy that they won,” Damm said.

Lakich says the soccer team fully supports the basketball team. “My team, my soccer team, were texting about it, and we are in huge support of them,” she said.

And, now the excitement and momentum continue as the team gears for round two of the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s really exciting to see them, and we’re all cheering for them and want them to, you know, go as far as possible,” Damm said.

“We’re just happy that we’re moving on and beat a great team,” said Coach Smesko.

All of the fans are looking forward to cheering the Eagles to victory again as they take on Maryland. They’ll challenge the fourth-seeded Maryland Terrapins on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

FGCU is hosting a free watch party at Alico Arena at 3 p.m. on Sunday. If you want to attend you can test ‘WATCHPARTY’ to 64600 to RSVP.