Lady Eagles soar to 21-2 record with 16 consecutive wins

Author: FGCU Athletics
Published: Updated:

DeLAND, Fla. (FGCU Athletics) – Despite an early nine-point deficit, the FGCU women’s basketball team gained momentum and rolled past Stetson with a 61-39 win Saturday afternoon at the Edmunds Center. The Eagles move to 21-2 on the season with an unblemished 8-0 mark in Atlantic Sun Conference play, while the Hatters fall on the losing end of FGCU’s 16th-straight win and move to 16-6 on the season. With the win, the first-place Eagles maintain a three-game lead over the Hatters who now sit at 5-3 in conference play.

With both teams among the nation’s top-50 in the RPI and leading the conference standings, the afternoon matchup was highly anticipated. The game started slow for the Eagles, who went 0-for-12 in the first seven minutes and fell behind 9-0 early on. The team responded to make 10 of its next 17 shots and slowly chipped away at the Hatter lead in the first half. After an 8-2 run late in the half gave FGCU its first lead at 17-16 with four minutes to play, the Eagles outscored the home team 9-4 in the final minutes to go into the break with a 26-20 lead.

Four-straight makes from beyond-the-arc brought the Eagle run into the second half and pushed the team ahead 38-24 in the first four minutes after the break. The eight-minute span showed a 21-8 run in favor of the Eagles, who took hold of the momentum and never let go. The team went on to make 8-of-13 long-range attempts in the second half, while holding Stetson to a 25 percent clip from the field, including a 1-for-11 mark from 3-point range. The shooting advantage helped the Green and Blue extend the lead to 23 points late in the game and gave FGCU its 10th win over Stetson in its last 11 outings.

The 22-point deficit stands as the Hatters worst loss of the year, aside from a 96-42 defeat at No. 3/3 Baylor in November. The Eagle win also marks the Hatters lowest point total of the year, just surpassing the 42 points scored in Waco.

Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce-Westwood High School/VCU) led all players with 16 points, while Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) and DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) contributed 10 and nine, respectively. All three players added at least two shots from long range, while the squad saw seven players add buckets from beyond-the-arc. Atwater also led the team’s rebounding effort with eight, with Cobb pulling down seven of the team’s 37 caroms. The Green and Blue reserves outscored those of the Hatters, 18-0 as the Eagles saw eight and seven points from Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) and Katie Meador (Salem, Ill./Salem Community High School).

Led by five from Cobb, the Eagles dished out 16 assists on the afternoon with 20 made field goals on 53 attempts for a 37.7 percent clip from the field. FGCU made 12 baskets from 3-point range and held the Hatters to a 26.5 percent success rate from the floor. The Eagles outrebounded Stetson 37-36 and forced 18 Hatter turnovers in the 40-minute affair with six blocks and nine steals.

“I don’t think we executed offensively as well as we wanted to in the opening minutes. We had almost no movement early and they were playing intense defense.” said head coach Karl Smesko of the team’s fifth-straight win over the Hatters. “About midway through the first half we started to settle in. We were moving better and the quality of our shots was much better. I thought in the second half we played really well. Our bench contributed greatly with points from Steph Haas and Katie Meador. They’ve been playing great and gave us some great minutes today. Getting that type of energy from the bench made a big difference.”

Stetson took control of the game from the start and produced a 9-0 lead in the opening minutes, while holding the Eagles scoreless through their first 12 shot attempts. With 12:30 on the clock, Atwater broke FGCU’s silence with a layup before the teams traded a single free throw near the midpoint of the first half.

With 10:37 to go, Dunson sank the team’s first long-range shot of the afternoon and gave FGCU a spark. Cobb and Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) followed with layups with Atwater adding another 3-pointer to cut the Hatter lead to 14-13 with eight minutes to go.

After trading buckets, Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) scored her first points of the contest as she drove down the court and laid it in to give the Eagles their first lead at 17-16. Cobb grabbed a strong defensive rebound on the Hatter’s next possession and Knight moved the Eagle lead to two points with 3:25 to go on a made shot from the free-throw line.

Stetson was held scoreless for three minutes as the Eagles cut the deficit but tied the game on a floater in the paint. The knot at 18 was the last tie score as Dunson reclaimed the lead for the Eagles with a 3-pointer from the left side with under two minutes on the clock.

The Hatters cut the score to 21-20 on another layup but the final 90 seconds of the half saw a left-corner three and a second-chance layup from Meador and a pivotal steal at the midcourt from Atwater. Meador’s five-point streak gave the Eagles their largest lead of the half and sent the Green and Blue into the break with a 26-20 advantage.

After allowing a single free throw in the opening seconds of the second stanza, the Eagles constructed a 12-3 run with four-consecutive 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half. The team saw long-range shots from Atwater, Cobb, Dunson and Haas and forced Stetson into an early timeout as the Eagles took a 14-point lead.

The teams traded layups before Jaime Gluesing (Solon, Ohio/Solon High School) and Meador combined for back-to-back 3-pointers near the 12-minute mark and moved the score to 46-27 in favor of the visitors.

Stetson added a long-range shot of its own with 11 minutes to go and produced a six-point run but the Eagles never relinquished their double-figure lead and continued shooting from outside.

With seven minutes to play, Knight, Haas, Cobb and Atwater combined for a nine-point run to increase the advantage to a game-high 23 points as the Eagles continued to shut down the Hatters’ offensive production.

Stetson added three points in the final three minutes but was unable to hit the 40-point mark for the first time this season as the Eagles pushed forward to their 16th-straight victory.

With a first-place standing, the Eagles will return to Alico Arena as A-Sun Conference play continues. FGCU will take on Northern Kentucky Thursday, Feb. 12 in a 7 p.m. matchup before hosting the Bisons of Lipscomb Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.

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