With another strong third-quarter performance, the FGCU women’s basketball team moved to 2-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference action with a 54-43 win over USC Upstate Saturday afternoon at Alico Arena. As the winners of seven-straight games, the Eagles move to 14-4 on the year, while the Spartans fall to 10-7 with an even 1-1 mark in league play.
The teams traded the lead five times in the first half with Upstate’s offensive intensity holding control of the game. The visiting team maintained the advantage for the majority of the first two quarters and sent the Eagles into halftime trailing 29-26. The deficit did not last long past the break as the Eagles increased their efficiency and used a 10-2 run over a five-minute span to take a 41-33 lead late in the third. The Green and Blue ultimately outscored USC Upstate 28-14 in the second half to seal the team’s seventh home victory of the season.
“This was another really competitive game,” noted head coach Karl Smesko. “Upstate played a great first half and we didn’t execute defensively at the level we were hoping for during that time. During the second half, I thought our defense was excellent, much better than the first half. Our defense bailed us out on a day where we didn’t shoot it as well as we like.”
As a unit, the Eagles shot 33.8 percent from the floor and held the Spartans to a 28.8 percent success rate – 10 percent worse than their season average. FGCU made nine 3-point attempts and limited Upstate to no points from beyond-the-arc but allowed the Spartans to make 13-of-20 free throws. The Spartans outrebounded the Eagles, 44-41, and turned the ball over 13 times compared to FGCU’s seven miscues.
Senior Kaneisha Atwater led all players with 15 points on the afternoon, while Whitney Knight and Taylor Gradinjan each contributed 12 points. Knight also added nine rebounds, five assists and five blocks in 36 minutes on the court. DyTiesha Dunson led the team with a career high 10 rebounds and added seven points and seven assists.
USC Upstate was quick to start the contest and took a 4-0 lead on a mid-range jumper and a pair of free throws. The Spartans extended the deficit to 6-2 before the Eagles sparked a 7-0 run to claim a 9-6 lead four minutes in. The FGCU run included a jumper from Dunson, a 3-pointer by Atwater and a Gradinjan layup. Upstate responded right away and traded the lead with the home team twice in the quarter with neither team taking more than a four-point advantage. After 10 minutes, the Spartans held a 16-14 lead with six made shots from the charity stripe.
Upstate went ahead 20-14 in the first minute of the second quarter before FGCU’s long-range attempts starting falling. Dunson knocked down a shot to bring the score to 20-17 before Gradinjan and Knight followed in the next three minutes to give the home team the lead. The Eagles held Upstate scoreless for over five minutes and created a 10-0 run to go ahead 24-20 with four minutes left in the first half but were unable to take complete control. The Spartans added a seven-point run to finish the half and went into the break with a 29-26 advantage.
After trading baskets in the opening minutes of the second half, FGCU sparked a run as Atwater drove through man-to-man pressure and pushed the Eagles ahead 33-31. Following Atwater’s drive, FGCU saw layups from Jaime Gluesing and Gradinjan and an Atwater long-range shot to give the Eagles their largest lead yet at 41-33. The Spartans added a 3-point play in the final minutes of the quarter but with one more Atwater layup, the Eagles went into the final quarter with a 43-36 lead.
Upstate cut the deficit back to five points early in the fourth, but a Dunson jumper sparked another offensive surge for the Green and Blue. Gradinjan followed with a layup before Knight produced a seven-point spurt of her own to add to an 11-2 run against the Spartans midway through the final quarter. With the run, the Eagles extended the lead to a game-high 14 points with four minutes remaining. The visiting team added three more successful free throws in the final three minutes to bring the game to its final score of 54-43 in favor of FGCU.
The Eagles will take a quick turnaround before hosting the A-Sun’s newest member, NJIT. The team’s first-ever meeting against the Highlanders is set for Monday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. NJIT is 3-14 this season with a 0-2 record in league play. The team fell to Upstate at home 58-41 and battled to a five-point loss at Stetson Saturday afternoon.