The residents of Lehigh Acres, along with others in the crowd of 1,504 fans at the Alico Center on Wednesday night were treated to a Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball victory over the University of North Florida by a score of 75-42. The game was “Lehigh Acres Night,” which was a joint effort by the Lehigh Acres Gazette and the FGCU Athletic department to support and recognize the Lehigh Acres Community.
After falling behind the Ospreys by scores of 13-4, 15-6 and 17-9 in the first half, the Eagles (15-2, 2-0) outscored their Atlantic Sun counterpart 16-8 the rest of the half to go into halftime leading 33-26.
“We got off to a slow start,” FGCU coach Karl Smesko said. “North Florida did a nice job of executing their offense. I thought it was important to get the lead by halftime.”
The Eagles indeed were able to take the lead, thanks in large part to Whitney Knight, who had 13 of her 17 total points in the first half, including two of her three 3-pointers. With her team down 17-9 midway through the half, she was part of an 11-2 run where she had a 3-point shot, followed by a 3-point play, after making a field goal and converting the free throw, and a jumper shortly afterward, to help the FGCU stake a 22-19 lead; their first lead since being up 2-0.
“We were getting more screens and executing our offense a little better,” the 6’3” guard from Winston-Salem, NC said. “That led to open shots. That’s all it was.”
FGCU opened the second half by outscoring North Florida (9-8, 0-2) 34-11 to take complete control of the game.
“I thought the beginning of the second half was the key to the game,” Smesko said. “Taylor Gradinjan gave us a huge lift as she was making layups and making 3-pointers.
For the game, the Cudahy, WI product finished with 17 points, including four 3-pointers, with three of them coming in the second half.
“We had more movement (in the second half),” she said. “That created more open shots.”
Also making a major contribution to the Eagles was DyTiesha Dunston, who had 11 points on the night.
Though Gradinjan tied her career high for 3-pointers, she downplayed the significance of that accomplishment afterwards.
“I had no idea,” she said, when asked if she knew she was approaching a milestone. “I just go with the flow.”
Those words must have been music to her coach’s ears, as he seems to know what a special team he has this year.
“We are trying to get better,” Smesko admitted. “We are working on being more consistent. When we play FGCU basketball we can be really good and tough to beat.”
Just ask anyone from Lehigh Acres who was at the game.