{"id":37945,"date":"2015-12-06T00:10:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T05:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=37945"},"modified":"2015-12-06T17:19:57","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T22:19:57","slug":"fgcu_wbb-outlasts-harvard-with-74-65-win-at-alico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2015\/12\/fgcu_wbb-outlasts-harvard-with-74-65-win-at-alico\/","title":{"rendered":"FGCU_WBB Outlasts Harvard\nwith 74-65 Win at Alico"},"content":{"rendered":"

By BILL LEVY<\/p>\n

\"\"
by Instagram rickdepaiva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball team arguably played their best quarter of the season, taking a 29-13 advantage after the first ten minutes of play. For anyone associated with the Eagles, it was a good thing they did in their 74-65 victory over Harvard\u00a0on Saturday\u00a0night in front of 1697 fans at the Alico Center.<\/p>\n

Despite building leads of 41-18 and 45-22 near the end of the first half, as well going up 51-26 near the start of the second half, FGCU was outscored 39-23 the rest of the game. The closet the Crimson got however\u00a0to overtaking the Eagles was slicing the margin to five points twice in the fourth quarter: 66-61 with\u00a02:37\u00a0left in the game and 68-63 with a little more than a minute to play.<\/p>\n

“We played a great first quarter,” Eagles coach Karl Smesko said. “It may have been the best of the season, we shot the ball well and executed our offense.”<\/p>\n


\nComing off a hard fought 64-60 victory on the road against George Washington\u00a0on Thursday\u00a0night, the Eagles came out inspired in the first quarter as Hayley Laughter scored eight of her 17 points for the game then, including two of her four 3-pointers. Kaneisha Atwater, who led all scorers with 27 points, a career high, also started hot for the Eagles scoring seven points in the first quarter. The Eagles’ third leading scorer on the night, Taylor Gradinjan, also joined the first quarter scoring spree, netting six of her 12 points then.<\/p>\n

“We got a lot of confidence (after the George Washington game),” Eagles senior guard Jamie Gluesing said. “We liked how me matched up with (Harvard). We thought we could compete with them and we were ready to play.”<\/p>\n

It was shortly after the second half started when FGCU appeared to be in command of the game, that they lost some of their intensity, according to Smesko.<\/p>\n

“We got a little bit sloppy,” he said. “It started with our block outs, which led to second chances for them. We didn’t play with the same defensive intensity and Harvard took advantage of it.”<\/p>\n

Smesko did admit that\u00a0it is not out of the ordinary to relax a little bit when you have a big lead.<\/p>\n

“I think there is a tendency to think it is OK to trade baskets (when you have a big lead),” he said. “The problem is that you may miss your shots while they make theirs.”<\/p>\n

Gluesing said it is important the team sticks together in situations like those.<\/p>\n

“It is difficult,” she admitted. “We are good though at picking each other up. We will tell each other ‘its ok’ and give each other our support at those times. We don’t dwell on one play\u00a0I think that helps us get through a funk.”<\/p>\n

Despite the game being closer than Smesko would have liked, he was very pleased with the outcome, and the direction the Eagles appear to be headed.<\/p>\n

“I am happy,” he said. “We had a good win on the road (against George Washington) and in less than 48 hours we beat a good Harvard team. We are playing 20 to 25 minutes of really good basketball. We need to try to stretch that to 30 to 35 minutes, and than we should be ready to play a full game of good FGCU basketball.”<\/p>\n

NOTES: The win was FGCU’s 350th, and also Smekso’s 350th as coach of FGCU. The win was the Eagles’ first home victory as the season, as they started 0-2 at the Alico Center. Last year, the Eagles went undefeated on their home court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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