FGCU women’s basketball defeated the Ave Maria Gyrenes in dominating fashion, 108-31, on Nov. 29. It was a night to remember as redshirt senior Brylee Bartram set a new FGCU record for the most 3-pointers made in a single game with 10.
“I feel good about this. We came in wanting to really work on a few specific things and we did that and all reaped the benefits of it so it was really good,” Bartram said. “I was not really thinking about the record when I was actually on the court but it is definitely a cool thing to do and I am happy we came out with the win and played well as a team.”
From the very start, it was all Eagles as they scored 30 points in the first quarter followed up by three straight quarters of 26 points each. Defensively, the Eagles held the Gyrenes in check as they could not break 10 points in any of the four quarters. FGCU forced 23 Ave Maria turnovers, 15 of them coming from steals. In comparison, FGCU had only five turnovers of their own.
Bartram had 35 points, a career high, on 10/16 field goal percentage. Other Eagles also had big performances as fifth-years Uju “Juice” Ezeudu and Ajulu Thatha combined for 38 points and 14 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Jordan Campbell also put up a career high 11 points.
“I thought it was a good effort. I thought Juice had a great first half of the game and made a lot of defensive plays,” head coach Karl Smesko said. “Brylee shot the ball exceptionally well, knocking down 10 threes, but everybody came in and played hard and I am really pleased with the performance tonight.”
It was a dominant win for the Eagles as they followed up a signature upset win over the now No. 24 North Carolina Tar Heels last weekend at the Gulf Coast Showcase. FGCU now has a 6-0 overall record against Ave Maria as this past game set the largest margin of victory for the Eagles in the series’ history.
The Eagles improved their record to 6-2 on the year with the two losses coming against current top six teams in USC and Iowa.
With the month of December now here, FGCU continues their non-conference slate with some big matchups taking place this month.
“We play a bunch of good teams coming up, so it’s gonna be really challenging,” Smesko said. “We are going on the road this weekend to play an undefeated team. After that we got Duke and then undefeated Southern Miss this month. It does not get any easier from here so we are going to have to learn from this and get better. Hopefully we will be ready to have a good performance this weekend.”
The Eagles will travel to Norfolk, Virginia, where they will take on the undefeated Old Dominion Monarchs today. Bartram had this to say about FGCU’s upcoming matchup against Old Dominion after the game.
“We just want to continue to grow, get better and focus on the things that are important to us and then go on the road and play a really good team,” Bartram said. “I am proud of my team, proud of the way we played and I am looking forward to the next game.”
