March 22, 2007

Top Ranked Eagles Fly By North Dakota

Hot Shooting Gulf Coast Remains Perfect

      Kearney, Neb. –  Top-ranked Florida Gulf Coast University (33-0) continued its season-long winning streak by defeating the University of North Dakota, 83-64, Wednesday night in the fourth game of the 2007 Division II Elite Eight. 

      This was a national quarterfinal game of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships.  The Elite 8 tournament is being held at the Health and Sports Center at the University of Nebraska – Kearney.

      Aiming for a fourth national title, UND (32-4) scored got a Kierah Kimbrough three point play to begin the game and led 19-14 by the 11:36 mark.

      That's when the Eagles took flight, finishing the half on a 34-11 run. After missing their first three shots of the game, FGCU went 17 of 22 the rest of the half (77 percent).

      “We got thrown off a little bit, they opened in a zone and they don’t play zone very often.  It took us a position or two to get adjusted to that look,” said FGCU Head Coach Karl Smesko.

      North Dakota (32-4) went into halftime shooting 38 percent  from the field and their 11 turnovers turned into 17 FGCU points.  The Fighting Sioux, who shot nearly 65 percent in beating Nebraska-Kearney for the North Central Region title, found themselves in very unfamiliar territory, down 48-30.

      The second half saw much of the same action as FGCU opened with an 11-4 run and led by 30 points with 12 minutes remaining. A late Sioux push got the deficit back under 20 points by the end of the night.

      “We really worked hard to get open shots, and the kids that got open shots just knocked them down,” said Smesko.

      Gulf Coast, South Region champs, was well above 60 percent shooting for most of the game and ended at 56.4 (31 of 55). That included an 8 of 19 effort from the three point line and 13 of 19 shooting from the free throw line.

      The Eagles also scored 35 points off of 26 UND turnovers.

      Four FGCU starters were in double figures, led by Colorado natives Katie Schrader (20) and Chelsea Dermeyer (21; 4 of 4 threes). Reserves Amanda Pierce and Ashley Haegele each supplied four steals to lead a stellar defensive effort.

      North Dakota did win the rebounding battle, 40-26, as junior post Ashley Langen had a double double (15 points, 14 rebounds). Kimbrough and Kelsey Maffin each had 13 points and combined to pull down eight boards.

         FGCU will advance to the semi-finals on Thursday to face  Clayton State (Ga.) at 9:30 p.m. The game will be aired live by ESPNU.