Women's Basketball | 1/16/2016 10:29:00 PM

Game 18	NJIT (3-14, 0-2 A-Sun) at FGCU (14-4, 2-0 A-Sun)
Date | Time	Monday, January 18, 2016 | 7pm
Location | Arena	Fort Myers, FL | Alico Arena
Live Video|Audio	ESPN3 streaming telecast (WatchESPN app., www.watchespn.com)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Social Media	@njithighlanders
All-time series	FGCU leads 1-0 | FGCU 75, NJIT 63 (March 6, 2008)
Game Notes	NJIT Notes | FGCU Notes

The game will be shown live on ESPN3 (all Atlantic Sun Conference away games will be live on ESPN3)
 
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. At the top of the webpage, in the red bar, click on Watch/Listen and click on Live ESPN3 Events.  That brings you to anESPN3 portal where you can access the desired program.
 
For more details on how to watch NJIT on ESPN3, visit Frequently Asked Questions about WatchESPN. 

THE GAME
The Highlanders will travel south and west across Florida to face preseason favorite Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers on Monday at 7 pm.

ALL-TIME SERIES
FGCU leads the all-time series, 1-0. The two teams last met on March 6, 2008 in the opening round of the Division I women's basketball National Independent Tournament.  FGCU defeated NJIT, 75-63.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
FGCU (14-4 overall, 2-0 A-Sun) is coming off a 54-43 win over USC Upstate on Saturday and will conclude a six-game homestand on Monday, hosting the newest member to the Atlantic Sun Conference, NJIT.

The Eagles return all but two players from last year's squad and maintain a strong core of experienced upperclassmen including A-Sun Player of the Year Whitney Knight and first-team All-Conference member Kaneisha Atwater.

FGCU is 132-13 in A-Sun women's basketball contests since 2007 with just one loss since the 2011-12 campaign (lost at Northern Kentucky; February 1, 2013).  FGCU has posted three perfect seasons in the last four years for a record of 67-1 in A-Sun games.

The Eagles are 199-16 at home in Alico Area and 72-1 in Atlantic Sun games.  FGCU has won 63-straight with the last loss over seven years ago on January 8, 2009 against East Tennessee State University, a team no longer in the league.

Karl Smesko, in his 14^th season at Florida Gulf Coast, has enjoyed a tremendous run at the helm of the women's basketball program.  Smesko's coaching career began at Walsh (1997-98) followed by two seasons at IPFW (1999-2001).

The six-time Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year and regular season champion holds a 345-67 record in 13 seasons and 213-46 mark in NCAA Division I play at FGCU (first season Division I 2007-08).

The 2014-15 campaign saw historic breakthroughs for the FGCU women's basketball team. The team finished the season with a record of 31-3 for the program's third 30-win season.

The team compiled a win-streak of 26 games to rank third in the nation and went undefeated in Atlantic Sun Conference play for the third time, winning all 14 regular season games.

The program earned it's first-ever Division I national ranking, ranking as high as No. 20 and finished the season at No. 21. FGCU earned its first Division I NCAA Tournament win with a 75-67 win over 10th-seeded Oklahoma State.

ATLANTIC SUN CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL & HONORS
FGCU, winner of five consecutive regular season and two straight postseason Atlantic Sun titles, was the unanimous pick to repeat in the preseason coaches' poll.  Reigning A-Sun Player of the Year Whitney Knight was named Preseason Player of the Year while Kaneishea Atwater earned Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors.  Knight and Atwater joined Stephanie Haas on the Preseason All-Conference team.

WOMEN'S MID-MAJOR POLL
The Eagles are ranked fifth in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll as of January 11, 2016.

RAINING THREES
FGCU is ranked 10^th in the nation in three-point field goals made (160) and three-point field goals made per game (8.9).

FLORIDA GULF COAST LEADERS
Points: Kaneisha Atwater (15.4), Whitney Knight (10.7), Taylor Grandinjan (10.4)
Rebounds: Whitney Knight (6.0)
Field Goal Percentage: Haley Laughter (60-137; 43.8)
3-Point FG Made: Taylor Grandinjan (44)
Assists: DyTiesha Dunson (83)
Steals: Kaneisha Atwater (29)

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
NJIT (3-13 overall, 0-2 A-Sun) fell short in bid for upset in first A-Sun away game, visiting Stetson, one of the top women's basketball teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference, needed a 25-point, 8-rebound effort from its star junior guard Brianti Saunders to edge visiting NJIT, 60-55, Saturday afternoon and stave off a determined upset bid by the Highlanders, who played their first-ever away game in the A-Sun.

NJIT, which was within a bucket of the lead, 53-51, after Alana Dudley's 3-point basket with 1:10 left, got 16 points from Dudley, the junior point guard, and 15 from senior Ronni Grandison. Alana's 16 points matched her career high, done in November 2014 vs. North Dakota State.

The Hatters sealed the win by going 7-for-8 at the foul line in the closing 47 seconds. Saunders was 6-for-6 on foul shots in nailing down the win.

Junior guard Alana Dudley has recorded at least one assist in 16 of NJIT's 17 games played this season, including a personal-best 8 vs. College of St. Joseph (VT) on November 28, 2015. Her 3.1 apg ranks seventh in the conference.

Junior forward Leah Horton tops the Highlanders in five categories—points (10.8), rebounds (7.7), free throw percentage (43-63; 68.3), field goal percentage (65-151; 43.0) and steals (22).  Her 7.8 rpg ranks seventh in the A-Sun.  Horton has scored double-figures in 10 of NJIT's 16 games this season, including one double-double.

Redshirt freshman Kelly Guarino, who tops the team in three-point field goals made (36), leads the A-Sun in three-point field goal percentage (36-93; 38.7) and ranks fifth in three-pointers made. 

The 5-foot-7 guard, who is making a comeback from three ACL tears in high school, scored a career-best 24 points after connecting on 7 of her 16 3-point field goal attempts and 8-for-17 from the floor overall against Virginia, a team from the highly-regarded Atlantic Coast Conference.

NJIT LEADERS
Points: Leah Horton (10.8 ppg)
Rebounds: Leah Horton (7.7 rpg)
Field Goal Percentage: Leah Horton (65-for-151; 43.0)
3-Point FG Made: Kelly Guarino (36)
Assists: Alana Dudley (49)
Steals: Leah Horton (22)

NEXT UP
NJIT will play its next two games at home on Fleisher Family Court, hosting North Florida on Saturday at 1pm followed by Jacksonville on Monday, January 25 at 7pm.
 
How to watch NJIT sports programming on ESPN3
ESPN3 is the live platform for at least 14 NJIT women's basketball games this season.
 
Starting in January, every NJIT game played in the Atlantic Sun Conference, home and away, throughout the regular season and into the A-Sun postseason tournament will be covered on ESPN3. 
 
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network.  It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. 
 
The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. 
 
ESPN3 is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks. That means devices served by NJIT's on-campus computer network can link directly to ESPN3.
 
Others can access ESPN3 through WatchESPN if they receive ESPN programming from an affiliated service provider. Those users need to provide the username and password they use in online communication with their regular service provider (can usually be found on regular billing material from the service provider).