Photo Gallery Game HighlightsFORT MYERS, FL—Top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast defeated eighth-seeded NJIT, 60-31, in the 2016 Atlantic Sun Conference quarterfinals at Alico Arena Friday night.
FGCU (27-4) advances to the semifinals where the Eagles will host fourth-seeded Stetson on March 9 in Alico Arena, while the Highlanders close out its first season in the A-Sun with a 4-26 overall mark, 1-13 in the league.
The balanced attack saw four eagles score eight or more points, led by Taylor Goodwall, who came off the bench to score 11 points, including three 3-point baskets in 11 minutes of action off the bench for the home team.
Whitney Knight, the 2016 A-Sun Player of the Year and first-team honoree, filled up the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Senior Kaneisha Atwater, named to the A-Sun first-team, just missed notching a double-double, with nine points and nine rebounds.
Senior guard DyTiesha Dunson, the 2016 A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, pulled down six boards, recorded three blocks and dished out two assists.
NJIT got a personal-best nine points off the bench from redshirt freshman
Tatianna Torres. Torres, who scored seven or more points in each of the last four games, shot 5-of-6 from the charity stripe while, pulling down five rebounds (one shy her career-best).
Junior
Olivia Dudley added five point before existing the contest with a knee injury in the third quarter while senior
Ronni Grandison, playing in her final collegiate game and sophomore
Maria Ruban, each chipped in four points and five rebounds.
FGCU opened the first quarter with an 11-3 advantage and extended its lead to 20-3 at the 6:43 mark of the second quarter. NJIT's
Olivia Dudley sank a pair of free throws at the 6:08 mark, which sparked a 7-0 spurt, pulling within 10 of the Eagles. FGCU closed out the half on an 8-0 run to take a 28-10 lead into the break.
NJIT would cut the deficit to 16, on two occasions in the third quarter, but it was too much to overcome the FGCU lead.
