FGCU women's basketball uses late run to pull away from Temple, prepares for LSU

With one of this season’s biggest regular-season games ahead on Sunday vs. LSU, FGCU’s women’s basketball team needed to focus on Temple Friday.

While the Eagles struggled with their shooting, foul trouble, and some defensive breakdowns, they still did pull away to beat the Owls 70-53 at Alico Arena.

FGCU (2-0) used an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to go up 66-47 and secure the victory over the Owls (1-1).

Kierstan Bell scored 26 and Kendall Spray added 15 points on five 3-pointers.

It may have looked like the Eagles had an eye on Sunday’s game in Baton Rouge but FGCU coach Karl Smesko insisted they were zoned in on Temple.

“It shows we won by 17 but that was a closer game into the fourth quarter,” Smesko said. “I expect Temple to be a really good team.”

The Eagles get three chances to play NCAA Tournament teams this season based on Charlie Crème’s ESPN Bracketology.

Besides LSU, there’s Michigan State in West Palm Beach on Dec. 20 and High Point on Dec. 21.

Smesko said LSU “is very big, very physical.”

Karli Seay, an LSU transfer, said she’s focused on winning with her new team. “We can be friends afterwards,” she added.

Bell, who transferred from Ohio State, and Spray, who transferred from Clemson, are used to playing these types of teams.

“Everyone is looking forward to playing LSU,” Bell said. “They have a lot of great players but we want to show what we can do.”

In building an early 16-8 lead, the Eagles drew charges on back-to-back plays while getting a layup off a steal.

Temple drew within 26-25 but Bell and Tyra Cox hit 3s as FGCU went up 33-27 at halftime.

The Eagles led 54-44 after three quarters.

FGCU won despite Bell and Emma List (six assists) picking up their fourth fouls in the third quarter and making just 8-of-36 shots from 3-point land (22.2 percent) and 26-of-62 overall (41.9 percent).

Keying FGCU was having a 23-6 margin in bench points.

“Not everyone is going to get as much playing time as they want so we’ll see how that goes,” Smesko said. “We put in a small lineup and went on a bit of a run.”

Bell said Seneca Hackley gave the Eagles a spark off the bench.

While FGCU forced 25 turnovers and drew a half-dozen charges, Smesko didn’t like his team’s defense overall.

“We guarded things incorrectly,” he said. “Game preparation is something we have to go over. You can’t say giving up easy baskets was because you forgot the game plan.

“But the charges, that part I did like.”

Seay said she thought the defense was good but that players needed to do a better job of boxing out. Spray said players need to play hard every possession and Bell said the players could’ve done a better job of communicating and listening to what the coaches said.

Bell joined the Eagles’ 1,000-point club by scoring 26. Teammates Spray (1,558) and Andrea Cecil (1,033) already have topped that milestone.

“I feel good about getting 1,000 points as a junior,” Bell said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Eagles women's basketball improves to 2-0 with win over Temple, prepares for LSU