Performance of the Week: Taylor Gradinjan vs. Southern Miss

 By: Cameron J. Kaiser

After two busy weeks to start the season, week three was much less hectic for the FGCU basketball program. Dunk City played a mere two games, while Raining Threes only played one. The lady Eagles beat their lone opponent to push their record to 6-2, while the men won both of their games to improve to 8-1.

Dunk City Dominance

FGCU vs. Florida Tech (Wednesday, Dec. 3), W 77-58: When the 7-0 Panthers of Division II came to Alico Arena, the fans expected to see a blowout. Well, while the final score wasn’t close, the Eagles only held a 3-point advantage at halftime. Led by an astounding 51 bench points, FGCU rallied to outscore the Panthers by 16 in the second half.

FGCU at Massachusetts (Sunday, Dec. 7) W 84-75: Dunk City took its show on the road to play in the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase in Springfield, Massachusetts against the Minutemen of UMass. UMass, who was ahead of FGCU in the RPI ranking going into the contest, was knocked out by Tennessee in the round of 64 in last year’s NCAA tournament. In a game that was tightly contested for its majority, FGCU pulled away and led by as many as 18 with 3 minutes remaining in the game.

Extremely-southern Lady Eagles take on the almost-as-southern Lady Eagles...

FGCU vs. Southern Mississippi (Saturday, Dec. 6) W 78-62: Saturday night pitted Eagle against Eagle, as Southern Miss. came to take on FGCU at The Nest. USM, coming off a 27-7 season, played a physical style of basketball against the lady Eagles of FGCU. As their nickname suggests, FGCU used the long ball to knock out Southern Miss. The lady Eagles of FGCU hit 13 three pointers in their 16-point victory.

Performance of the Week

Week three of the season featured three individual standout performances from the FGCU basketball program. Freshman Christian Terrell of the men's team exploded off the bench against Florida Tech for 22 points, while Bernard Thompson tied a career high by hitting 6 three pointers against UMass. However, the best performance of the week came from red-shirt freshman Taylor Gradinjan of the Lady Eagles in their win over USM.

Courtesy of Captive Photons

On a night where Whitney Knight fouled out early and Stephanie Haas played limited minutes due to an illness, head coach Karl Smesko was forced into giving more minutes to his reserves. Gradinjan, who missed the bulk of the last two seasons due to a right ACL tear, came off the bench and gave FGCU 23 minutes of nonstop energy.

Taylor Gradinjan led the Eagles in scoring and rebounds, setting personal records in points with 23, rebounds with 9, three pointers with 4, and free throws with 7. In the first half, Gradinjan capped off a 17-0 run for FGCU by nailing 2 three pointers in a row, and then in the second half scored 10 points in a row for the Eagles.

"Taylor was knocking down open shots and looking for opportunities to go to the basket, being aggressive getting to the rim," said coach Smesko. "I thought offensively Taylor gave us a huge spark and a huge lift. She's had a couple good days of practice, and she followed it up with a great performance in the game."

Through all of the scoring, Gradinjan's 9 boards might be the most impressive stat from her big night. FGCU is not a team with a lot of size, and rebounding has been their achilles heel so far this season. At a modest 5'9", Gradinjan's activity on the glass provided a huge boost for the Eagles. Southern Mississippi only had 14 second chance points, while FGCU had 17. That, in part, can be attributed to Grandinjan's 8 defensive rebounds.

When asked about her breakout performance, Gradinjan answered humbly. "I just kind of went in and played. Just did my role, played with the team, and stuck to our game plan the entire time."