ASUN basketball split as FGCU women open with win, men fall on road

The Raina Harmon Era in the Atlantic Sun Conference started well. The FGCU women's basketball team played a gritty defensive game, pulling away in the fourth quarter to beat North Alabama 51-44 at Alico Arena on Thursday, Jan. 1.

While the Eagles' season started 4-7 with only 1 win over a Division I opponent, the conference record – the one that really matters – is 1-0.

Previously: What to know as FGCU men's, women's basketball start ASUN Conference play

It was a defensive game in which neither team led by more than 9 points, and only three players scored in double figures.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty,” Harmon said of her first ASUN game.

The Eagles started slow, only making about a third of their shots for 1, 2, or 3 points. However, they had 12 second-chance points, especially late in the quarter, which ended with the Eagles trailing by just 2 points.

The Eagles (5-7) found their sea legs in the second quarter, especially from beyond the arc, where they made 3 treys in 5 attempts. Sinai Douglas, Cerina Rolle, and Nay Staton each dropped a triple to help make it a 27-24 lead for FGCU at halftime.

North Alabama (5-7) started the third quarter with a 6-0 run, finally broken up after three minutes with a layup by Staton. In the second half of the period, the Eagles forced a series of fouls and retook the lead with free throws. Then at the buzzer, Rolle blocked a 3-point shot attempt by Greta Ramon.

“I look at the time, and I’m hearing my teammates on the floor and my coaches and my teammates on the bench,” Rolle said. “It let me know that, hey, it’s go time. We have only a little bit of time, and I have to be 100 percent on defense.”

The UNA foul trouble reared its head in the fourth. Nobody fouled out, but two Lions had four fouls, which forced them to alter their play. They missed all 6 of their three-point shots and went 3-of-16 in overall field goals. The Eagles’ shooting was not much better, but it didn’t need to be, as they went into the bonus and put the game away with three-pointers.

Staton had 10 points and 7 rebounds with 2 three-pointers and 2 steals. Rolle also had 10 points. Alexsandra Alvarado paced North Alabama with 13 points and 3 assists.

FGCU women's basketball takeaways

Rolle with the challenges: Rolle needed some coaching to get things right after missing a wide-open corner three midway through the third quarter. Harmon took her out of the game for two minutes.

“I thought she wasn’t giving great effort, right?” Harmon said. “She wasn’t, and she sat down for a bit. I subbed her in, I said, ‘Hey, you gotta switch this if they go into a handoff here.” And so I think because I did challenge her, she was kind of like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna show you.’”

The timing worked out right, because Rolle played the last two minutes of the quarter and made that block as time expired.

“That was my pride,” Rolle said. “I wanted to make sure she didn’t get that shot off.”

ASUN veterans know the score: The ASUN may be new to Harmon and most of the team, but the Eagles who were on the team last year had the experience to know what to watch for.

“It was very helpful,” Harmon said. “I mean, you could tell that as soon as we flipped the page and started getting ready for ASUN, we’re talking about players and talking about names, and a lot of these are the same coaches, so they’re running the same stuff from last year. We have five players that returned from last year, so it’s good to have people have some familiarity and to be able to kind of just confirm what we’re saying.”

Gritty, but patient: Both teams were in each other’s faces, but the Eagles did a better job of controlling themselves. Harmon made a change to the game plan, likening it to a football possession offense.

“I think, especially down the stretch, we weren’t hitting shots, so I’m just like, ‘Let’s make this a timing game,'” Harmon said. “And so I’m trying to get down to 3, 2, 1 on our end of the floor knowing that they’re putting up the quick shot, so if they’re missing, we have an opportunity to extend the game or shorten the game by us having possession.”

The Lions, on the other hand, were more rushed. They committed 20 fouls to FGCU’s 11, which had an effect on the outcome.

The Eagles will play their second ASUN game on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 2 p.m. as Central Arkansas visits Alico Arena. The Sugars Bears (8-5) beat Stetson (7-5) 65-43 on Thursday.

FGCU Men drop ASUN opener at Central Arkansas

FGCU (6-8) led throughout, but let the lead slip away in the final minutes as Central Arkansas (6-8) used a 7-0 run to pull ahead and hold off the Eagles 85-83 on Thursday, Jan. 1, at the Farris Center.

J.R. Konieczny led the Eagles with 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Darren Williams added 15 poings on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. Rory Stewart added 12 while Rahmir Barno had a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists, and Isaiah Malone added 11 points.

FGCU started the New Year hot from the field, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game. The Eagles extended the margin to 22-10 with 11:56 to go in the first half behind Konieczny's first 12 points.

FGCU held a 40-37 lead at the half, and the game stayed tight in the second half. The Bears took an early lead, but Stewart hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the Eagles back up 51-48. Williams and Stewart each hit a triple, and Malone earned a three-point play before a Barno layup to extend the lead to 64-56 halfway through the period.

An 11-2 Central Arkansas run followed as the lead changes (13 total on the afternoon) continued to grow. Malone dropped the hammer with a dunk that leveled the score at 77-all with 2:25 to play before the final Bears run of the afternoon. UCA scored the next seven points to take an 84-77 lead, and despite two emphatic dunks in the final 30 seconds from Konieczny and Malone, the Eagles fell.

The Eagles return to ASUN play Saturday, Jan. 3, at North Alabama. The Lions (5-7) lost to Stetson (5-9) 70-67 on Thursday as FGCU and North Alabama will look for their first conference win.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Eagles give Raina Harmon first ASUN win as FGCU coach, men lose on road