Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball head coach Karl Smesko added to an already extensive resume with the Eagles’ 72-55 victory over Bellarmine on Wednesday night.
Smesko and the program he has led as its founding coach since 2002 earned win No. 600 and he improved his all-time coaching record to 661-136. Under Smesko, a 13-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year, the Eagles have won 13 regular season conference titles, nine conference tournament titles, and have four wins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re definitely proud of everything we’ve accomplished as a program, but we’re still focused on just this team,” said Smesko, whose Eagles won their 11th straight game to improve to 18-4 on the year and a perfect 8-0 in conference action. “Just getting better and learning to play together. So it was good to see us have a little bit of adversity today and be able to come out and extend the lead in the second half and ultimately win.”
Previously:FGCU Women stay perfect in ASUN play with 75-54 win over Lipscomb
After eclipsing the 600-win mark as a coach in 2022, Smesko has continued to maintain the Eagles’ status as a mid-major powerhouse. With a career. 845 winning percentage, he trails just UConn’s Geno Auriemma (.882) and LSU’s Kim Mulkey (.861) as the winningest active head coaches. And the Eagles’ 13 straight seasons with 25 wins or more is a feat shared by only Smesko and Auriemma.
“I think you got to stay motivated,” Smesko said. “You know basketball has changed so much over the 20-plus years I’ve been at FGCU. I really have to stay up to date with what’s happening in the game and you’ve got to challenge yourself to get better as a coach. And I feel like I’m still trying to do that so that it helps the team more.”
The Eagles got their 600th win in usual fashion, by grinding out the game behind some necessary adjustments before running away with the lead.
The Knights (6-14, 3-6) were the third consecutive road opponent for the Eagles in just six days. As to be expected for a team that’s traveled nearly 2,700 miles in less than a week, FGCU had a slow start.
They finished the first quarter 2-of-10 from behind the arc and entered the locker room 3-of-16 from three-point land with eight turnovers and a 34-28 lead. All while Emani Jefferson and Uju Ezeudu both battled foul trouble.
“Bellarmine played really well,” Smesko said. “You know, we played six out of eight games on the road. So we’ve been traveling nonstop. It’s almost been like an NBA schedule, only we fly commercial. That’s a pretty tough situation to put a team in.”
But the Eagles came into the second half with a different approach and tried just five three-pointers. Instead, they opted to use their speed to get into the paint, where they tallied 38 points.
On the other side of the floor, FGCU held the Knights to just 30 percent shooting as a team, and 2-of-18 from deep.
“We looked a little tired at the beginning to me, but, our competitiveness kicked in and we made enough plays to win,” Smesko said. “We get back on the plane tomorrow, and we don’t have much time before we play a really good team in a couple of days (Eastern Kentucky on Saturday), and hopefully, we’ll have a big crowd at Alico to cheer us on.”
Despite playing just 24 minutes, Jefferson posted a team-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with four rebounds, two steals, three turnovers, and four fouls. Sofia Persson added 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting with three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.