Eagles haul in A-Sun accolades
Complementing the program’s fifth straight Atlantic Sun regular season championship, the FGCU women’s basketball team earned two of the league’s five major awards announced Wednesday afternoon.
Redshirt junior Whitney Knight was named Player of the Year andhead coach Karl Smesko earned his sixth Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award. In addition to the major awards, Knight and Kaneisha Atwater were named to the All-Conference First Team, with Taylor Gradinjan picking up All-Freshman Team honors.
The Eagles begin Atlantic Sun Championship action on Friday as the top-seed, hosting No. 8 North Florida in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. at Alico Arena.
Knight, the A-Sun preseason Player of the Year, led the Eagles and the A-Sun with 15.1 points per game this season and started each of the team’s 29 games. Knight also led the squad with 6.3 rebounds per game and shot 45 percent from the field with a 44.8 percent clip from beyond the arc. The all-conference recognition is Knight’s second.
“Whitney has had a tremendous year,” said Smesko. “She has worked hard to improve her game every year. It is rare to find a player of her size with her skill set and versatility.”
With 81 makes from the perimeter, Knight paced the league in three-point shooting and currently ranks seventh in the nation in three-point percentage. She also tops the league with 74 blocks on the season and stands as the only player in the nation to lead a conference in both categories.
Atwater joins Knight on the First Team with the first all-conference accolade of her career.
“Kaneisha has really become more aggressive on the offensive end of the floor this year,” said Smesko. “She is a high-energy player who excels at both ends of the floor.”
In her second year with the Eagles, Atwater averaged 14.2 points per game with starts in 27 of 29 games. In addition to her offensive contributions, Atwater has been a staple on the defensive end recording 52 steals.
In her first full season on the court after being sidelined with two ACL tears, Gradinjan averaged 5.9 points per game in just 15.4 minutes an outing. Gradinjan ranked fourth in the league with a 40.2 percent clip from three-point range and shot 45.4 percent overall.
In his 13th year coaching the Eagles, Smesko guided the team to a record of 27-2 with a Division I-best win streak of 22 games and its third perfect A-Sun slate in four seasons. The Eagles finished the regular season 14-0 in conference action and went 13-0 at home.
Smesko has compiled a record of 341-66 at FGCU for a remarkable win percentage of 83.7. He stands as one of only four active Division I coaches with win percentages above .800, joining UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Baylor’s Kim Mulkey and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer in the elite group. Smesko earned his 400th career victory this season and holds a career mark of 402-93 with an overall win percentage of 81.2.
He has led the Eagles to five straight A-Sun regular season championships with six titles in the last seven seasons. Smesko’s teams have also won the A-Sun Championship twice in the last three seasons with two NCAA Tournament appearances in three years of postseason eligibility.