KENNESAW, Ga. – After winning the play-in game of the 2021 ASUN Women's Basketball Championship, the ninth-seeded Jacksonville University women's basketball team took to the court Thursday against regular-season champion and top-seeded FGCU in the quarterfinal round of this year's tournament. The Dolphins (4-17, 1-13) showed determination and grit throughout the contest, but the 24th-ranked Eagles (24-2, 16-0) were too much to overcome as JU's season came to a close by a score of 87-62.
 
"I'm extremely proud and thankful for this group to fight through all the adversity that came their way this year. Having do play throughout the season with different people at different times, dealing with injuries and everything else that came their way, I want to commend them all for battling through that," said head coach Darnell Haney. "I want to thank my coaches and these players for sticking with it and being able to get through this season. This year was tough and there aren't many people around who would able to go through what we did to be able to play. I think today we were just grateful to be able to come out play after having to be in our own bubble this year and making sacrifices to be able to get this season in. This is a tremendous group of young women and what they showed this season, I'm extremely proud of them."
 
"Today in the first quarter, we missed some shots and got out of sync defensively and that kind of set us back on our heels," said Haney. "FGCU hit some shots early and that got us off-balance. Once we came back in the second half, we were able to settle in and do some of the things we wanted to do, our defensive intensity and effort helped us get set up on offense and allow us to play Jacksonville basketball and I think that we played well in the second half. We just need to find a way to match that energy we finished the game with to how we started the game."
 
"DeShari (Graham) and Ashley (Malone) were both fantastic today, along with Tamia (Stallings) who gave us some big minutes off the bench. When a team like FGCU plays the way they do, it is a different ballgame than what we played yesterday against Kennesaw (State). FGCU likes to shoot from outside, Kennesaw likes to pound the ball inside, so we had to adjust how we played and matched up. With all those long shots today, we just needed to pull down more loose ball rebounds and control those second chance opportunities early on."
 
"I want to also thank Alexis Pierce for all she did for us these last four years and her contributions to this program and leadership, especially this season. I don't know what the future holds for her, but I do know that it will be bright, and she will continue to do great things."
 
FGCU set the tone for the afternoon in the first quarter, scoring the first points of the game and going on a 9-0 following an Ashley Malone layup to stretch their lead. The Dolphins scored baskets on back-to-back possessions toward the end of the quarter courtesy of Shekinah Rachel and Tamia Stallings to make it an 11-6 game, but the Eagles scored 10-straight to end the period and lead 21-6 after 10 minutes.
 
The Eagles continued their strong start into the second quarter before Da'Nasia Shaw knocked down a three-pointer at 8:34 to make it 25-9. JU outshot FGCU in the quarter percentage-wise, but the Eagles connected on three more field goals than the Dolphins and also hit four three-pointers to lead 48-21 going into the intermission.
 
The Dolphins tried to climb their way back into contention coming out of the locker room in the third quarter, as DeShari Graham went on a 5-0 run of her own just about two minutes into the period to make it 51-27, but the Eagles continued to maintain their lead, shooting 60% from the field in the period. Graham scored eleven points in the third stanza of the day, including a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer to make it 72-43 going to the fourth.
 
JU outscored the Eagles over the final 10 minutes of the afternoon, but it wasn't enough to overcome the lead FGCU had established over the first 30 minutes of play. Rachel connected on a three-pointer to open the quarter before Graham recorded a steal-and-score. Johné Stewart hit a pair of three's for JU on back-to-back possessions around the seven minute mark to make it 77-56. FGCU once again stretched their lead over the closing minutes of the game finished off the 87-62 win.
 
Graham led the way for Jacksonville in the final game of the season, finishing with 15 points along with four assists, four steals and three rebounds. Ashley Malone reached double-figures for the fourth time this season with 12 points in addition to a season-best six rebounds and three assists. MaKayla Edwards pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds to lead JU in that department. Nine different players made their way into the scoring column for the Dolphins in the game.
 
Jacksonville finishes the season at 4-17 while FGCU moves on to face the lowest remaining seed in the semifinal round.