Women's Basketball | 11/28/2019 3:41:29 PM

Head coach Karl Smesko couldn’t have asked for a better way to begin the 2019 Cancun Challenge. His Eagles squad led for over 30 minutes of the contest as FGCU took down Notre Dame, 69-60.

Balanced scoring between Davion Wingate (19 points), Keri Jewett-Giles (12 points), Nasrin Ulel (11 points), and Ty Adderly (16 points) were too much to handle for the Fighting Irish. Adderly also cleaned the glass with 14 rebounds, 11 of which were offensive. Her efforts led to 13 second-chance points.

Notre Dame mounted a charge late in the fourth quarter and nine missed free throws made the game closer than FGCU would have liked but the Eagles found a way to fend them off in the games final moments.

Anaya Peoples led the way for the Fighting Irish. Peoples finished with 19 points on 8-13 shooting. Katlyn Gilbert and Sam Brunelle also managed double-figure efforts, collecting 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Notre Dame will look for its first win of the Cancun Challenge on Friday against South Dakota State at 11 a.m. ET. Florida Gulf Coast will matchup against No. 21 South Florida at 1:30 p.m. ET.