FGCU women fall in first March game under coach Raina Harmon in WNIT

The FGCU women’s basketball team’s March run ended early, but it left hope for future success. A late fourth-quarter surge led Loyola to a 62-56 win over the Eagles in the second round of the Women's NIT on Monday night, March 23, at Alico Arena. It was an exciting, if disappointing, conclusion to FGCU head coach Raina Harmon’s first season.

That was because the players showed up, literally and figuratively. Even after the first-round exit from the ASUN tournament two and a half weeks ago, the whole team – even the seniors – readily came to practice just in case they got an invitation to a postseason tournament. “Before the WNIT field was even announced, we had three practices because they all decided, ‘Should we keep playing?

’ And they wanted to keep playing,” Harmon said. “And so I said at the end of the day, if we don’t have an opportunity to get better, we got three days better than everybody else for next year, and our seniors had three extra days to be with the program. ” After the invitation and first-round bye, the Eagles (16-16) left it on the court in a game that was tied as late as five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“We build the endurance, and then when we regroup and talk about next year, we know what it’s like to play deep into March and take it even further,” Harmon said. After the Eagles won the tip, sophomore Airah Lavy validated Harmon’s decision to put her in the starting lineup by making a three-point bucket from the corner. “Airah has the ultimate green light,” Harmon said.