The Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball team has never backed away from playing anyone, but most of their showdowns with top national programs have come on the road.
That will change in December as the Eagles will host and 2025 national runner-up South Carolina at Alico Arena. FGCU faces coach Dawn Staley’s national power on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.
“This program has a proud history of competing with the best, and we’re excited to keep building on that tradition. Coach Staley and the Gamecocks have pushed the game forward for the past decade, and it’s an honor to bring them to Alico Arena,” first-year FGCU coach Raina Harmon said in a release.
South Carolina has won three national championships (2017, 2022, 2024), including an undefeated campaign in 2023-24 when they knocked off Caitlin Clark and Iowa to cap off a perfect 38-0 season under Staley.
This will be a repeat trip to Fort Myers for the Gamecocks who played in the Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Arena in November 2024. The No. 4 team in the country at the time and coming off a loss to UCLA, South Carolina crushed No. 15 Iowa State 76-36 on Nov. 28 and beat Purdue Nov. 30, 99-51. It was Purdue’s worst women’s basketball loss in school history.
South Carolina also made the trek to Southwest Florida in 2017. Coming off its first national championship, the Gamecocks played at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero where they lost in the final to Notre Dame, 92-85.
The game will be the first big test for Harmon, who replaced interim coach Chelsea Lyles and founding coach Karl Smesko, who both left FGCU to coach with the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. FGCU went 30-4 in 2024-25, sweeping the Atlantic Sun regular-season and tournament titles and an 11th NCAA tournament appearance in 14 years.