A day after turning in its worst performance of the season in a lopsided loss to No. 5 Iowa and Caitlin Clark, the FGCU women’s basketball team bounced back in a huge way.

Senior Kierra Adams banked in a drive off a broken play with 7.9 seconds remaining to lift the 65-64 victory over No. 18 North Carolina in the third-place game at the Gulf Coast Showcase.

First, however, the Eagles (5-2) had to survive one final defensive possession where Tar Heels senior guard Deja Kelly got a good look at the basket on a short jumper with one second left but it bounced out, giving FGCU its 25^th Power Five win and seventh victory over a ranked opponent in the program’s history.

“I thought we showed a lot of toughness today,” FGCU coach Karl Smesko said. “We were a lot more physical than we were a day ago and our team responded really well to a tough situation. I think it really helped that we got off to a good start.”

From the tip, the Eagles immediately showed much better cohesion than they did against the Hawkeyes, especially on the offensive end. Redshirt junior Maddie Antenucci scored 10 first-quarter points to help power the Eagles to a 23-18 lead after the first quarter.

Saturday: Caitlin Clark, Iowa blow past FGCU to advance to Gulf Coast Showcase championship

“North Carolina is a very physical team so I thought we did a much better job working together to create open shots. Instead of individual play we were screening and cutting and moving the ball.”

Antenucci hit her first five shots, including three from beyond the arc, the last of which gave the Eagles a 28-20 lead with 6:21 left in the second quarter.

The Tar Heels (5-2), who entered the game with one of the best scoring defenses in the nation, held the Eagles to just three points on 1-for-6 shooting the rest of the half, outscoring FGCU 13-3 to take a 33-31 lead at the break.

North Carolina, which shot a season-high 51.2% from the field, extended its lead to 38-31 with 8:11 left in the third quarter. With leading scorer Uju Ezedu held to just one point on three field goal attempts, the Eagles got strong performances from fifth-year player Ajulu Thatha and freshman Cerina Rolle. Thatha, a tranfer from SIU-Edwardsville, stepped out and hit two big 3-pointers in the third quarter while Rolle, who got her first start of the season, scored six of her eight points in the second half before fouling out with 7:37 to play. By then, the Tar Heels lead was down to one point at 56-55.

“To win a game like this you’re going to need efforts from a lot of players,” Smesko said. “Cerina, she’s fearless. You know, she’ll go and attack anybody. That’s something I really like about her. And Juju, she’s a good shooter who can really stretch the floor. She was a big part of helping us get back in the game.”

Senior point guard Dolly Cairns, who’s been a steadying force for FGCU so far this season, scored five straight points for the Eagles to pull them within 64-63 with 3:33 remaining.

That was the score when Smesko called timeout with 29 seconds left to call a play that he said FGCU failed to execute. Still, Adams, who finished with seven points, bailed out the Eagles by banking in a short jumper from the paint with two seconds on the shot clock.

“That play went a lot sideways; we didn’t quite get what we were looking for,” Smesko said. “But we were able to at least keep moving. We found a nice bounce pass to Kiki who cut into an opening and she made a huge shot for us.”

Cairns, who finished with a team-high 18 points to go along with three assists and two steals and was named to the Showcase’s All-Tournament team, said the team’s resilience shone through in the way it rallied in the second half.

“We battled through it,” she said. “Three games in three days it’s tough but I’m just proud of how we struck together. We have a lot of confidence in each other and we all stepped up and made big plays today.”

The tightly officiated game saw the team whistled for 41 fouls, 25 on FGCU. That allowed the Tar Heels to outscore the Eagles 20-10 at the free throw line, but North Carolina missed five foul shots in the final quarter, three by Kelly, who finished with a game-high 24 points. The quicksilver guard also drew 11 fouls, mostly on slippery drives into the paint.

FGCU, however, more than made up for that disparity from beyond the arc where they connected on 11 3-pointers, compared to just two for the Tar Heels.

“I thought for the most part we guarded them well,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart said. “They made some three today that they really haven’t been making in this tournament.”

On Sunday, however, FGCU made those shots when it counted, earning a hard-fought win in a Showcase experience that Smesko said will benefit the Eagles moving forward.

“I think there’s quite a bit we can learn from these games,” he said. “I think over these next two weeks, you’ll see us get better and better because we played in this tournament.