FORT MYERS, Fla. - Kierstan Bell continued her torrid start to the season with a career and game-high 32 points as the FGCU women's basketball team (5-2) won its fourth-straight game with a 91-55 victory over Webber International inside Alico Arena on Thursday.
 
Bell (Alliance, Ohio/Canton McKinley HS/Ohio State), who scored the first seven points of the game, finished 13-for-18 from the field, including 6-for-10 from long distance, while adding 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks over just 20 minutes. It was her third double-double over four games to open her FGCU career, and her rebound total matched Webber International's entire starting lineup combined.
 
"Kierstan was obviously exceptional, and Emma always brings a level of toughness," FGCU associate head coach Chelsea Lyles said. "It was also good to see Seneca get in and make a few defensive plays for us. We still have a lot of work to do, but it's always good when you can come away with a win."
 
The Eagles, who will be back in action with back-to-back noon games at Florida International on Sunday and Monday, also got 18 points, six assists and four rebounds from Tishara Morehouse, while Andrea Cecil chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks. As a team, FGCU shot 16-for-47 (.340) from 3-point range, while handing out 23 assists with just 12 turnovers. Meanwhile, on defense, they held the visiting Warriors to a 3-for-22 performance from long distance.
 
Tomia Johnson (8), Aaliyah Stanley (7), Alyssa Blair (6) and Emma List (6) also notched at least six points. Tanner Bryant tied Morehouse for the game-high and established a new career-high with six assists along with five rebounds. Seneca Hackley swiped a game-high three steals, and Sheahen Dowling also reached the scoring column. List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) continued her fine all-around play by adding eight rebounds, three assists and a steal in addition to her scoring.
 
With just a four-point lead two minutes into the second quarter, FGCU went on a 24-6 run over the rest of the half. Bell then scored 12 of the first 16 points for the Eagles over the first four minutes of the third quarter before resting the final one-and-a-half quarters. The Green and Blue led by as many as 37 in the third quarter and stretched it to as many as 44 in the fourth.
 
With the victory, FGCU inched even closer to 500 wins all-time since beginning the program at the NAIA level in 2002. The Eagles are now 498-97 (.837) and will have a chance to reach the historical milestone on the road Sunday and Monday.
 
100th win - Nov. 18, 2006 vs Puerto Rico Rio Piedras (106-36)
200th win - Feb. 11, 2010 vs Jacksonville (63-55)
300th win - Jan. 23, 2014 vs Jacksonville (56-49)
400th win - Feb. 18, 2017 vs USC Upstate (80-50)
500th win - TBD
 
Speaking of milestones, the Green and Blue also inched closer toward 3,000 all-time made 3-pointers inside Alico Arena. With 16 more on Thursday, FGCU is now 2,918-for-8,398 (.347) inside their friendly home confines.
 
Blair (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie HS) moved closer to 100 career games played as she participated in her 94th contest.
 
Notes
While Bell's offensive performance was the first 30-point effort of her NCAA career, she also registered her fifth career double-double, her 23rd career double-digit scoring effort, her fourth 20-plus point performance and her second game with 25-plus points. On top of that, it was her fifth career game with double-digit rebounds.
 
FGCU's associate head coach Chelsea Lyles, who has been with the program as either a player or coach since the 2008-09 season, served as the head coach on Thursday not only as part of the program's assistant coach development program but to help the team better prepare should head coach Karl Smesko contract CoVID or be contact traced.

For complete coverage of the women's basketball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_WBB, on Facebook at /fgcuwbb and online at www.FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU women's basketball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
 
SUSTAINING FLIGHT 
To help offset the financial impact of COVID-19, FGCU Athletics has launched the Sustaining Flight Fundraiser and Auction. The fundraising campaign will help mitigate operational revenue loss and the additional expenses incurred as a result of COVID-19 protocols. All funds raised during the campaign will go to support areas that directly impact student-athletes. For more information, visit www.fgcuathletics.com/sustainingflight. 
 
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
 
SUPPORT THE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM
Do you enjoy watching or following the FGCU women's basketball program? Would you like to play a role in the growth of the program and help take it to heights never before experienced? If so, you can reach out to Director of Advancement, Matt Ring, about opportunities to make an impact on the experiences of our student-athletes. He can be reached by email at mring@fgcu.edu or by office phone at 239-745-4434.

COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 559-124 (.818) overall in his career (third highest winning percentage among active Division I coaches behind only UConn's Geno Auriemma and Baylor's Kim Mulkey), including a 201-17 (.922) mark in ASUN regular season play and a 24-2 (.923) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the past nine seasons, including this year, he has guided FGCU to a 137-5 (.975) record in conference play with five undefeated seasons. The 10-time ASUN Coach of the Year has guided the Green and Blue to four 30-plus win seasons over the past six years while compiling a 179-31 (.852) record. He has also guided the program to 16 consecutive 20-win seasons and 10-straight 25-win seasons.
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--