FORT MYERS, Fla. --- FGCU women's basketball head coach Karl Smesko has announced the signing of transfer guard Kaela Webb, a Third Team All-Horizon League selection who led Detroit Mercy in scoring last year. She is expected to have two years of eligibility remaining and represents the first signing in this year's recruiting class.
 
Webb averaged 17.7 points over 12 contests for the Titans in 2020-21, including five games with 20-plus points, as she was the Horizon League's third-leading scorer. She led the conference in 3-point field goals made per game (2.7) and finished second in free throw percentage (.895, 34-for-38) while sinking three or more 3-pointers seven times.
 
"Kaela is a very talented guard," Smesko said. "She is an excellent shooter who has really good quickness and has proven herself on the Division I level. She is a very good addition to our program."
 
Webb joins what will perhaps be the most talented and experienced roster in program history next year. After finishing 26-3 overall, making the NCAA Tournament and earning national rankings in both the AP and Coaches polls despite losing 90.1 percent of the team's scoring from the 2019-20 campaign, the Eagles are expected to return all but two players in 2021-22, including their top eight scorers and 94.7 percent of the team's offensive production.
 
Webb, who played her first two seasons at Providence, poured in a career-high 29 points in a win over Toledo on Dec. 5 last year, which was the most scored by a Titan in a game since the 2016-17 season. She made a season-best six-of-nine from long distance for 25 points against Indiana State on Nov. 29 and registered 39 total points over two games against Wright State, a team that went on to knock off Arkansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, while notching at least 14 points in all but two games.
 
Entering the 2021-22 season, Webb has compiled 810 career points over three seasons between Detroit Mercy (212) and Providence (598). She has produced 37 career double-digit scoring games, which now gives the Eagles five different players with at least 20 such games on next year's roster, joining Kierstan Bell (44), Andrea Cecil (42), Aaliyah Stanley (26) and Tishara Morehouse (24). She also has six games with 20-plus points, which will rank fourth on next year's team behind Bell (22), Cecil (14) and Morehouse (9).

During her time at Providence from 2018-20, Webb started 46 of 67 games played while averaging 8.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. She went 125-for-312 (.401) from 3-point range, including a 78-for-191 (.408) performance as a sophomore when she finished second in the Big East in 3-point field goals made, 3-point field goals per game (2.44) and 3-point field goal percentage. She also ranked 33rd nationally in long distance percentage that season while finishing with the sixth-most 3-pointers in the now 47-year history of Providence women's basketball history. In fact, Webb's 125 career 3-pointers as a Friar is 10th-most in program history.

As a freshman, Webb averaged 8.1 points on .388 shooting from long distance en route to Big East All-Freshman Team recognition. She was named the conference's freshman of the week on Jan. 21, 2019 and twice made the Big East's weekly honor roll. Overall, she totaled 598 points, 118 assists, 93 rebounds and 86 steals while shooting .863 from the free throw line during her career there.

Webb is a Pontiac, Mich. native who is a 2018 graduate of Detroit Country Day High School, where she was a finalist and placed third for the 2018 Miss Basketball Award. She was a three-time Class B state champion and led her team to a 95-11 record over four years while averaging 17 points, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals. The four-time all-state selection also played AAU for Michigan Crossover.
 
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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 580-125 (.823) overall in his career, which is the third-highest winning percentage among active Division I coaches behind only UConn's Geno Auriemma and Baylor's Kim Mulkey. He has also led the Eagles to a 217-17 (.927) mark in ASUN regular season play and a 27-2 (.931) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the past 10 seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 153-5 (.968) record in conference play with six undefeated seasons. The 11-time ASUN Coach of the Year has led the program to 11-straight 25-win seasons and 17-consecutive 20-win campaigns, including 30-plus wins in four of the past seven years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 519-98 all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green and Blue's .841 all-time winning percentage is the best in NCAA Division I women's basketball history.
 
#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 85 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 40 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall 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--