FORT MYERS, Fla. --- After losing 90.1 percent of its scoring from last season, the No. 24 FGCU women's basketball team didn't panic. Instead, head coach Karl Smesko and the Eagles completed the program's sixth undefeated conference regular season on Saturday with a 65-50 win over Liberty (17-7, 12-4) inside Alico Arena.
 
In doing so, the Eagles (23-2, 16-0 ASUN) pushed their overall winning streak to 22 straight, which now stands alone as the second-longest stretch in the program's Division I era, surpassing the 2015-16, 2012-13 and 2011-12 teams. The 2014-15 squad's 26-game streak is the only one that tops it. Nationally, only California Baptist's 25-game streak is longer than the Green and Blue's among active teams.
 
Longest Overall Winning Streaks
Program History (Division I Era)

1.	26	12/6/14	3/21/15
2.	22	11/29/20	present
3.	21	12/29/11	3/3/12
	21	12/28/12	3/8/13
	21	12/20/15	3/31/16

"I'm really happy that we were able to beat a good team today," Smesko said. "We were able to do it even though we didn't shoot the ball great. At times, it didn't look like we had the same energy after clinching the championship yesterday, so I like the way that we battled. I thought we had some good runs in the second half to extend the lead. Tyra had a great weekend. Emma played exceptional defense and helped us on the boards today. And it was good to see Dre knock down some threes and look for her shot. She's a great shooter. We got her a couple looks, and she knocked them down. We got contributions from more people today and our defense was good enough to win on a day that Liberty guarded us pretty well."
 
One day after clinching the program's 11th ASUN regular season championship in outright fashion, which includes the No. 1 seed in next week's ASUN tournament, FGCU had four players score in double figures on Saturday.
 
Kierstan Bell led all scorers with 17 points while pulling down five rebounds. Tishara Morehouse and Tyra Cox each added 15 points, with Cox sprinkling in a game-high five assists. Andrea Cecil notched 10 points, three steals and two rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench. Emma List, who had a team-high seven rebounds along with three steals and two assists, added five points, while Seneca Hackley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Saint Mary's HS) chipped in three points to round out FGCU's scoring.
 
They first key point in the game came after Liberty's Ashtyn Baker, who led her team with 10 points, hit a pull-up jumper off the glass to pull her team within five with 4:07 left in the third quarter. On the ensuing possession, Cecil (Oak Harbor, Ohio/Oak Harbor HS/BGSU) drove the right side of the paint, got fouled and hit one of two at the line. She then created a steal and added a 3-pointer on the next possession.
 
After Liberty missed a shot, Bell (Alliance, Ohio/Canton McKinley HS/Ohio State) completed a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer of her own with just under three minutes left to give FGCU a 42-30 lead.
 
Then, Liberty's Mya Berkman converted a layup in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to trim her team's deficit back down to single digits, but Morehouse found a cutting Cox (Orlando, Fla./Lake Highland Prep/William & Mary) for a layup before the duo of Cecil and Bell once again knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to give FGCU a 55-38 lead with 7:55 left.
 
Down the stretch, the lead ballooned to as many as 20 following a 3-pointer from Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Western Nebraska CC) with 1:43 remaining, which happened to be the final points of the game for the Eagles as the Flames scored the final five points.
 
Defensively, FGCU held Liberty to a 22-for-56 (.393) performance from the field, including a 2-for-14 finish from long distance. While the Flames outrebounded the Eagles 49-30, List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to help the Green and Blue. In fact, it was the first time in 10 games that someone aside from Bell led FGCU on the glass.
 
On FGCU's second possession of the game, Morehouse hit a 3-pointer to not only give the Eagles an early lead, but it was the 3,000th time that an Eagle dialed long distance inside Alico Arena. On top of that, the Green and Blue made 14 3-pointers on Saturday, which was the program's 299th all-time game with double-digit makes.
 
With her 43 points this weekend, Bell pushed her season total to 546, which moves her within three of passing Keri Jewett-Giles (548, 2019-20) for the third-most points in a single season in FGCU's Division I era. Kaneisha Atwater (569, 2015-16) and Sarah Hansen (555, 2012-13) hold the top two spots as Bell is just 24 points shy of breaking the record - and she has played at least 11 games less than the three players ahead of her.
 
The Eagles are now 50-14 in the month of March since beginning their Division I era in 2007-08, which includes a 38-10 record since becoming eligible for the ASUN and NCAA Tournaments in 2011-12.
 
FGCU will now turn its attention toward the ASUN tournament, which begins on Wednesday with an opening round matchup between No. 8 Kennesaw State and No. 9 Jacksonville at 2 p.m. The winner of that game will play the Eagles at 2 p.m. on Thursday in the first quarterfinal. The semifinals will take place on Friday with the championship on Sunday.
 
The Thursday quarterfinal matchups are as follows:
No. 1 FGCU vs winner of No. 8 Kennesaw State/No. 9 Jacksonville, 2 p.m.
No. 2 Liberty vs No. 7 Bellarmine, 7 p.m.
No. 3 North Florida vs No. 6 North Alabama, 7 p.m.
No. 4 Lipscomb vs No. 5 Stetson, 2 p.m.
 
The majority of the ASUN tournament will be held in Kennesaw, Ga. on the campus of Kennesaw State University. Some games, though, will be held at the Kennesaw State Marrietta campus, although none of those games will include FGCU, who will open at the main campus.

FINAL ASUN STANDINGS

 

Place	Team	Overall	ASUN
1.	FGCU	23-2	16-0
2.	Liberty	17-7	12-4
3.	North Florida	13-10	11-5
4.	Lipscomb	11-9	8-6
5.	Stetson	9-12	7-9
6.	North Alabama	7-17	6-9
7.	Bellarmine	5-16	5-11
8.	Kennesaw State	7-11	2-11
9.	Jacksonville	3-16	1-13

 
Saturday, March 6
Stetson 68, Jacksonville 64 (OT)
North Florida 77, Bellarmine 49
FGCU 65, Liberty 50
 
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.
 
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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 577-124 (.821) 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 217-17 (.924) mark in ASUN regular season play and a 24-2 (.923) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the past nine-plus seasons, including this year, he has guided FGCU to a 153-5 (.966) record in conference play with six 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. He has also guided the program to 17 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 84 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--