FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Karli Seay, a 5-7 guard who spent the last three seasons at LSU, will join the FGCU women's basketball program as a postgraduate transfer for the 2021-22 season. The Flossmoor, Ill. native previously spent her freshman year at Western Nebraska Community College, which is the same school that Tishara Morehouse came from.
 
"Karli is a lock-down perimeter defender," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We really like her competitiveness. She also has the ability to attack the rim, and she makes good decisions with the ball."
 
Seay becomes the third member of the offseason recruiting class, joining Clemson transfer guard Kendall Spray and Detroit Mercy transfer guard Kaela Webb. With her addition, she gives FGCU three former Power 5 players on next year's roster, joining Spray and Kierstan Bell (Ohio State). Overall, she will give the Eagles eight Division I transfers, as well.
 
Seay has been a key contributor for LSU over the past three seasons as she's appeared in 74 games, starting 21 and averaging 3.2 points per game in her career. After averaging under 14 minutes per game in each of her first two seasons, she had a career-best 25.3 minutes per game this past season, which helped lead to a career-high 4.9 PPG.
 
In 2020-21, Seay had several key performances, including 12 points in a season-opening matchup against BYU and a pair of 13-point performances against Ole Miss. She started nine straight games from Jan. 10 - Feb. 14 and posted eight games with multiple steals, including a season-high six against Tennessee on Jan. 10 and five more against Texas A&M on Jan. 14. On Jan. 31, she converted a rare four-point play against Ole Miss with 12 seconds left to help her team pick up an OT win.
 
As a freshman at Western Nebraska in 2017-18, Seay earned National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-South Region IX honors while averaging 14.3 points, 4.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. She led her team to the NJCAA National Tournament with a 30-point performance in the Region IX championship game. In the opening round of the NJCAA Tournament, she poured in 33 points against Tallahassee. During the regular season, she scored a career-high 48 points in a 92-81 win over Eastern Wyoming, breaking a WNCC single-game scoring record that had stood for 39 seasons.
 
The Illinois native prepped her final two seasons at Homewood-Flossmor after two seasons at Bolingbrook High.
 
After capturing the program's eighth ASUN tournament championship in 10 seasons and subsequently appearing in the NCAA Tournament this past season despite losing 90.1 percent of the team's scoring from the previous campaign, the Eagles will feature perhaps the most talented and experienced roster in program history next year as the Green and Blue 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. In fact, the Eagles will return 77.1 PPG of scoring and have now added 32.9 PPG in Division I scoring from last year with their first three signees of the recruiting class. Thus, with the additions of Spray, Webb and Seay, next year's roster will feature exactly 110 PPG of combined scoring from the 2020-21 season.

FGCU, which only lost to No. 11 Michigan, No. 14 Missouri State and No. 23 Arkansas en route to a 26-3 campaign this past season, made history by being just the second team in the program's Division I era to finish among the top 25 teams nationally in both the AP and Coaches Poll, joining the 2014-15 squad that finished 20th and 21st. From late November until the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the team won 25 consecutive games.

For those interested in purchasing season tickets for next year, fill out the interest form here. New ticket deposits are $100, which will get you on a priority wait list. For any questions, feel free to contact the FGCU ticket office by phone at 866-FGCU-TIX (866-342-8849) or by email at tickets@fgcu.edu.
 
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.
 
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 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 42 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--