Live Stats: FGCU vs. No. 2 Stanford
 
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Season Stats: FGCU | Stanford
 
HONOLULU – The FGCU women's basketball team always has plenty to be thankful for, and this year's Thanksgiving bounty delivers an especially large opportunity. After a successful weekend with two wins in the Bank of Hawaii Classic, the Eagles continue their trip with a matchup against second-ranked Stanford at 5 p.m. ET Friday.
 
The SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center plays host to six total games this weekend as FGCU and Stanford are set as the opening game of the 2022 Rainbow Wahine Showdown. Fans can follow the action via live stats as a videostream for the Friday, Nov. 25, contest is not available.
 
FGCU (4-0) received votes in the latest USA Today women's basketball Coaches Poll after a two-game sweep of San Diego (68-60) and the host Rainbow Wahine (65-45) in the Bank of Hawaii Classic.  
 
Junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) leads the Green & Blue in scoring with 20.0 points per game, while guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) delivers 15.5 points per outing.  
 
Morehouse scored 17 points and fifth-year guard Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich./Detroit Country Day HS/Detroit Mercy/Providence) added 12 against Hawai'i. Winston led the Eagles with 19 points and Morehouse dropped 15 against San Diego.
 
Perennial powerhouse Stanford (5-1) represents the biggest test for FGCU all season and is the only team in the country returning two All-Americans in Cameron Brink and Haley Jones. Brink leads Stanford with 12.5 points per game in 2022, and Jones is fourth at 9.0 points per game behind Hannah Jump (12.3 ppg) and Kiki Iriafen (11.7 ppg). The Cardinal is the unanimous pick by both the coaches and media to win the Pac-12 Conference for the third year in a row.
 
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is the winningest coach in women's college basketball history, with an overall record of 1,162-260 – with 1,010 of her career wins coming on the Cardinal sideline.  
 
"Stanford has a national championship-caliber team with some of the best players in the country," FGCU head women's basketball coach Karl Smesko said. "We know this is a tremendous challenge, but we are excited about the opportunity to compete against the best." 
 
The Cardinal has won all three previous games in the career series vs. FGCU. Friday, the Eagles will face their highest-ranked edition of a Stanford squad at No. 2. The fifth-ranked Cardinal prevailed 83-59 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2013. In the calendar year 2018, Stanford topped FGCU 90-70 in a second-round NCAA Tournament game in March 2018 as the 15th-ranked team in the nation, and picked up an 88-65 victory in Honolulu in the 2018 Rainbow Wahine Showdown as the country's No. 7 team.
 
After Stanford, FGCU takes on host Hawai'i at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, then finishes the Aloha State trip with a meeting with Grambling State at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Eagles are 3-0 all-time against the Rainbow Wahine, and Sunday's meeting is the first with the Tigers. Overall, this is the third trip to Hawai'i for FGCU in program history, with prior trips in 2011-12 and 2018-19, when Smesko won his 500th career game vs. American, 90-71, in the finale of the 2018 Rainbow Wahine Showdown.   
 
FGCU's Raining 3s mantra has continued through the first four games of the 2022-23 season as the Eagles rank second in the nation in 3-pointers made per game at 11.5. FGCU's run to its 2021-22 national ranking was due to the Eagles' continued dominance behind the 3-point arc. The Eagles have led the nation in made threes per game the past three years and in four of the last five seasons -- with an NCAA single-season record 431 in 2017-18.   
 
Entering this season, the Eagles were selected by both the coaches and the media to repeat as ASUN champions. FGCU is currently ranked atop the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. The Eagles finished with a program-best-ever No. 20 ranking in 2021-22 and have four Top 25 finishes in the past five seasons. Further, only the Green & Blue and defending national champion South Carolina have won at least 30 games in five of the last eight campaigns.  

For complete coverage of FGCU women's basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_WBB and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU men's basketball and other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
 
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS, MINI PLANS AVAILABLE  
Tickets for the 2022-23 FGCU Basketball season are on sale now and can be purchased by going online to www.FGCUTickets.com or calling 866-FGCU-TIX. Group tickets can also be purchased for 10 or more people – making a memorable evening for families, businesses, or other organizations.  
 
COACH SMESKO   
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 614-128 (.827) overall in his career, the third-highest winning percentage among active Division I coaches behind only UConn's Geno Auriemma and LSU's Kim Mulkey. He has also led the Eagles to a 232-18 (.928) mark in ASUN regular-season play and a 30-2 (.938) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the previous 10 seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 153-5 (.968) record in conference play with six undefeated seasons. The 12-time ASUN Coach of the Year has led the program to 12-straight 25-win seasons and 18 consecutive 20-win campaigns, including 30-plus wins in five of the last eight years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 553-101 (.846) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .846 all-time winning percentage is the best in NCAA Division I women's basketball history.
 
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!  
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.    
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 93 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 46 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 26 consecutive semesters. The past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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.
 
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