HONOLULU – The No. 26 FGCU women's basketball team (4-1) hung tough with second-ranked Stanford (6-1) through three quarters Friday night before a big fourth-quarter stretch pushed the Cardinal to a 93-69 victory over the Eagles. FGCU and Stanford trailed by only four at halftime in the first game of the 2022 Rainbow Wahine Showdown at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, but the Cardinal shot 59.5 percent and dominated the boards in the second half. 
 
Graduate guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) led the Green & Blue with 24 points and four assists. Senior forward Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg HS/Denver) added 13 points – 12 coming via a team-high four 3-pointers – and grabbed a team-best four rebounds.  
 
FGCU connected on seven 3-pointers while the Cardinal went 1-9 in the first half and committed 10 turnovers. The Eagles stayed close in the third period, but the Cardinal used a 10-0 scoring run to avoid the upset. The Cardinal relied on 24 points from returning All-American Haley Jones, 16 from Kiki Iriafen and 13 from returning All-American Cameron Brink.  
 
"We played very well for three quarters," said FGCU women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "They are big and physical. They wore us down and we gave up a lot of easy baskets in the fourth quarter." 
 
FGCU hoisted 26 3-pointers in the first half alone with just five attempts from inside the arc. That strategy helped FGCU to a 14-8 lead as Ezeudu canned three treys and Carter another. Stanford responded with nine straight points in a 13-2 run to take to 21-19 first-quarter edge. 
 
The Green & Blue kept pressing the Cardinal perimeter defense in the second quarter, hitting three more 3-pointers in the period and trailing by just four at the halftime break. 
 
FGCU stayed within reach of Stanford throughout the third quarter as well, despite the Cardinal shooting at a 60 percent clip. Ezeudu hit her fourth 3 to pull within three points at the 7:44 mark and graduate guard Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) banked in a layup at the 4:39 mark to keep the Eagles within four. 
 
Stanford's shooting stayed hot while the Eagles cooled off, making just two treys in the final quarter. The Cardinal used its team size throughout the game to collect 58 rebounds and score 56 points in the paint.
 
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who has compiled the most victories in NCAA Division I women's basketball in her 44-year career, improved her overall record to 1,163-260. Coach Smesko, who owns a winning percentage of .826, ranks ahead of the VanDerveer in all-time winning percentage for active coaches, and trails only Geno Auriemma (.885) and Kim Mulkey (.858).
 
The Eagles play Hawai'i at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, then finish their 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.    
 
Through the first five games of the season, FGCU continues to illustrate its "Raining 3s" mantra and is second in the nation with an average of 11.8 3-pointers per game. 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 614-129 (.826) 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 553-102 (.844) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .844 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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