Box score | FGCU season stats

HONOLULU – Playing its third game in three days in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown, the No. 26 FGCU women's basketball team (6-1) held off Grambling State 73-67 on Sunday, using a 22-16 fourth quarter to best the Tigers. FGCU went 4-1 during its trip to the Aloha State – defeating Hawai'i 65-45 and San Diego 68-60 in the 2022 Bank of Hawaii Classic before Thanksgiving. The Eagles posted a 2-1 record this weekend, with Sunday's win, a 63-50 victory over Hawai'i and a 93-69 setback to No. 2 Stanford.
 
Four Eagles scored in double figures in the Grambling State win, led by fifth-year guard Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich./Detroit Country Day HS/Detroit Mercy/Providence) with a game-high 18 points. Webb scored seven critical points in the fourth quarter, all from the free-throw line.
 
Fifth-year guard Sophia Stiles (Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) dropped 17 points, six in the final period, and snared a team-best nine rebounds. Junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) added 15 points, and senior forward Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg HS/Denver) chipped in 14 points off the bench. 
 
"Grambling played great today," said FGCU head women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "We didn't handle their pressure well. Fortunately, Kaela, Sophia and Juice (Ezeudu) played great. We did play a good fourth quarter. (Graduate guard) Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) showed great toughness as usual. And Alyza was aggressive and got to the free-throw line for us." 
 
A feisty Grambling State (1-7) squad grabbed a 27-24 lead with 4:39 to go in the first half despite three Tigers sitting on the bench in foul trouble. Winston's 3-pointer seconds later tied the game at 27 and she added a three-point play as part of a 7-3 FGCU burst to re-take the lead, 34-32. With just four ticks left before the halftime horn, Grambling State's Phylicia Allen (16 points) made a second-chance triple to put the Tigers up 35-34 at the break. Grambling State matched FGCU in 3-pointers with four in the first half, but held a 15-11 advantage in overall field goals.
 
Grambling State used a 5-0 scoring spurt to take a 45-38 lead midway through the third quarter. Ezeudu scored the next five points for FGCU with a layup and then a trey, to pull the Eagles within two, 45-43. The two teams traded a pair of layups and Stiles took a Tiger turnover in for a layup for a 51-50 lead. Grambling State hit a free throw at the end of the quarter to even the score at 51. 
 
The fourth quarter witnessed four lead changes and three ties as Grambling stayed in the lead until Stiles hit a jumper to tie the game at 56 at the 6:31 mark. FGCU Stiles wiped out a three-point FGCU deficit by herself early in the fourth quarter, hitting a triple then converting the foul shot with 6:29 to play.
 
Neither team led by more than one over the next two minutes when FGCU took its largest lead of the period to that point at 61-58 off two made Webb free throws. The Tigers knotted the game at 61 on a Colbi Maples trey, but the Eagles would counter with a 7-0 run to go up 68-61 with 1:55 left.
 
In that 7-0 run, Ezeudu scored five of the Eagles' points and pulled down two key defensive rebounds. Ezeudu had 10 of her 14 total points in the second half.
 
Winston added a jumper to maintain the seven-point lead, and the Eagles sealed the 73-67 victory with Webb's four straight free throws. 
 
FGCU returns to the mainland and back to Alico Arena for a home test against Ave Maria on Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. The game will be telecast on ESPN+. 
 
Through the first seven games of the season, FGCU continues to build on its "Raining 3s" trademark, and ranks in the top five nationally with an average of 10.9 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 616-129 (.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 555-102 (.845) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .845 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.
 
---FGCUATHLETICS.COM---