FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU women's basketball (1-0) team began its 2022-23 regular season with a bang Monday night, as graduate student Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Western Nebraska CC) led all scorers with 24 points to help lead the Eagles to a 81-62 victory over Old Dominion (0-1) at Alico Arena. 

Morehouse, who was tabbed as ASUN Preseason Player of the Year and is aiming to become a three-time All-ASUN First-Team member, entered Monday night needing just 20 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in an Eagle uniform. She reached that mark on a driving layup with 5:15 to play. Morehouse now has 1,004 career points, the final three of the night coming via a shot-clock-beating 21-footer with 2:28 remaining. 

"She is outstanding," head coach Karl Smesko said of his fifth-year senior guard. "She is so quick, she can shoot it, she can drive it. She sees space and she is able to get through there. She is so tough to guard, and with her and Alyza (Winston), who is also a super-quick guard, on the floor at the same time it really makes us tough to defend." 

Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Mississippi State) added 22 points for FGCU, graduate Sha Carter (Southfield, Mich./Walsh) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and senior Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Denver) added 10 points off the bench. Old Dominion got 18 points from Makayla Dickens, 14 from Jordan McLaughlin and 10 from Kaye Clark. 

After going 30-3 last season, a campaign that included a No. 20 national ranking, the 2021-22 Eagles were honored prior to Monday's contest. The ASUN regular-season and ASUN tournament championship banners were unveiled and FGCU's 11^th NCAA Tournament appearance banner were to a crowded Alico Arena rafters. 

FGCU is now 15-5 all-time in season openers, including a 12-4 mark in the Division I era. Monday's game against Old Dominion marked the fourth straight year the Eagles have opened the season in Alico Arena. FGCU has now won seven straight openers and is now 19-2 all-time in home openers, including a 14-2 record in the Division I era. 

"Both teams are good programs, and both teams have a lot of good players, so this is something that will give each of us a lot to go through," Smesko said. "For us, we have to take care of the ball a lot better than we did. Some of our decision making was a little suspect at times. We have some kids that are really explosive scorers and fortunately we got on a couple runs that gave us a bit of cushion at the end." 

FGCU jumped out to an 18-10 first-quarter lead based on its tenacious defense and yet another barrage of early 3s. Morehouse canned a 3 to expand the Eagles' lead to 11-3 and Winston drained a trey to stave off an Old Dominion flurry and make it 14-10. Graduate student Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Albany) also capped the quarter by stealing an inbounds pass after a made Morehouse layup and banked in two more just before the horn. 

The Eagles continued the hot streak with a 13-2 run to begin the second quarter – which included treys by Winston and junior Seneca Hackley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Saint Mary's) and extended the FGCU lead to 31-12. That advantage was critical, as Old Dominion managed to hold FGCU scoreless in the final 3:35, but still trailed the Eagles 37-29 at halftime.  

The Monarchs – who went 24-10 last season and were picked to finish second in the Sun Belt this season -- chipped away further early in the third quarter, pulling to within seven before FGCU rattled off an 11-3 comeback that finished with a 3 from Ezeudu to make it 52-37. 

FGCU began the fourth quarter a 10-point advantage that quickly became 15 after a 3 from graduate student Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich./Providence) and a layup from Carter in the first 1:30 of the period en route to the 19-point victory.  

FGCU looks to continue its non-conference excellence on the road Sunday, traveling to Miami to take on FIU at 2 pm. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The Eagles also jet across the Pacific next week to take on Hawaii in a Bank of Hawaii Classic game as part of a five-game journey to Honolulu. FGCU welcomes Ave Maria to Alico Arena on Dec. 4 with a 3 p.m. start time. 
 
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 making a memorable evening for families, businesses, or other organizations. 
  
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! 
 
COACH SMESKO 
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 611-128 (.827) overall in his career, which is 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 (.930) mark in ASUN regular-season play and a 30-2 (.933) 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 550-101 (.845) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green and Blue's .845 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/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 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 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 at 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 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 26 consecutive semesters. The past five 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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