Box Score FGCU-Mercer box score | updated FGCU stats

MACON, Ga. – The No. 27 FGCU women's basketball team (10-2) responded to a hot-shooting Mercer team on the road with some explosiveness of its own in the 91-81 win Wednesday at Hawkins Arena. Graduate guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) poured in a season-high 28 points, 13 in the fourth quarter alone, to help secure the victory.
 
Morehouse finished the game a scintillating 10-for-11 from the floor. She tied for game-high honors for her five assists and had a game-best two steals.
 
"This was a very tough game because Mercer played great," said FGCU women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "Fortunately, we had a lot of players have huge games. TK and Sha had big nights, and this was Alyza's biggest game this season." 
 
The victory marked the first time in FGCU's Division I era that the Eagles came away with a win when allowing more than 80 points. The Eagles have won six of their last seven games overall and improved to 5-0 in true away games. FGCU playing the Bears for the first time since 2014, kept its streak of wins, now 16, over Mercer intact. The two teams will meet again in Alico Arena on Thursday, Dec. 29.
 
Morehouse's offensive effort wasn't the only stellar performance for FGCU. Junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) and fifth-year guard Sha Carter (Southfield, Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) each scored 23 points – season highs for both Eagles. Winston went 10-16 from the floor and made three of FGCU's 11 3-pointers. Carter also made three treys as part of her 9-12 outing. 
 
FGCU needed every bit of offense against an efficient Bears squad. The Bears got a career-high 32 points from Jaron Dougherty and shot 54.8 percent from the field, the best shooting percentage by an Eagles' opponent this season. FGCU also achieved a season best in that category at 59.3 percent. With rebounds, turnovers, and fouls equal, the Eagles eeked out their extra points in 3-point field goals with 11 to the Bears' seven and capitalized on opportunities to score in the paint with 48 points to Mercer's 28.
 
Morehouse led a trio of Eagles with double figures in points with 12 at the break and a perfect 5-5 mark from the field as the game's six ties and six lead changes all came in the first 20 minutes. The Bears hovered around the 70 percent mark in field goal percentage before finishing at 62.1 percent on 18-of-29 shooting. FGCU was slightly better, checking in at 64.3 percent on 18-of-28 shooting, and led 44-39 at the break. 
 
Carter scored seven points in a 10-2 FGCU run early in the third quarter to expand the FGCU lead to 57-46. Winston also canned a trey with less than two minutes in the quarter to go up by 13 at 65-52, the Eagles' largest lead of the night. Mercer responded by rattling off a quarter-ending 6-0 run and trailed by seven, 65-58, after three periods. 
 
Mercer cut the deficit to four points early in the fourth quarter, but Morehouse capped the 9-2 run with a fast-break layup to extend the lead to 11 at 74-63 with 7:17 to go. The Bears would to get to within five with 3:48 remaining, but Morehouse iced four free throws in the final minute to secure the win.
 
Fifth-year guard Sophia Stiles (Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) pulled down a team-high six rebounds for FGCU, and Winston and Carter each had five rebounds. Dougherty pulled down a game-high seven rebounds for Mercer.  
 
FGCU is among the nation's leaders with 10.8 treys per game and has 129 3-pointers this season, more than double the 57 total it allows its opponents. 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 total 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 No. 3 in 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 women'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 620-130 (.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 559-103 (.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 94 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 47 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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