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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The No. 27 FGCU women's basketball team (11-2) plays host to Mercer at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, just 24 hours after dispatching Brown 89-75 in Alico Arena. The Eagles took a 91-81 win at Mercer eight days ago in the first game of the home-and-home nonconference series. The game is available to view on ESPN+.
FGCU has won three straight games, seven of its last eight, and has scored 80 or more points six times this season, including the last two games.
Thursday's game marks the 17th meeting between FGCU and Mercer, former colleagues in the ASUN, with the Eagles holding a 16-0 advantage in the series.
Mercer ran with FGCU for the full 40 minutes on Dec. 21 in Macon, Ga., before falling 91-81. The Bears posted their highest scoring output of the season that night, nearly 20 points higher than their season average of 62.2 points per game. For the Eagles, it was the first road victory in FGCU's Division-I history in which it gave up 80-plus points.
For just the second time in FGCU women's basketball history, three Eagles scored 20-plus points. Fifth-year guard
Tishara Morehouse (
Milwaukee, Wis. /Rufus King/Western Nebraska CC) was the points leader in both games with a season-high 28 in the most recent occurrence. Redshirt junior guard
Alyza Winston (
Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Michigan State/Mississippi State) and graduate guard
Sha Carter (
Southfield, Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) also scored season-high totals of 23 points each. Winston's effort earned her ASUN Newcomer of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Graduate forward Jaron Dougherty led all scorers in the Dec. 21 contest with a career-high 32 points as the Bears shot 54.8 percent from the field against FGCU, the best shooting percentage by an Eagle opponent this season. FGCU also achieved season bests with a 59.3 overall field-goal percentage and 50.0 shooting from behind the arc. FGCU made 11 3-pointers to Mercer's seven and the Eagles outscored the Bears 48-28 in the paint.
Morehouse leads three Eagles in double digits with 15.4 points per game, good for fourth in the ASUN. Winston adds 14.7 points per outing and Carter averages 10.8. Graduate guard
Sophia Stiles (
Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) upped her rebound average to a team-high 5.0 rebounds per game. Graduate guard
Emma List (
Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) and Morehouse are one-two in assists with List with 48 and Morehouse with 47. The two combined for 15 against Brown in Wednesday's game.
Mercer is paced by graduate guard Amoria Neal-Tysor, who scored 20 points against FGCU on Dec. 21 and averages 15.6 points per game. Dougherty and junior forward Summah Evans are first and second in the rebounds column with 5.5 and 5.2 boards per outing, respectively.
FGCU overcame Brown's stern test Wednesday for the 89-75 victory. The Eagles drained a season-high 16 3-pointers in the win with four reaching double figures in scoring. Morehouse posted her fifth game this season with 20 or more points with 20 to go along with her team-best eight assists and three steals.
FGCU has the nation's best average in 3-pointers made per game at 11.2 and has 145 3-pointers this season, more than double the 59 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 621-130 (.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 560-103 (.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 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 and No. 25 in 2022-23) 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 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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