FORT MYERS, Fla. – A 14-0 run in the third quarter was the difference maker as the No. 22 and top-seeded FGCU women's basketball team pulled away from North Florida in the ASUN Championship Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Alico Arena. The Eagles improved to 27-2 overall and advance to their 11^th straight ASUN Championship Tournament semifinals, while the Ospreys fell to 13-17 overall to end their season.
 
The Eagles, the top seed in the East Division, will face the winner of #3 East Stetson against #2 West North Alabama which started later Sunday afternoon. That game will be played Wednesday night (7 PM) at Alico Arena and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
"Today was definitely a tough game and I give North Florida a lot of credit for how well prepared they were. At the end of the third, we had that nice run with Kendall hitting a couple of big threes for us," said head coach Karl Smesko. "She was outstanding tonight and we had some big performances from Kierstan [Bell] with another great scoring night, Emma [List] who was guarding their best player, Karli [Seay] with some great energy off the bench, and TK [Morehouse] with seven assists and no turnovers. Today was a big win for us and now it's time to get ready for Wednesday night."
 
The Green and Blue were led by a season-high 24 points from Kendall Spray and 22 points from Kierstan Bell. Spray hit seven three pointers, one shy of tying the FGCU single-game record, while adding four rebounds and three steals. The sharp-shooter when 7-of-9 from beyond the arc giving her 454 for her career which now ranks fourth all-time in NCAA history.
 
Bell was 10-of-20 from the floor and added a stat filled scoresheet with seven rebounds, five blocks, and three steals in the game.
 
Tishara Morehouse rounded out FGCU's top performers with 14 points, a game-high seven assists, and three steals. She finished the game without committing a single turnover while the Eagles as a team had just five for the game which tied their season low.
 
North Florida was led by 16 points from Emma Broermann and Jaida Bond. Broerman nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Jazz Bond scored 10 points to round out the top scorers for the afternoon.
 
The first quarter featured runs by each team as FGCU jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first five minutes before the Ospreys used a 12-to-0 run to pull back ahead 17-16 with 1:57 remaining. Morehouse and Spray each hit lay-ups after that to give the Eagles a 20-17 lead heading into the second.
 
FGCU used a 12-to-2 run to start the second pushing the lead to 13, 32-19, but went scoreless for the last 4:14 before halftime. UNF scored seven points in that span cutting the Eagles lead to 32-26 at the intermission.
 
The first five minutes of the third saw both teams trade baskets before the Eagles put together a 14-to-0 run capped by back-to-back Spray three pointers giving FGCU a 53-39 lead at the 1:31 mark.
 
The Ospreys cut the lead to 10 at the end of the third and once early in the fourth, but FGCU hit three three-pointers in the final stanza, including a Seay bomb from near half court to beat the shot clock, to go up by as many as 17 points. In the final minute, the Ospreys scored six straight to pull back within 10.
 
For the game, FGCU was 10-of-33 from deep, while UNF was just 5-of-18. The Eagles converted 18 Ospreys turnovers into 20 points while giving up just five points off their own five miscues.
 
With the win, the Green and Blue advances to its 11^th straight ASUN semifinal appearance and won its 15^th straight ASUN tournament game.
 
#2 East Liberty won its quarterfinal game to advance to the semifinals as well and will face the winner of #4 East Jacksonville and #1 West Jacksonville State.
 
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!
 
SUPPORT THE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM
Do you enjoy watching or following the FGCU women's basketball program? Would you like to play a role in the growth of the program and help take it to heights never before experienced? If so, you can reach out to Director of Advancement, Matt Ring, about opportunities to make an impact on the experiences of our student-athletes. He can be reached by email at mring@fgcu.edu or by office phone at 239-745-4434.

COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 607-127 (.826) 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 28-2 (.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 four of the past seven years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 546-100 (.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 89 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. 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 three 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 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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—