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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The No. 26 FGCU women's basketball team (17-2 overall, 5-0 ASUN Conference) delivered a season-high 17 3-pointers Saturday night to defeat Central Arkansas 86-31 at Alico Arena. The victory was the Green & Blue's ninth consecutive win at The Nest – eight of which have come in 2022-23.  
 
The Eagles maintained their lead in the ASUN standings, one game ahead of Austin Peay and Lipscomb. Central Arkansas, which brought only eight players to Southwest Florida, fell to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in the conference. 
 
Saturday's 55-point margin of victory was just two points shy of FGCU's highest of the season, a 93-36 thumping of Palm Beach Atlantic on Dec. 8.
 
Graduate guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) and redshirt junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) each scored a game-high 16 points. That marks Morehouse's 15^th double-digit scoring game of the season and her fourth consecutive time leading the Eagles in scoring. Winston earned her 16^th double-digit points night and also marked her fourth stint as FGCU's top scorer. 
 
Graduate guard Sha Carter (Southfield. Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) delivered 11 points and grabbed two rebounds. Graduate guard Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and dealt a team-high seven assists. 
 
"I thought we played really well, especially good defensively," said FGCU head women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "We really tried to limit them around the rim and offensively we really shared the ball. I liked our patience and we shot pretty well. I was really happy with our second half and we went to some of our subs and they worked really well to make it a positive game for us."  
 
The Green & Blue started hot, as Morehouse swished a triple in the first six seconds of the game. FGCU then embarked on a 7-2 scoring burst for a 13-6 lead. Both teams would only score three points in the final six minutes of the first quarter, though, and the Eagles led 16-10. 
 
FGCU got to work in the second quarter, cranking out a 20-6 run that included 11 points from Winston to lead 36-16 with 3:14 to play before halftime. The Sugar Bears would made only one layup in the final three minutes, while the Eagles added seven more points to go into the break with a 43-18 advantage. 
 
The offensive barrage continued in the third quarter, as graduate guard Sophia Stiles (Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) delivered a 3-pointer to open a 14-2 run that featured five points from Winston and four from Carter to stretch it to 57-20. 
 
Senior guard Brylee Bartram (Tampa, Fla./Seffner Christian Academy/Florida/Vanderbilt) would also register back-to-back treys as FGCU would go into the final quarter leading 65-22. 

The 3-point barrage didn't stop in the final 10 minutes, as FGCU let fly nine more. Fifth-year guard Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich./Detroit Country Day/Detroit Mercy/Providence) delivered the first triple, and the Eagles outscored UCA 13-7 with five points from senior forward Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg HS/Denver) to lead 78-31. 
 
The Eagles defense shut out Central Arkansas in the game's final three minutes, and both junior guard Maddie Antenucci (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill)  and Bartram hit 3s before the final buzzer.  
Smesko once again played 12 players, 11 of them earning at least 10 minutes of playing time, and 10 Eagles scored at least three points. 

Sophomore guard Kinley Fisher led Central Arkansas with eight points, and junior forward Kyjai Miles pulled down a team-high six rebounds.  
 
The Eagles hit the road next week, taking on Queens (N.C.) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., before heading to Lynchburg, Va., to play Liberty (8-7, 2-2) at 7 p.m. Jan. 21. 
 
The Green & Blue have now hit 210 3-pointers, for an average of 11.1 treys per game – the highest average in the country. The Eagles have more than doubled their opponents' treys total, allowing only 78 this season. 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. 2 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 627-130 (.828) 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 237-18 (.929) mark in ASUN regular-season play and a 30-2 (.938) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the previous 10-plus seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 156-5 (.969) 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 565-103 (.846) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .846 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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