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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The No. 32 FGCU women's basketball team (19-3 overall, 7-1 ASUN Conference) ends their two-game homestand Saturday night by taking on Bellarmine (7-14, 3-5) at Alico Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., with the action available to view on ESPN+.
FGCU has won 15 of its last 17 games – including an 84-61 home victory over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday night. The Eagles are tied for first place with Lipscomb (13-7, 7-1) in the ASUN standings, and are a full game ahead of 6-2 Austin Peay and Liberty.
Bellarmine is coming off a 50-48 loss at Stetson on Thursday night. Freshman center Gracie Merkle scored a game-high 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Merkle is also the Knights' leading scorer, delivering 16.0 points per game – an average that ranks her second in the ASUN. Merkle also leads her team in rebounds with 11.2 per outing, good for first in the league. The 6-foot-6 center has earned ASUN Newcomer of the Week six times and ASUN Player of the Week twice.
Saturday's game will be the fourth meeting between FGCU and the Knights, with the Eagles leading 3-0. The Green & Blue recorded a 98-66 victory over Bellarmine on Jan. 29, 2022, at Alico Arena in their last matchup.
The Eagles scored 45 first-half points Thursday night en route to their 23-point victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Green & Blue have now won seven consecutive home games and 11 of its last 12 in The Nest.
Graduate guard
Sha Carter (
Southfield. Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) recorded 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dealt two assists. Redshirt junior guard
Brylee Bartram (
Tampa, Fla/ Seffner Christian Academy/ Florida/ Vanderbilt) delivered 15 points via five of FGCU's 13 3-pointers.
Graduate guard
Sophia Stiles (
Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) added 14 points and pulled down six rebounds. Graduate guard
Tishara Morehouse (
Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) scored 12 points and dealt eight assists.
Morehouse leads the Eagles this season with 16.2 points per game, which ranks her second in the ASUN. Winston adds 14.1 points per outing, and Carter adds 11.7 points per game.
Stiles continues to lead FGCU in rebounding with 5.0 per game. Graduate guard
Emma List (
Colorado Springs, Colo./Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) leads the team with 99 assists, and Morehouse is close behind with 83. Morehouse also leads the Green & Blue with 42 3-pointers, with Winston close behind with 40 triples.
After Saturday's game, the Eagles will hit the road Feb. 4 to face Jacksonville (9-9, 3-5) at 7 p.m.
The Green & Blue have hit 246 3-pointers, for an average of 11.2 treys per game, this season – the highest total and per-game average in the country. The Eagles have more than doubled their opponents' treys total, allowing only 93 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. 4 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 629-131 (.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 238-19 (.926) 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 164-6 (.965) 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 569-104 (.845) 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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