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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The No. 28 FGCU women's basketball team (13-2 overall, 1-0 ASUN) continues its defense of the ASUN Conference at 7 p.m. Thursday when it takes on the visiting Jacksonville Dolphins (7-4, 1-0). The game is the final in the Green & Blue's four-game homestand – a run that has FGCU 3-0. The game will be available to view on ESPN+.
FGCU has won five straight overall, nine of its last 10, and has won either ASUN Player of the Week or ASUN Newcomer of the Week for the past three weeks.
Thursday's game marks the 36th meeting between FGCU and Jacksonville, and the Eagles lead the series 32-3 dating back to 2008. FGCU downed the Dolphins 78-55 on Feb. 26, 2022, at Alico Arena. The Green & Blue led 25-11 through the first quarter and never looked back – sealing the Eagles 26
th win for the 2021-22 season and sending them to the 2022 ASUN Championships with the No. 1 seed. FGCU standout and future All-American
Kierstan Bell scored 23 points while graduate guard
Tishara Morehouse (
Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) added 21 points to help defeat the Dolphins for a second time that season.
Jacksonville is riding a two-game winning streak after a 77-64 victory against Bellarmine on Monday. Sophomore guard Jalisa Dunlap led the Dolphins with 21 points and four steals. JU also earned a 74-54 win against Florida A&M on Dec. 29, with redshirt senior guard DeShari Graham delivering 21 points, six rebounds and four steals.
The Dolphins ranks fourth in the ASUN with 71.2 points per game and are sixth defensively, allowing 61.5 points per outing.
FGCU is coming off a 70-53 league-opening win against Liberty on Monday at Alico Arena. Three Eagles scored in double digits – led by fifth-year guard
Sha Carter (
Southfield, Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) who delivered 17 points in her eighth double-digit scoring game of the season.
Redshirt junior guard
Alyza Winston (
Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Michigan State/Mississippi State) scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half, and Morehouse added 11 points. Graduate guard
Sophia Stiles (
Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Morehouse leads three Eagles this season with 15.1 points per game, good for second in the ASUN. Winston adds 14.4 points per outing, and
Carter delivers 10.4 per game. Stiles is the leading rebounder with 5.2 rebounds per game. List and Morehouse are one-two in assists, with List at 59 and Morehouse at 54.
Fifth-year guard
Kaela Webb (
Pontiac, Mich./Detroit Country Day HS/Detroit Mercy/Providence) and Morehouse leads the Green & Blue with 25 3-pointers each. Webb ranks first in the ASUN with a 50.0 percent 3-point shooting percentage, tied for eighth nationally.
The Eagles leave The Nest on Saturday, taking on North Alabama in Florence, Ala., at 7 p.m.
FGCU has made the most 3-pointers in the country, hitting 162 treys so far in 2022-23, and ranks first nationally at 10.8 per game. The Green & Blue have allowed opponents only 60 3s, a 4.3-per-game clip. 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 623-130 (.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 233-18 (.932) 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 154-5 (.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 562-103 (.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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