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KENNESAW, Ga. – The No. 24 FGCU women's basketball team (27-3 overall, 15-1 ASUN Conference) scored 33 third-quarter points Thursday evening en route to an 82-56 victory over Kennesaw State at the KSU Convocation Center.
 
The Eagles have won nine straight games and 19 of their last 20. FGCU is now the only team with 15 ASUN victories, and remain atop the conference standings – a full game ahead of Liberty. The Green & Blue was the first team to clinch an ASUN Tournament berth, and will host all its ASUN Tournament games if it wins the regular season's final two contests.
 
FGCU is the only active program in the nation to win at least 25 games in 13 straight seasons. FGCU has also recorded 19 straight 20-win seasons dating back to 2004-05.
 
Fifth-year guard Sha Carter (Southfield. Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh) eclipsed the 2,500-point career milestone in the victory, doing so within the first two minutes of the game. Carter almost registered her third double-double of the season – scoring 27 points and grabbing nine rebounds. She also collected three steals.
 
The Owls are now 12-15 overall and 8-8 in the ASUN, and are eighth in conference standings. 


Junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) went for 16 points, and graduate guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) delivered 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior forward Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg HS/Denver) scored 10 points, pulled down six rebounds and chipped in two assists.


"We played a great game tonight," said FGCU head women's basketball coach Karl Smesko. "I really liked our effort defensively.  Sha and Alyza both had excellent performances."
 
The Eagles built an early 10-0 lead, all the points from Carter, before the Owls responded with eight unanswered with 4:16 left. FGCU then unleashed a 9-2 run to lead 19-10 heading into the second quarter.
 
FGCU started the second quarter with a 12-4 burst to expand its advantage to 31-14 before KSU scored 13 points to the Green & Blue's nine to close the gap and trail 40-27 heading into halftime.
 
The Green & Blue came out firing in the third quarter, unleashing a 25-8 run that consisted of eight points from Carter and six from Morehouse to stretch the lead to 65-35.
 
Taking a 36-point cushion into the final 10 minutes, the Eagles fired off back-to-back treys from Ezeudu and redshirt junior guard Brylee Bartram (Tampa, Fla/ Seffner Christian Academy/ Florida/ Vanderbilt) to lead 79-39. From there the Eagles slowed the pace and allowed the Owls to release a 14-3 run but it would not be enough to undo the damage.
 
Smesko played all 12 available players, with eight players scoring at least three points. Graduate guard Jah'Che Whitfield led Kennesaw State with 16 points, and sophomore forward Prencis Harden grabbed six rebounds. 
 
The Eagles remain on the road Saturday, playing at Jacksonville State (15-12) at 5 p.m.
 
The Green & Blue have now hit 356-3-pointers, for an average of 11.9 treys per game – the highest total and per-game average in the country. The Eagles are 1.9 treys per game ahead of Tulsa and Wright State. FGCU has tripled their opponents' treys total, allowing only 118 this season. 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.
 
FGCU is third in the country with a scoring margin of 21.4 points per game – with only South Carolina (32.4) and LSU (28.5) sporting higher scoring margins. The Eagles are currently eighth in the nation in assist/turnover ratio with 1.42.
 
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. 


COACH SMESKO   
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko maintains a record of 637-131 (.829) 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 246-19 (.928) 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 172-6 (.966) 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 576-104 (.847) 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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