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Game Notes: FGCU vs. Liberty
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Rosters: FGCU | Liberty
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ASUN: Tournament bracket | Tickets
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – After 34 games and five months of unforgettable efforts and moments, the No. 23 FGCU women's basketball team has the chance Saturday night to claim the most coveted spots in its sport: a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
To punch their ticket to the Big Dance, the Eagles (31-3) must overcome the Liberty Flames – one of just three teams to beat them all season – in the ASUN Conference championship game. Tip-off for FGCU-Liberty is set for 7 p.m., and will be available to view on ESPN+. Tickets for the ASUN Conference championship game are on sale now at www.FGCUTickets.com, and at the Alico Arena ticket office.
 
The winner of the ASUN Tournament claims an automatic-qualifier spot in the 2023 version of March Madness. FGCU aims to get there for a conference-record ninth time – joining squads from the 2021-22, 2020-21, 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17, 2014-15, 2013-14, and 2011-12 seasons. An Eagles victory would also mean a record 10^th ASUN Tournament crown.
 
The Eagles have won 13 straight games, and is 15-1 at Alico Arena this season. FGCU is now 55-7 all-time as a ranked team, 32-2 in ASUN tournament play – with five straight ASUN Tournament titles – and is 43-16 all-time in Division I postseason play. The 2022-23 squad enters Saturday's game against Liberty at No. 38 in the NCAA Women's Basketball NET Rankings.
 
FGCU and Connecticut are the only active programs in the nation to win at least 25 games in 13 straight seasons. The Green & Blue joins South Carolina as the only two Division I programs to win 30 or more games in six of the last nine seasons.
 
Getting to the Big Dance, though, means getting past Liberty – which joined current No. 5 Stanford and No. 13 Duke as the only teams to have solved the Eagles in 2022-23. The Flames earned an 88-78 overtime victory against FGCU on Jan. 21 in Lynchburg, Va. That FGCU loss broke a 10-game winning streak that included a 70-53 home victory over Liberty on Jan. 2.
 
Liberty (24-7) rides a 16-game winning streak into Saturday night's ASUN title game, last losing 68-58 at North Florida on Jan. 12. That performance earned the Flames the second seed in the conference tournament, which meant they hosted seventh-seeded Kennesaw State (91-70) and No. 3 Lipscomb (84-56) – victories that set up Round 3 vs. FGCU.
 
Liberty is led by redshirt senior center Mya Berkman, who averages 14.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and earned All-ASUN First Team honors. The Flames average 70.0 points per game, and allow 61.6 per contest.
 
The nation's runaway leader in 3-pointers in 2022-23, the top-seeded Eagles have relied on defensive intensity to qualify for the ASUN title game. FGCU held ninth-seeded Stetson to 40.4 percent from the field in a 66-48 victory, then clamped down on Austin Peay to the tune of 26.9 percent from the floor in a 51-34 semifinal win.
 
FGCU is led by fifth-year guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC), who earned ASUN Conference Player of the Year honors by delivering 15.8 points, 4.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. Graduate guard Sha Carter (Southfield, Mich./Wylie E. Groves HS/Walsh), who was an All-ASUN First-Team honoree and ASUN Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year this season, scores 13.8 points and grabs 6.2 rebounds per game. FGCU scores 77.9 points per game, and allows 55.7 points per outing.
 
The Green & Blue have now hit 399-3-pointers, for an average of 11.7 treys per game – the highest total and per-game average in the country. The Eagles are 1.6 treys per game ahead of Wright State and 1.9 ahead of Tulsa. FGCU has tripled their opponents' treys total, allowing only 129 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 22.2 points per game – with only South Carolina (30.3) and LSU (26.4) sporting higher scoring margins. The Eagles are currently sixth in the nation in assist/turnover ratio with 1.45.
 
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 641-131 (.830) 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 249-19 (.929) mark in ASUN regular-season play and a 32-2 (.939) record in ASUN tournament play. Over the previous 11-plus seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 185-7 (.963) record in conference play with six undefeated seasons. The 13-time ASUN Coach of the Year has led the program to 13 straight 25-win seasons and 19 consecutive 20-win campaigns, including 30-plus wins in six of the last nine years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 580-104 (.848) all-time since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Green & Blue's .848 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 95 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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