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FORT MYERS, Fla. – The No. 26 FGCU women’s basketball team (7-1) aims to defend The Nest again Thursday night as the Eagles host Palm Beach Atlantic (4-2) at 7 p.m. inside the Alico arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Winners of seven consecutive home games at Alico Arena, the Greens and Blues are on a three-game winning streak with the only setback coming against No.2 Stanford.
Palm Beach Atlantic has won back-to-back games, beating Rollins 65-59 on Nov. 30 and Saint Leo 70-62 on Saturday. Sophomore guard Jahnae Midget leads the Sailfish with 11.0 points per game, and junior forward Mariyah Fletcher is shooting a team-best 8.7 rebounds per game.
This is the ninth meeting between the FGCU and the PBA, but only the second since 2007. The Eagles lead the series 8-0 and have five wins at Alico Arena, including last season’s 80-52 win (9 December 2021).
FGCU beat Sailfish 40-22 in the second half en route to the 80-52 win. The Eagles scored 37 points on 30 Sailfish turnovers and the FGCU bench outscored the PBA bench 40-10.
junior guard Alyza Winston (Muskegon, Michigan/Muskegon HS/Mississippi State) has scored in double figures in all but one game this year and leads the FGCU with 15.9 points per game. Graduate guard Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King HS/Nebraska CC) has two 20-plus-point outings in 2022-23 averaging 13.3 points per game.
Fifth year guard Sophie Stiles (Malta, Mont./Malta HS/Montana) is pulling down a team-best 5.3 rebounds per game. Morehouse and Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colorado/Discovery Canyon Campus/Albany) each have 29 assists and Morehouse leads the team with 16 steals.
Les Verts et Bleus added 14 3-pointers to the season total, now 90, for an average of 11.2 treys per game – the highest average in the country. The Eagles have more than doubled their opponents’ total, allowing just 39 this season.
The FGCU’s run to its 2021-22 national standings was due to the Eagles’ continued dominance behind the 3-point arc. The Eagles have led the nation in three games per game the past three years and in four of the past five seasons — with an NCAA single-season record of 431 in 2017-18.
FGCU ends its three-game homestand on Sunday, facing Duke at 1 p.m.
Going into this season, the Eagles have been selected by both 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 No. 20 ranking, the best program ever, in 2021-22 and finished in the Top four times 25 in the past five seasons. Moreover, only the Greens and Blues 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 receive news about FGCU women’s basketball and other programs 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 online at www.FGCUTickets.com or by calling 866-FGCU-TIX. Group tickets can also be purchased for 10 or more – making a memorable evening for families, businesses or other organizations.
SMESKO COACH
FGCU Head Coach Karl Smesko maintains a career record of 617-129 (.827) overall, the third-highest winning percentage among active Division I coaches behind only UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey. He also led the Eagles to a 232-18 (.928) ASUN regular season record and a 30-2 (.938) ASUN tournament record. In the previous 10 seasons, he guided FGCU to a 153-5 (.968) conference record with six undefeated seasons. The 12-time ASUN Coach of the Year has led the program to 12 consecutive 25-win seasons and 18 consecutive 20-win campaigns, including more than 30 wins in five of the last eight years. On top of all that, the Eagles are 556-102 (.845) since Smesko started the program in the 2002-03 season, and the Greens and Blues’ all-time winning percentage of .845 is the best in NCAA Division I. the history of women’s basketball.
EAGLE CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our new goal – a $10 million campaign to address the needs of student-athletes for continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, strength and conditioning, as well as the department’s needs for facility expansion and improvements as well as mentorship and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the goal of the EAGLE – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence campaign. Join our team and pledge your donation 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), the charities choice of FGCU Athletics. For more information, including how to contribute, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and use the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT THE FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 93 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just over 11 seasons of playoff eligibility DI, the Eagles have had a total of 46 teams or individuals competing in the NCAA Championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn an NCAA Tournament berth. Eight FGCU programs ranked in the top 25 nationally in their respective sports, including women’s basketball (#20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (#20, 2022) and men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s football. (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Greens and Blues posted the department’s best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top 100 nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and Florida State’s top seven teams won the NCAA Public Recognition Award for their rate of academic progression in their sport. FGCU also collectively achieved a record 3.50 in-class GPA in the fall 2020 semester and outperformed the general undergraduate college population for 26 consecutive semesters. Over the past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022), another milestone has been reached, with all 15 programs achieving a cumulative team average of 3.0 or higher. The Eagles also served an all-time high of 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two finalists for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
—FGCUATHLETICS.COM—
