Lee Today

The FGCU women's basketball (1-0) team began its 2022-23 regular season with a bang Monday night, as graduate student Tishara Morehouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Western Nebraska CC) led all scorers with 24 points to help lead the Eagles to a 81-62 victory over Old Dominion (0-1) at Alico Arena. 

Morehouse, who was tabbed as ASUN Preseason Player of the Year and is aiming to become a three-time All-ASUN First-Team member, entered Monday night needing just 20 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau in an Eagle uniform. She reached that mark on a driving layup with 5:15 to play. Morehouse now has 1,004 career points, the final three of the night coming via a shot-clock-beating 21-footer with 2:28 remaining. 

"She is outstanding," head coach Karl Smesko said of his fifth-year senior guard. "She is so quick, she can shoot it, she can drive it. She sees space and she is able to get through there. She is so tough to guard, and with her and Alyza (Winston), who is also a super-quick guard, on the floor at the same time it really makes us tough to defend." 

Winston (Muskegon, Mich./Mississippi State) added 22 points for FGCU, graduate Sha Carter (Southfield, Mich./Walsh) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and senior Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Denver) added 10 points off the bench. Old Dominion got 18 points from Makayla Dickens, 14 from Jordan McLaughlin and 10 from Kaye Clark. 

After going 30-3 last season, a campaign that included a No. 20 national ranking, the 2021-22 Eagles were honored prior to Monday's contest. The ASUN regular-season and ASUN tournament championship banners were unveiled and FGCU's 11th NCAA Tournament appearance banner were to a crowded Alico Arena rafters. 

FGCU is now 15-5 all-time in season openers, including a 12-4 mark in the Division I era. Monday's game against Old Dominion marked the fourth straight year the Eagles have opened the season in Alico Arena. FGCU has now won seven straight openers and is now 19-2 all-time in home openers, including a 14-2 record in the Division I era. 

"Both teams are good programs, and both teams have a lot of good players, so this is something that will give each of us a lot to go through," Smesko said. "For us, we have to take care of the ball a lot better than we did. Some of our decision making was a little suspect at times. We have some kids that are really explosive scorers and fortunately we got on a couple runs that gave us a bit of cushion at the end." 

FGCU jumped out to an 18-10 first-quarter lead based on its tenacious defense and yet another barrage of early 3s. Morehouse canned a 3 to expand the Eagles' lead to 11-3 and Winston drained a trey to stave off an Old Dominion flurry and make it 14-10. Graduate student Emma List (Colorado Springs, Colo./Albany) also capped the quarter by stealing an inbounds pass after a made Morehouse layup and banked in two more just before the horn. 

The Eagles continued the hot streak with a 13-2 run to begin the second quarter – which included treys by Winston and junior Seneca Hackley (Colorado Springs, Colo./Saint Mary's) and extended the FGCU lead to 31-12. That advantage was critical, as Old Dominion managed to hold FGCU scoreless in the final 3:35, but still trailed the Eagles 37-29 at halftime.  

The Monarchs – who went 24-10 last season and were picked to finish second in the Sun Belt this season -- chipped away further early in the third quarter, pulling to within seven before FGCU rattled off an 11-3 comeback that finished with a 3 from Ezeudu to make it 52-37. 

FGCU began the fourth quarter a 10-point advantage that quickly became 15 after a 3 from graduate student Kaela Webb (Pontiac, Mich./Providence) and a layup from Carter in the first 1:30 of the period en route to the 19-point victory.  

FGCU looks to continue its non-conference excellence on the road Sunday, traveling to Miami to take on FIU at 2 pm. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The Eagles also jet across the Pacific next week to take on Hawaii in a Bank of Hawaii Classic game as part of a five-game journey to Honolulu. FGCU welcomes Ave Maria to Alico Arena on Dec. 4 with a 3 p.m. start time. 

Original source can be found here.