Bell leads No. 23 FGCU women to ASUN title, 8th NCAA berth

Posted March 12, 2022 6:00 am

The Associated Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Kierstan Bell scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half to lead No. 23 Florida Gulf Coast to its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament berth with a 69-54 win over Jacksonville State in the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament on Saturday night.

Bell had all four of her 3-pointers after the break when the Eagles went 8 of 13 behind the arc after a 2 of 18 performance in the first half.

Tishara Morehouse added 17 points for FGCU (29-2), which was playing in its 11th-straight championship game, wining its eighth.

Kiana Johnson and Kennedy Gavin each had 13 points for the Gamecocks (24-7), who just finished their most successful season at the Division I level. Jacksonville State, which has never been to the NCAA Tournament, lost ASUN title games in 1997 and 1999 before spending the last 18 years in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Bell scored 13 points in the third quarter, draining her third 3-pointer with nine seconds left for the biggest lead of the game to that point at 51-43, but Shawnta Shaw raced up court and banked in a 3 at the buzzer for Jacksonville State.

A Bell layup and a Kerstie Phills 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter put the Eagles up 56-46 and a Bell 3-pointer made it a 12-point lead, but the Gamecocks hung tough.

Then Emma List completed a three-point play with 3:23 to play and Bell stole the inbounds pass, setting up Kendall Spray for a back-breaking 3-pointer that made it 65-52 six seconds later.

The Gamecocks scored the last four points of the first quarter to lead 19-16. Morehouse hit a 3-pointer to tie the game in the second quarter, and her layup at the buzzer after a turnover knocked the Jacksonville State lead down to 32-30.

Bell, a junior, is the only underclassman in the FGCU starting lineup but has already said she would depart for the WNBA. Only four of the 14 Eagles who got into the game will be back next season.

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More AP women's basketball: https://apnews.com/Womenscollegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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