FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Tishara Morehouse scored 20 points and distributed six assists as Florida Gulf Coast cruised to an 84-60 win over Liberty in the Atlantic Sun Conference championship game on Saturday night, earning the Eagles their seventh straight and ninth overall tournament title.
Florida Gulf Coast (32-3) claims the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
The top 3-point shooting team in Division I averaging 11.7 made 3s per game, the Eagles hit 14 of 28 from beyond the arc. They now have hit 413 3s this season. Emma List, who had not scored in double digits all season, knocked down 4 of 6 from deep to finish with 16 points, seven assists and five steals.
Liberty came into the game seeded No. 2 in the tournament and one of just three teams to post wins over FGCU this season, beating the top-seeded Eagles 88-78 on overtime at Lynchburg, Virginia.
The Flames trailed by a point after one quarter but Morehouse, the ASUN Conference Player of the Year, drilled a 3 with 39 seconds left in the half to send the Eagles into intermission with a 38-28 advantage.
Later, her 3 with just over two minutes left in the third pushed the lead to 58-36. Dee Brown scored a layup and Emma Hess drilled a 3 from the top of the key to cut the deficit to 15 going into the fourth. List, Sha Carter and Maddie Antenucci hit 3s in less than a minute early in the fourth quarter to make it 73-50.
Carter finished with 15 points and six rebounds for FGCU and Antenucci made 3 of 4 from deep to score 14 points
Liberty (24-8) got 15 points from Kennedi Williams and Mya Berkman scored 13.
__
AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25