MIAMI (Jan. 6, 2016) -- Following a tight game Sunday at FAU, the FIU Panthers host their first pair of Conference USA games this weekend, starting with a visit from WKU to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Thursday night at 7 p.m. All home games are streamed on PantherVision, with live stats available at FIUsports.com.
 
Thursday's game features the defending Conference USA champion Hilltoppers, who enter the week at 10-2 overall and winners of their lone league game, an 81-52 home win over Marshall last Saturday. WKU is third in scoring and scoring margin, while leading the league with a .398 three-point shooting percentage and 5.8 blocks-per-game mark.
 
Redshirt junior Kendall Noble and sophomore Tashia Brown are tied for the team lead and tied for third in Conference USA in scoring, at 16.8 points-per-game each. Sophomore Ivy Brown is tops on the team and second in conference with a 9.5 per-game rebounding tally. The Hilltoppers are riding a league-best seven-game win streak entering Thursday night.
 
In their Saturday win, Tashia Brown scored 21 points, while Ivy Brown had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds versus Marshall. The Hilltoppers drained seven threes in the game and coasted to the 29-point win.
 
FIU played a tight game with nine ties and 10 lead changes, including two of each in the fourth quarter, in a five-point, 87-82 loss at FAU on Sunday. The Panthers enter the weekend at 2-10 overall, with the one C-USA loss on their ledger. The Panthers continue to lead the league with a .747 free-throw shooting mark, while sitting third in the league with a .348 three-point shooting percentage this season. Only two Conference USA programs have connected on more three-point baskets than FIU has this year.
 
Senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) leads FIU with a 15.0 points-per-game mark, with senior Destini Feagin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) topping the Panthers with 6.2 rebounds-per-contest. The Panthers have three scorers in double figures, with junior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary) averaging 13.8 points and junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State College) coming in at 12.7 per-contest. Those three represent nearly two-thirds of the team's scoring this season.
 
In Sunday's loss at Florida Atlantic, the Panthers shot over 50 percent in the first half and ended at .493 for the game in the 87-82 result. It was the second-highest scoring output for the Panthers on the season by one point as the game saw season-high scoring performances from Shade (26 points), Alvarado (22) and a season-high eight assists for freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama).
 
The Panthers will host Marshall Saturday at 2 p.m. to complete the conference home weekend series.
 
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWBasketball) for all the latest FIU women's basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.