MIAMI (November 8, 2016) -- A new head coach and a new mindset leads the way for the 2016-17 FIU Panthers women's basketball team. Elevated from assistant to now head coach, Tiara Malcom leads the FIU squad, which returns most of the roster from last season.
 
Only four of the 13 letterwinners were lost from last season's squad, and the team gets back 2015 Conference USA Freshman of the Year Kiandre'a Pound (Gifford, Florida / Sebastian River HS), who returns after missing last season. Three new freshman and Pound bolster the roster, which returns nearly 65 percent of the scoring and rebounding from last season.
 
"Whenever you start something new, we close one chapter and open another," said Malcom, who is in her second year at FIU, but first as a head coach. "I and several of our staff already had a relationship with the returning players. The conversations and interactions aren't the same from when you are an assistant to a head coach, but I just want them to know I am a consistent person. We tried to do a lot of off the court things to build chemistry and team building to prepare for this season."
 
The emphasis for this season is defense, something Malcom and her teams were known for as a player at Delaware. And something she tried to instill as Acting Head Coach for the last four games of the season, guiding FIU to an opening-round victory in the Conference USA Tournament in March
 
"We want to take care of the defensive end of the court," Malcom said. "A lot of what we will do is predicated on defense. If you take care of the defensive end, it transitions and flows into the offensive side. It's a steady fight every day to try to get them into that mentality to take care of our business on the defensive end of the floor. That is also rebounding and being tough."
 
The Panthers will try to cut into a 10 rebound-per-game deficit versus opponents last season, and better perimeter defense will aid in that effort. FIU hopes that effort will reduce the opponent scoring from a year ago.
 
The Panthers were hampered with injuries to two key post players, forcing bigger guards to have to defend inside. For that reason, the majority of the scoring last season came from the backcourt.
 
Senior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Lakewood HS / Gulf Coast State College) returns with 12.6 points per game, tops among returning players. She led the team in scoring in 10 games during the previous season. She also led the team with 63 steals, the sixth-most in Conference USA. Her 4.9 rebounds per contest is also tops among players back in 2016-17.
 
FIU's best post player last season, senior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary), will be the rim protector this season. She led the team in scoring in the non-conference and finished at 10.3 points per contest as one of two players on the squad to play in every game last year. Her .447 field goal percentage and 19 blocks were the best on the team last season and she will be looked upon to anchor the team from the inside again this year.
 
One of the bright surprises from last season was the play of then-freshman point guard Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama). Hudson was the team leader in minutes played, averaging 35 minutes per game, fifth-most in the league, and was one of 10 players in Conference USA to top 100 assists, finishing seventh with an average of four assists per game. She finished fourth on the team last season with a 9.9 points-per-game average. She was also second-best on the squad in free throws made and percentage.
 
Pound comes back after leading the 2014-15 squad in scoring, with 14.9 points per game. Her scoring and rebound totals from two seasons ago would have been first on last year's squad. A fierce rebounder, she had more offensive rebounds (97) two years ago than all Panthers but Alvarado had on the defensive end last season. No doubt her re-addition will be a boost for the squad on the glass and from a scoring output.
 
FIU's talented freshman class will add some needed depth to both the point guard and off guard positions. Kayla Rogers (Jacksonville, Florida / Jean RIbault) and Alexis Gordon (Palm Bay, Florida / Covenant Christian) will bolster the back court, while newcomer Sydney Fields (Conyers, Georgia) will get minutes in the front court.
 
"I told the freshmen you will have the opportunity to play right away," added Malcom. "We're going to throw you into the fire. I want us to be consistent and I want us to compete. We just want to get better every day. Just win today and try to be better on the next day."
 
The Panthers will play nine of their 11 non-conference games in November and December at home, including six teams that played in the 2016 postseason. Including the Conference USA slate, 11 opponents on the schedule had postseason experience this past March. The docket begins with UCF on Friday, November 11, the first game of a home doubleheader with the men's squad. The women tip at 5 p.m.
 
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log on to 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/.