MIAMI (Sept. 14, 2016) - The final pieces to the 2016-17 FIU women's basketball schedule have come together with the announcement of the Conference USA dates and opponents for the upcoming season. Following the unveiling last month of the non-conference opponents, the schedule for FIU is complete. The Conference USA schedule completes a two-year matrix, keeping the same two pairs of home-and-home opponents, while flipping the location of the league teams faced only once in 2015-16.
 
Due to the calendar, the league schedule begins with games in the final weekend of 2016, with a road trip to Marshall on Friday, December 30, followed by a New Year's Day game at WKU.
 
The Panthers will open the league's home slate on Saturday, January 7, against Florida Atlantic, in the lone game of that weekend.
 
FIU will again play a home-and-home with the farthest pair of teams in the travel rotation, taking on UTEP and UTSA at home on January 12 and 14, while heading out to San Antonio on February 23 and El Paso on February 25. The order of the travel is flipped from last season for both the women and the men.
 
The longest stretch of league road games begins on January 19, when FIU heads to Middle Tennessee and UAB on the 19^th and 21^st. The Panthers will get the return trip from these two at the end of the season, with MT visiting March 2 and UAB completing the regular season in Miami on March 4. A lone game on Thursday, January 26 completes the month and gives FIU a week off before returning home to resume the regular season.
 
Old Dominion and Charlotte come to Miami the first weekend of February before the first of two trips to Texas in the month. FIU takes on Rice on February 9 and North Texas on Feb. 11. Southern Miss comes to Miami on Thursday, February 16 before a visit from Louisiana Tech on February 18.
 
The Conference USA Championships return to Birmingham, Alabama, from March 7-12, with the same format as last season. The top four teams in the league standings get two byes, with teams seeded five through eight getting one bye.
 
FIU won its opening game in the C-USA Championships last season. In three seasons as a member of the league, the Panthers hold a 4-2 mark in the tournament. FIU made a two-win improvement over the 2014-15 campaign.
 
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/.