IRVING, Texas (January 2, 2018) -- FIU sophomore guard Alexis Gordon (Palm Bay, Florida / Covenant Christian) was named the Conference USA Player of the Week, in a vote of the league's media relations coordinators.
 
Gordon had a game for the ages, becoming the second Panther in school history to score 40 points at home, in FIU's 80-70 win over Vermont to end the calendar year. Her nine three-point field goals set a new program record as the team tied the school mark with 13 total in the game.
 
Gordon had an even 20 points in each half on 10-for-14 shooting from the floor, 9-for-12 from three-point range, while hitting all 11 free-throw attempts. She played a season-high 37 minutes. She also grabbed four rebounds, had an assist and a steal, and recorded her first blocked shot of the season in the game.
 
After a timeout, with the Panthers' 14-point lead whittled down to three with just over three minutes remaining, FIU outscored the Catamounts 11-4 down the stretch, the last nine of which were scored by Gordon on back-to-back threes, and three free throws when fouled on another long-range attempt, in the final 2:35 of the contest. Gordon was fouled three times on three-point attempts.
                                                                         
Trailing by two after the first period, FIU outscored Vermont 25-15 in the second quarter, powered by 13 made free throws in the period. Gordon hit all of her eight attempts from the line in that frame, including back-to-back possessions when fouled shooting threes.
 
The individual point total is the most by a Conference USA student-athlete this season, male or female, tied for sixth-most in the country so far in Division I Women's Basketball, and the most for a Panther since Jerica Coley scored 42 in a Conference USA Tournament game against East Carolina in March of 2014. The nine threes are the ninth-most in a single game so far this season in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball.
 
Gordon is the seventh player in team history to reach 40 points and this is the 11^th time the feat has been accomplished by a Panther. She also set career highs for three-point attempts, free throws made and attempted,
 
This is her first Player of the Week honor, with two Freshman of the Week honors last season, the last on January 16 after scoring 15 points in a career-high 52 minutes in the in a triple-overtime win over UTEP on January 12, 2017.

On Monday, Gordon was named the High-Major Women's Basketball Player of the Week by CollegeSportsMadness.com, in addition to that website's C-USA Player of the Week.
 
With junior teammate Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) winning the Player of the Week award a week ago, this is the first time that FIU has won the league's top weekly award in consecutive weeks as a member of Conference USA. The last time FIU had back-to-back league players of the week, it was as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, in January of 2001, when Gergana Slavtcheva won the SBC award on January 15 and 22 of that season.
 
FIU (3-10) will begin Conference USA play at home this week, hosting UTEP Friday night at 7 p.m. before a Sunday showdown with Marshall, tipping off at 2 p.m.
 
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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