Box Score MIAMI (Nov. 25, 2012) – The FIU women's basketball team fell to LSU, 76-69, in the championship game of the FIU Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Century Bank Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 2-3 (0-1 SBC) on the year, while the Tigers improve to 3-2 (0-0 SEC).

The opening half saw LSU lead by no more than seven points, as FIU fell behind early but came back to knot the score at 19-19 on a layup from junior Marita Davydova at the 9:18 mark. The Panthers would take their first lead of the contest at 23-21 on another Davydova bucket with just over seven minutes left to play in the stanza, but the Tigers bounced back to take a 38-34 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, LSU took its largest lead of the game at 57-43 with 13:26 left to play before FIU went on a 21-10 run to cut the deficit to three at 67-64 at the 2:07 mark. The
Panthers kept battling but would not get any closer the rest of the way as the Tigers came away with a 76-69 victory.

Junior Jerica Coley led four Panthers in double-figures with 25 points to mark her second-straight 20-plus point outing, while Davydova chipped in with 15 points and seniors Finda Mansare and Carmen Miloglav netted 10 points apiece. Miloglav added a team-leading seven assists on the night.

As a team, FIU shot 39.1 percent (25-of-64) from the floor, including 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from three-point land, led by a 3-of-6 beyond-the-arc performance from Coley. LSU shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field for the contest, shooting 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from the three-point line.

FIU came up big on the boards, out-rebounding LSU by a 45-28 margin, as the Panthers were led by Coley and sophomore Zsofia Labady who each registered nine boards. The Panther defense tallied 12 steals compared to seven for the Tigers, led by Coley's four swipes, and LSU tallied seven blocks against two blocks for FIU.

The Tiger bench out-scored the Panther reserves, 22-4, for the game, and LSU forced 22 FIU turnovers, turning those setbacks into 26 points.

Following the game, Coley and Mansare were named to the FIU Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team along with Adrienne Webb (LSU), Danielle Ballard (LSU), Taylor

Palmer (WVU) and Jaime Printy (Iowa), while LSU's Theresa Plaisance took home MVP honors. FIU women's basketball would like to thank the Miami Dade Tourist
Development Council for their support of the 18th-annual FIU Thanksgiving Classic.

FIU will return to action on Thursday, Nov. 29, when the Panthers host Sun Belt Conference foe Arkansas State. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. at U.S. Century Bank Arena, with the men's basketball team set to square off against the Red Wolves at 7:30 p.m. Both contests will be streamed live for free via FIUSports.com.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBasketball) 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).

About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of the Sun Belt Conference and an affiliate member of Conference USA (men's soccer). Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's 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 and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu