Box Score MIAMI (Dec. 15, 2012) – Behind a career performance from junior Jerica Coley, the FIU women's basketball team picked up its third-straight victory on Saturday night, defeating Dartmouth, 64-57, at U.S. Century Bank Arena. With the win, the Panthers improve to 5-4 (1-2 SBC), while the Big Green fall to 1-8 (0-0 Ivy).

The first half saw Dartmouth take control and go into the locker room at halftime with a 32-25 advantage. Out of the break, the Big Green pushed its lead to 11 at 42-31 with 15:20 remaining in the contest, but FIU kept pushing back, eventually taking a 48-47 lead on a Coley jumper at the 9:04 mark.

Both squads battled the rest of the way, fighting to a 55-55 tie with 2:40 left to play, before Coley converted a three-point play to give FIU a 58-55 advantage. The 2012-13
Preseason Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year would then go a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line over the final 2:30 of the game to lift the Panthers to a 64-57 victory.

Coley scored FIU's last 11 points, ending the contest with a career-high 39 points on 12-of-23 shooting from floor, including a 2-of-6 mark from the three-point line, and a 13-of-14 performance from the charity stripe. The point guard also contributed a career-high six steals, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a full 40 minutes of action.

A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Coley has now scored in double-figures in eight of nine games this season while notching five, 20-plus point games, including a pair of 30-plus point outings. Through 75 career contests, Coley has scored 1,494 points, a mark which ranks seventh all-time at FIU, as she stands just five points away from moving into a
tie for sixth place and 12 points from breaking into the top-five.

Junior Marita Davydova led FIU on the boards against Dartmouth with 11 rebounds, as the Big Green out-rebounded the Panthers, 35-30, for the contest. FIU tallied a season-high-tying 12 steals on the night, forcing a season-high 17 turnovers and converting those setbacks into 18 points.

As a team, FIU shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) from the field, while Dartmouth shot 43.1 percent (25-of-58) from the floor. The Panthers continued to be stellar from the free throw line, posting an 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) mark, as FIU held a No. 4 national ranking in free throw percentage as of Dec. 11.

FIU will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 20, as the Panthers jump back into Sun Belt Conference action at Middle Tennessee. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET from the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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/.