COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Dec. 16, 2013) - The FIU women's basketball team (3-5) defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 70-65, Monday night from the Eblen Center, making it back-to-back victories for the Panthers.

Senior Jerica Coley registered 25 points, shooting 8-of-17 from the floor and going 8-of-9 from the line while collecting seven rebounds. The two-time Sun Belt Conference
Player of the Year and 2013-14 Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year extended her streak to 38-straight games scoring in double-figures, dating back to her junior year. It's the 30th time since the 2012-13 season that Coley has scored 20-or-more points. 

Redshirt junior Arielle Durant scored a season-high 11 points following a 4-of-9 shooting performance, hitting both her shots from the charity stripe. Sophomore Taylor Shade collected 12 points, the second-highest total for her this season, shooting 50 percent for the night. Junior Tynia McKinzie was one point shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and a team-best 10 boards. Redshirt junior Brianna Wright finished with nine points in 31 minutes.

After going basket-for-basket through the first four minutes, the Panthers went ahead, 8-6, at the 15:08 mark from a Coley jumper. McKinzie's layup with just under 13 minutes remaining spotted FIU a 3-point, 13-10, lead. After TTU knotted the score at 14-all coming off a media timeout, FIU went on a quick 5-point run just shy of 9:30 remaining in the first half. Junior Kamika Idom's layup and a Coley trey put FIU ahead, 19-14. The Golden Eagles battled back to tie the score at 19-19, ultimately pulling ahead, 23-20. Two made free-throws from Wright and a Shade jumped evened the game at 23-all with 5:10 remaining. Coley drained both her free-throws, with Wright draining her two shots under one minute later, to put FIU ahead, 29-26. The Panthers went into the half leading 33-29.

Coley led all scorers though the first 20 minutes with 16 points, going 5-of-9 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line, which extended her streak to five-straight halves without missing from the line. McKinzie tallied five points while Shade and Wright each added four points. Shade also led the team with four boards. FIU went 11-of-23 from the floor, hitting 48 percent of its field goals. The team went a perfect 10-of-10 from the line and out-rebounded TTU, 15-13. 

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a quick 1-point, 34-33, lead coming out of the half, before Coley knocked down a layup, which gave FIU back the lead. Shade's bucket from beyond the arc with 12:54 to play gave FIU a 5-point, 49-44, lead. Back-to-back layups from McKinzie and Wright put the Panthers up by five points with a little under eight minutes remaining, and the Panthers continued to hold a 3-point edge on the Golden Eagles with 3:12 to play, following a Wright jumper. Two free-throws from Idom just shy of a minute remaining in the game gave FIU a 3-point cushion, as the Panthers went on to win the game.

FIU finished the night shooting 42 percent (24-of-57) and hitting 4-of-11 from 3-point land. The Panthers hit 82 percent of their free-throws, converting on 18-of-22 attempts. FIU beat the Golden Eagles on the boards, 41-26, and held a slight edge in blocks, 3-2.

The Panthers now head to Gainesville, Fla., where the Panthers will take on La Salle in the first game of the Gator Holiday Classic. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. on Friday from the O'Connell Center.

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). The official hashtag of the 2013-14 FIU athletic season is PantherNation.

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