MIAMI (Jan. 14, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team will play its first Conference USA road game of the season on Wednesday when it takes on in-state rival Florida Atlantic at FAU Arena in Boca Raton, Fla. The game is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. ET.
KEEPING UP WITH THE PANTHERS
Live stats are available for all games and can be accessed via the FIU women's basketball schedule page at FIUSports.com. Fans can also follow the action live on Twitter (@FIUWBasketball).
SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers and Owls are meeting for the 34th time in series history. FIU leads the all-time series with FAU by a 27-6 margin. The Panthers capped of the 2012-13 regular season (3/2/13 in Boca Raton) defeating the Owls, 68-65, behind a 29-point performance from senior Jerica Coley.
SCOUTING FIU
FIU is coming off a 76-75 overtime win over East Carolina, which put the Panthers at 7-8 overall and 1-1 after the first week of league play. Jerica Coley led all players with 37 points, as the senior point guard was 13-of-31 from the field and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. It was Coley's 15th double-digit performance on the year. The C-USA Preseason Player of the Year has scored 20-plus points in all but two games this season. Coley was joined in double figures by junior Tynia McKinzie's 14 points and sophomore Taylor Shade's 13. Coley continues to pace FIU's offense, leading the league in scoring with her 28.4 point-per-game average. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native accounts for 41.5 percent of the Panthers' scoring offense this season. She is followed by Shade (9.0 ppg), McKinzie (8.7 ppg) and redshirt sophomore Briana Wright (7.5 ppg). Wright also holds a team-best 8.6 rebound-per-game average which ranks sixth in the conference. As a team, the Panthers have shot 38.6 percent from the floor, including 31.6 percent from three-point range and average 68.4 points per game. In addition to registering 41.9 rebounds per contest, FIU is out-rebounding the opposition by a margin of +5.7. The Panthers currently rank atop C-USA and are 11th in the nation in free throw percentage, converting on 242-of-313 (.773) attempts from the free throw line.
#HolyColey
Following last Wednesday's (1/8) record breaking performance against Rice, Coley is the only player in FIU history to record 2,000-plus points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists in a career. She increased her season points total to 426 points, averaging 28.4 points-per-game and is the only player with 400-plus points in C-USA. The Preseason Conference USA Player of the Year is second in the nation in scoring, while holding the top spot in the league. Coley also leads C-USA in minutes played (38.3) and ranks fourth in free throw percentage (.867), sixth in assists (4.4 apg) as well as fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6).
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
FAU enters Wednesday's game with an 11-4 record and a 1-1 mark in C-USA play. After starting the season 1-2, the Owls won their next seven straight before being edged out at Texas Tech, 76-63. Florida Atlantic won its final non-conference game against Bethune Cookman and has since lost its first conference contest versus East Carolina but then defeated Rice at home. The Owls are led offensively by senior Latavia Dempsey and redshirt senior Chenise Miller, who average 13.5 and 13.4 points per game, respectively. The Owls also garner two other players averaging in double digits with seniors Takia Brooks averaging 11.1 points-per-contest, while Kimberly Smith adds 10.2 points per outing. Miller also leads the team in rebounds (7.0 rpg) and blocks (0.9 bpg), and Smith has dished out a team-best 2.9 assists per game. As a squad, the Owls rank in the top five in the league in seven categories: second in scoring (79.9 ppg), third in steals (11.2 spg), third in assist/turnover ratio (11.2), fourth in three-point field-goal percentage (.325), fourth in assists (14.0 apg), fifth in scoring margin (+10.9) and fifth in free throw percentage (.691).
THE COACHES
Head Coach Cindy Russo has led her squads to 696 victories over 37 years, making her the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I. For her career, Russo has amassed an overall record of 696-372, and owns a record of 656-350 in 35 seasons at FIU. Her 34 full seasons at FIU are the fifth-most across all NCAA institutions, regardless of division, for number of seasons spent with one program.
The Owls are led by second-year Head Coach Kellie Lewis-Jay, who is off to her best start in her head coaching career. In her first season at the helm at FAU, Lewis-Jay led the Owls to a 12-17 overall record and a 9-11 mark in the Sun Belt Conference in FAU's final season in the SBC. Her squad finished 15th in the nation in turnover margin and 30th in the country in steals per game.
#PantherNation
Fans who 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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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 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 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s 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/
