MIAMI (Jan. 17, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team (8-8, 2-1 C-USA) will look to make it three-straight wins on Saturday when it travels to Tulsa (7-7, 1-2 C-USA). Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. ET from the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Panthers are coming off a 96-88 win over in-state rival Florida Atlantic on Wednesday.
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 Golden Hurricane are meeting only for the second time since the 1998-99 season. FIU currently leads the series, 1-0, after the No. 25 Panthers recorded an 84-45 win in Miami.
SCOUTING FIU
FIU earned its second C-USA win earlier this week when it downed in-state rival Florida Atlantic, 96-88, on Wednesday from the FAU Arena. Three FIU players turned in double-digit scoring performances, as the Panthers set a season-high for points in a regulation game. Senior Jerica Coley (35) and sophomoreTaylor Shade (26) combined for 61 points, accounting for 63.4 percent of FIU's offense. Junior Kamika Idom added a career-high 15. Shade's 26-point performance was also a career-best.
#HolyColey
After yet another 30-plus performance against Florida Atlantic, Coley increased her career points total to 2,596 (22.8 ppg), ranking first all-time at FIU. She is the only player in the school's history to record 2,000-plus points, 600 rebounds and 300 assists in a career. For the season, the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year averages 28.8 points-per-game and is the only player in the conference with 400-plus points. Coley is also second in the nation in scoring, while holding the top spot in C-USA. In addition, she leads C-USA in minutes played (38.4) and ranks fifth in free throw percentage (.856), sixth in assists (4.4 apg), seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) as well as 12th in blocked shots (1.1 bpg).
SCOUTING TULSA
Tulsa went 0-2 last week with a 97-66 loss to UTEP and a 76-65 loss to UAB. Sophomore Ashley Clark led the Hurricane for the week with 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. She had 10 points against UTEP and 20 against UAB, along with eight assists and six rebounds. Kadan Brady and Liesl Spoerl led the Hurricane against the Miners with 12 points each. Brady also produced nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Against the Blazers, Spoerl totaled 11 points in the loss, while senior Loren McDaniel and sophomore Kelsee Grovey added 10 apiece. The Tulsa defense forced 15-or-more turnovers in both games, forcing 18 against UAB and 15 versus UTEP.
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 697-372, and owns a record of 657-350 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 Hurricane is led by third year Head Coach Matilda Mossman. Mossman took over a five-win team and in just her second year won a conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In her first season at the helm of the program, the Hurricane posted 13 wins, finished league play with an 8-8 record and a sixth-place league finish, which was the best since 2006.
#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/
