MIAMI (Jan. 21, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team (8-9, 2-2 C-USA) hosts North Texas (7-10, 1-3 C-USA) on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET at Lime Court in U.S. Century Bank Arena.
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. A FREE live video stream for all FIU home games is available via PantherVision, by clicking HERE, and fans can also follow the action live on Twitter (@FIUWBasketball).
SERIES HISTORY
FIU and North Texas are meeting for the 17th time in the series that dates back to 2001. The Panthers hold a 10-7 edge over the Mean Green after splitting the series last year. Last time out (2/9/13), FIU defeated North Texas on the road by a score of, 72-63, behind then-junior Jerica Coley's 26 points.
SCOUTING FIU
FIU enters Wednesday's game with an 8-9 overall record and a 2-2 mark against Conference USA opponents. Coley scored 43 of the Panthers' 73 points (.589) in the loss at Tulsa Saturday afternoon. The 2012-13 AP All-American continues to lead FIU and C-USA in scoring, while ranking second in the nation with an average of 29.6 points per game. Coley also leads the Panthers in assists (4.3 apg), steals (1.5 spg) and blocks (1.2 bpg). Redshirt sophomore Brianna Wright grabs a team-best 8.0 rebounds, which ranks ninth in the conference.
#HolyColey
After back-to-back 30-plus performances against Tulsa (43) and Florida Atlantic (35), Coley increased her career points total to 2,639 (29.6 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 29.6 points-per-game and is the only player in the conference with 500-plus points (504). Coley is also second in the nation in scoring, while holding the top spot in C-USA. In addition, she leads the league in minutes played (38.5) and ranks fourth in free throw percentage (.863), sixth in assists (4.3 apg), sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) as well as T-11th in blocked shots (1.2 bpg). Most recently, the St. Petersburg, Fla., native broke four building records at the Reynolds Center versus Tulsa (1/18) with her 43 points, including most points (38, Jillian Robins vs. Nevada, 2/19/05), most points by an opponent (33, Taylor Gault, UALR, 11/12/12), most points against Tulsa (42, TaLoya Thomas, No. 24 Mississippi State, 11/17/02 in Starkville, Miss.) and most points ever at the Reynolds Center – men or women (39, Tulsa's Anthony Price vs. SMU, 1/1/05).
SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS
North Texas is 7-10 overall and 1-3 in C-USA play. The Mean Green enter Wednesday's game having battled back from an 18-point deficit, only to fall short to in-state rival USTA after a desperation three-point shot at the buzzer. The Mean Green rallied behind sophomore Alexis Hyder, who had a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, including six offensive boards. North Texas does not have one player averaging in double-figures; however, Acheil Tac leads the league in field goal percentage, averaging 61.2 percent from the floor. Tac also leads the team in rebounding with 7.1 rebounds per game to rank 14th in C-USA. As a team, the Mean Green rank last in the league assist/turnover ratio (0.6) and second to last in field goal percentage (.373).
THE COACHES
Head Coach Cindy Russo has led her squads to 697 victories over 37 years, making her the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I. For her career, Russo has amassed an overall record of 697-367, and owns a record of 656-345 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 Mean Green is under the direction of second-year Head Coach Mike Petersen. In his first year with North Texas, Petersen won 10 conference games in the team's final year of play in the Sun Belt Conference, marking only the third time the Mean Green has reached the 10-win plateau in SBC play and the first since 2001-02.
#PantherNation
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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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/
