Game Notes
MIAMI (Dec. 13, 2014) – The women's basketball team (1-5) heads to Jacksonville, Fla. to take on the Dolphins of Jacksonville University on Sunday, Dec. 14. The game, which is the Panthers' first of their final three non-conference road games of the season, is slated to tip off at 2 p.m. ET.
BROADCAST Sunday's game will be live streamed via AmericaOneSports.com and live stats will be available on JUDolphins.com. In addition, live updates throughout the game will be available on Twitter via @FIUWBasketball.
SERIES HISTORY This is the fifth meeting between FIU and Jacksonville and the first in over three years. The two teams first met in 2008 where the Dolphins earned a 51-43 victory in Jacksonville, Fla. It was the first and only win for JU as the Panthers have won the other three meetings, most recently, back in November of 2011 where FIU opened its 2011-12 campaign with a dominating 63-37 performance in Miami. Three Panthers scored in double-figures, led by
Jerica Coley, who registered 22 points and 11 rebounds as well as then-freshman
Zsofia Labady, who notched 10 rebounds in her first collegiate outing.
SCOUTING FIUFIU looks to pick up its second consecutive win after beating in-state rival UCF last Saturday, 66-57. Redshirt freshman
Kiandre'a Pound picked up her fourth consecutive double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Joining Pound in double-figures was junior
Taylor Shade with a season-high tying 18 points and senior
Marita Davydova with 13. Davydova was also notched nine rebounds and was rebound shy of her first double-double on the season. Senior
Zsofia Labady also had a great game with seven rebounds and six assists, which was one shy of tying her season-high. For the game, FIU shot 38.6 percent (22-of-57) the floor, while UCF converted only 31.9 percent (22-of-69) of its shots. The Panthers forced 13 Knight turnovers, which resulted in 21 points for FIU. As a team, the Panthers are shooting 37.3 percent from the field, scoring 59.0 points per game, and pulling down 41.0 rebounds per contest. FIU is tied for 24
th in the country in rebounding margin at +10.0 and is also tied for 28
th in free throw percentage at .758.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLEJacksonville heads into Sunday's game with a 2-5 record after recording its worst offensive effort of the season with a 65-36 setback at Miami last Saturday. The Dolphins were nearly perfect from the free throw line, knocking down 15 of 17 attempts, but shot a meager 23.1 percent (9-of-42) from the field and had 31 turnovers, which resulted in 37 Hurricane points. As a team, Jacksonville is scoring 65.1 points-per-game and averages 40.7 rebounds-per-game.
THE COACHES In 39 years of women's basketball at FIU, Head Coach
Cindy Russo has been the driving force for 36 of them. Over that time, she has guided FIU to 22-consecutive winning seasons (1981-2003) and at least 20 victories on 18 occasions. Russo has led her teams to six NCAA Division I Tournament berths, seven Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournaments (WNIT) and two NCAA Division II Tournaments, in addition to winning eight regular season conference titles and seven tournament crowns. Russo enters the 2014-15 campaign as the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I women's basketball. The veteran head coach owns a career record of 705-387 over 37 seasons, and a record of 665-365 in 35 seasons at FIU.
Jacksonville is led by Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who is in her second season at the helm of the Dolphins. With her first year at JU under wraps, Coach McCuin guided the Dolphins to a record of 13-17 with an Atlantic Sun tip of 10-8. A 67-65 victory over Mercer earned the Fins the No. 4 seed in the A-Sun tournament, an achievement not seen since the 2008-09 campaign, and provided the team the right to host a home quarterfinal game. She was nominated for the WBCA Maggie Dixon Rookie Coach of the Year Award.
NEXT UPThe Panthers return to Jacksonville, Fla., next weekend when they participate in the Hampton Inn Ocean Front Holiday Classic hosted by UNF. FIU first takes on Western Carolina on Saturday, Dec. 20 with a 1 p.m. ET tipoff. The Panthers will then face Wofford on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. ET.
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).
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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 FIU Arena and Ocean BankField at FIU Stadium. About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that 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 contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
