FIU Notes | WCU Notes | Wofford Notes | C-USA Notes 

MIAMI (Dec. 19, 2014) – The women's basketball team (1-6) heads to Jacksonville, Fla., for its final two non-conference road games of the 2014-15 season as the Panthers are set to take part in the Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic hosted by North Florida. Throughout the two-day tournament, FIU will take on Western Carolina (5-4) and Wofford (3-6). The Panthers first face the Catamounts on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the Terriers on Sunday, Dec. 21, also at 1 p.m. ET.
 
KEEPING UP WITH THE PANTHERS
Live stats will be available via FIUSports.com as well as live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @FIUWBasketball.
 
SERIES HISTORY
FIU is playing both Western Carolina and Wofford for the first time this weekend.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU played only one game last week due to finals in which it fell to Jacksonville, 76-64. Neither team shot particularly well, especially in the first half, as the Panthers were 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from the floor, while the Dolphins were 38.9 percent (14-of-36) in the first. A strong shooting performance in the second half gave JU the advantage in the end. Jacksonville was the first team all season to out-rebound FIU as it grabbed 44 rebounds, compared to 36 by the Panthers. Senior Marita Davydova recorded her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Joining Davydova in double-digit scoring figures was fellow senior Tynia McKinzie with a career-high tying 18, redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound who contributed with 17 and junior Taylor Shade who chipped in with 14.
 
SCOUTING WESTERN CAROLINA
Western Carolina will be playing its third straight road game when it travels to North Florida on Saturday and heads to the sunshine state with a 6-4 overall record. The Catamounts have won four of their last five contests with the most recent coming at UNC Ashville, 79-66. Junior Lindsay Simpson poured in a season-high 20 points while shooting 77.8 percent (7-of-9) and 80.0 percent (4-of-5) from behind the arc. She was one of four Catamount players who scored in double figures with senior Justin Taylor notching 16, Makensey Campbell adding 11 and Brianne Mack posting 10. Taylor, a SoCon Preseason All-Conference selection, leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points-per-game.
 
SCOUTING WOFFORD
Wofford went 1-2 last week defeating Montreat College (N.C.), 87-36, before falling to Radford, 60-59, and William and Mary, 71-51. The Terriers had four players score in double-digits in the win against the Cavaliers with junior Jordan Frazier leading the way efforts with 15 points, shooting 7-of-15 from the field. Sophomore Maria Corella scored 12, draining two shots from long range, while junior Ashton Fleming and sophomore Kentra Washington added 11 each. As a team, Wofford averages 57.8 points-per-game and are shooting 36.7 percent from the floor. Frazier leads the way with a season average of 17.3 points-per-game and is the only Terrier on the team to average double-digit scoring figures.
 
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 705-388 over 37 seasons, and a record of 665-366 in 35 seasons at FIU.
 
Western Carolina is under the direction of Karen Middleton, who is in her sixth season. In her five seasons at the helm, she has compiled a 53-102 record. Last season, WCU went the farthest in the SoCon tournament, since winning the tournament title in 2009 when it reached the semi-finals before falling to Davidson. As the No. 7 seed, WCU defeated No. 2 seed Furman to make it to the semis. Since taking over the helm of the Catamount women's program, Middleton has had two All-Southern Conference selections in Emily Clarke and Kaila'Shea Menendez as well as three Southern Conference All-Freshman Team selections in Rena Wakama, Ali Lane and Lindsay Simpson. She has also had a First Team SoCon All Tournament selection in Justin Taylor in 2014. Menendez (2012) and Wakama (2014) were also named to the Southern Conference All-Tournament second team.
 
Wofford head coach Edgar I. Farmer, Jr. is in his 11^th season with the Terriers and took over in 2004 after spending two seasons as an assistant with the program. In his 10 seasons as head coach, Farmer has helped revitalize a program that went 0-28 the year before he was hired. In 2007-08, Farmer led the Terriers to their first Southern Conference Tournament victory since 2002. A year later, the Terriers boasted one of the nation's leading shot-blocking teams, while the 2005-06 squad led the nation in steals. Many Terriers have entered the Wofford record books and been awarded Southern Conference athletic and academic accolades under Farmer's watch, and, in two of the last three seasons, Wofford has earned a first-round victory at the Southern Conference Tournament.
 
POUND EARNS SECOND C-USA FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK OF SEASON
For the second time this season, redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week, which was announced by the league on Monday, Dec. 15. Pound posted her fifth consecutive double-digit scoring outing with 17 points at Jacksonville on Dec. 14. The Vero Beach, Fla., native also grabbed five rebounds, four of which were offensive, in the contest. For the season, Pound ranks eighth in C-USA in scoring (15.7 ppg), is tied for fourth in rebounding (8.9 rpg), is seventh in free throw percentage (.806) and second in offensive rebounding (3.9 offensive rpg).
 
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/.