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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2014) – Senior Marita Davydova registered a career-high 20 points and notched her second-consecutive double-double as the women's basketball team fell to the Western Carolina Catamounts Saturday afternoon in its first game of the UNF Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic. With the loss, the Panthers drop to 1-7 on the season, while the Cats improve to 7-4 overall.
 
In addition to her 20 points, Davydova pulled down a game-best 14 rebounds, one shy of her career-high. Joining the 6-foot-3 center in double-figures were junior Taylor Shade who had a season-best 20 points and redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound with 16. Shade also dished out seven assists and grabbed six rebounds.
 
For the game, FIU shot 37.8 percent (28-of-74) against WCU's 53.4 percent (31-of-58) including a 59.1 three-point field-goal mark (13-of-22). Despite the loss, the Panthers out-rebounded WCU, 47-30, but only converted its 23 offensive rebounds into 12 points.
 
FIU opened the contest on a 9-4 run before the Catamounts fought back with a 12-2 run to take a 14-11 lead at the first media timeout. WCU continued to build on its lead throughout the half going ahead by as many as 14 midway through the first. With 4:18 remaining in the first, the Panthers went into the locker room on a 9-4 run with a 42-35 deficit.
 
After hitting 61.5 percent (8-of-13) of their shots from long range, the Catamounts wasted no time repeating their actions hitting two of their three attempts early in the second. FIU held with the strong WCU shooing early until the Cats went on a 17-6 run over a six minute span. Trailing 68-48, Shade broke the dry spell with a three, but it was too little too late as FIU fell, 83-69.
 
FIU plays its final game of the UNF Hampton Inn Ocean Front Holiday Classic on Sunday when it takes on Wofford at 1 p.m. ET from UNF Arena.
 
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/.