TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | GAME NOTES

MIAMI (Dec. 28, 2014) – The women's basketball team (2-7) will take on Auburn (8-3) in game one of the Sun & Fun Classic on Monday, Dec. 29 at  6 p.m. ET from Lime Court at FIU Arena. The Panthers' second game of the tournament will take place on Tuesday against either Bowling Green (7-2) or Hampton (3-8).
 
THE BROADCAST
Both games can be seen and heard on FIUSports.com with Pete Pelegrin calling the action. Fans can also follow live online via live scoring also on FIUSports.com or on Twitter @FIUWBasketball.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
FIU and Auburn will be meeting for the fifth time with the series tied at 2-2. Last time out, the Panthers came away with a 64-55 win in the championship game of the 2011 Sun & Fun Classic. FIU and Bowling Green have faced off only once with the Panthers falling short 67-56 back in 2005, while FIU and Hampton would meet for the first time in series history.
 
THE 30th ANNUAL SUN & FUN CLASSIC
FIU returns home after the holiday to host the annual Sun & Fun Classic. The Panthers enter year 30 of the tournament with a 48-20 (.800) record; however, one of their 48 wins was vacated in the early 2000s. FIU has claimed 13 titles in the 29 years hosting the Classic, most recently in 2011 where the Panthers defeated Albany and 2014 participant Auburn.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU moved to 2-7 after a huge 83-75 win against Wofford in the UNF Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic before the holiday break. Four Panthers reached doubled-digit scoring figures, led by redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound's 23 points.  Joining Pound in double-figures were junior Taylor Shade with 17, senior Marita Davydova who added 14 and senior Tynia McKinzie who chipped in with 13. Both Pound and Davydova garnered double-doubles as Pound had 10 boards and Davydova pulled down a game-high 12. The 6-foot-3 center also added a team-best and career-high four assists on the day. The fantastic four are also the four Panthers who average double-digit scoring figures as Pound continues to lead the way with 16.6 points-per-game to rank sixth in the conference. Shade is not far behind as she averages 15.9 points-per-game to rank eighth in the league. As a team, FIU leads the conference and ranks 17th in the country in free throw percentage (.764), while also ranking 29th in the nation in rebounding margin (+9.1).
 
SCOUTING AUBURN
Auburn enters the tournament at 8-3 overall, coming off a split weekend just before Christmas where the Tigers fell at No. 25 St. John's before bouncing back with a neutral-site win over SMU in Queens, N.Y. Junior Tra'Cee Tanner has been the Tigers' top offensive threat thus far, averaging 13.3 points and shooting an SEC-best 61.0 percent in the first 11 games. She had a double-double in the opener against Troy with 16 points and 10 rebounds, then followed that up with a career-high 31 points on 14-of-18 shooting vs. Grambling State.  She then scored 19 points in a win over FGCU, got her second double-double against St. John's (12 pts, 10 reb) and has led Auburn in scoring in eight of 11 games. Sophomore Brandy Montgomery is averaging 10.6 points-per-game, including a career-high 24 at Virginia, and sophomore Khady Dieng has contributed 8.5 points per game so far, including 26 over two games in the St. John's Tournament. 
 
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
The Falcons enter the tournament with a 7-2 record, winning four consecutive games. After opening the season with a 53-52 loss to Bucknell, BGSU bounced back with a convincing 80-59 victory over Iona, then went on the road and picked up a 60-50 triumph over Milwaukee. The Brown and Orange extended the win streak to three games with a 62-54 win over UC Irvine, before suffering a narrow loss, 51-48, to Loyola Marymount. The latter two games came at the DoubleTree LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by LMU. Redshirt junior Erica Donovan leads the Falcons in scoring, with 15.3 points per game, while senior Deborah Hoekstra is averaging 10.6 ppg. Junior Miriam Justinger and sophomore Rachel Konieczki have scored 9.4 and 8.0 points-per-game, respectively. Donovan also leads the Falcons in rebounding as well as scoring, with 9.1 boards-per-game. BGSU is shooting 37.9 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from three-point range and 74.9 percent from the free-throw line through nine games.
 
SCOUTING HAMPTON
Hampton, who is receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Poll, enters the week at 3-8 overall, after losing three straight to South Carolina, James Madison and Depaul, all teams that are currently ranked or were ranked at the time. Hampton's wins came against Penn, Richmond and Morgan State. The Lady Pirates score 56.5 points-per-game while giving up 68.5 points-per-game. Hampton forces an average of 19.5 turnovers per game while only turning it over 16.1 times per game themselves. Malia Tate-DeFreitas leads Hampton with 19.1 points per game and has scored over a third of the Pirates' total points for the year.
 
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 706-389 over 37 seasons, and a record of 666-367 in 35 seasons at FIU.
 
Terri Williams-Flournoy is in her third season as Auburn's head coach. She has led AU to back-to-back 19-win seasons in her first two years, and has had three players selected to All-SEC teams. Known for her defense, Williams-Flournoy made an immediate impact on the team in her first season as the Tigers finished the year ranked second in the SEC and 15th nationally with 11.8 steals per game. Three Auburn players finished the season ranked in the top 10 in the SEC and top 250 in the country in steals-per-game. Auburn has forced an average of 20.0 turnovers per game under Coach Flo, and she has led the Tigers to the postseason in her first two seasons, advancing to WNIT Quarterfinals in 2013band Third Round in 2014.
 
Jennifer Roos is in her third season as head coach of the Falcons and her 14th with the program. Roos assumed the head-coaching position on April 16, 2012, after 11 years as an assistant coach on the BG staff, the final eight as associate head coach. Last winter, in her second season as a collegiate head coach, Roos was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, and also earned Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 4 C-O-Y honors after leading BGSU to 30 wins, a MAC regular season title and to three wins in the WNIT. The Falcons went 30-5 overall and 17-1 in the MAC, and the overall win total was the second-highest in school – and conference – history.
 
David Six is entering his sixth year as head coach of the Hampton University women's basketball team, turning the Lady Pirates into a dynasty in the MEAC after spending a year as the Director of Intramurals with the school. In five seasons with the Lady Pirates, Six is 127-35 overall and 74-6 in conference play. He comes into the 2014-15 campaign tied with Patricia Cage-Bibbs for most career wins by a coach in the program's Division I history. The Lady Pirates have won 49 straight games over MEAC foes – including conference tournament games. The Lady Pirates made history in 2013-14, their fifth season under Six, winning their fifth straight MEAC Tournament crown (a conference first) after tying a Div. I program record with 28 wins and recording their second straight 16-0 mark in conference play. For their efforts, the Lady Pirates were awarded a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament – the best seed ever for a MEAC school in the NCAA's 64-team format – and faced Michigan State in the first round. Six was named MEAC Coach of the Year for the second straight season – and third time overall.
 
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).
 
                          #
 
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/.