GAME NOTES
MIAMI (Feb. 18, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team (11-13, 5-6 C-USA) returns home to take on Southern Miss (19-5, 8-3 C-USA) on Wednesday, Feb. 19. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. ET from Lime Court in FIU Arena.
PROMOTIONS
With February being National Cancer Prevention Month, the FIU Athletic Department will sell $1 raffle tickets at all home men's and women's basketball games during the month, in support of promoting breast cancer awareness. Throughout February, fans will have a chance to win pink, team-signed basketballs, with all proceeds from the men's raffle benefiting the Susan G. Komen Fund and the proceeds from the women's basketball raffle benefiting the Play 4 Kay initiative. Winners will be announced during the men's and women's doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 22.
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). Coverage of Wednesday's matchup can also be heard by clicking HERE.
SERIES HISTORY
FIU and Southern Miss are meeting for the sixth time in program history, and the first in over 15 years. The Panthers won the previous two meetings, most recently on Nov. 28, 1998, by a score of 66-47 in Hattiesburg, Miss at the Lady Eagle Classic. Four of the previous five meetings between the two teams were in tournaments. The last time the Lady Eagles posted a victory was in Miami at the Sun & Fun Classic where USM defeated FIU, 77-69, on Jan. 3, 1996.
SCOUTING FIU
The Panthers are coming off a 66-55 loss to Tulane on Saturday afternoon in New Orleans. Senior Jerica Coley led the game in scoring with 22 points. She was followed by junior Tynia McKinzie with 12 points and sophomore Taylor Shade with nine. Coley also added six rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. McKinzie led the Panthers on the boards, pulling down eight rebounds. For the game, Tulane out-rebounded FIU, 46-34, leading to 11 second chance points on both sides. The Panthers are 2-6 when being out-rebounded by their opponents. For the game, the Panthers shot 30.0 percent (20-of-65), while the Green Wave was 47.2 percent (25-of-53). Tulane also won the battle in the paint netting 36 points in the lane, compared to FIU's 22. Prior to Saturday's loss, FIU had won three of its last five games, including victories over UAB, Florida Atlantic and UTSA. The Panthers are led by Coley who averages 29.6 points-per-game, good for second-best in the nation. She is followed by Shade with 8.9 points-per-game and McKinzie with 8.3 points-per-game. McKinzie also leads the team in rebounding, grabbing 7.2 boards-per-contest.
#HolyColey
The reigning two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and 2013-14 C-USA Preseason Player of the Year currently ranks second in the nation in scoring, averaging 29.6 points-per-game. Jerica Coley has done everything and more this year. The senior sensation has scored in double-figures in all 24 contests this season and in 113-of-122 career games. Coley also has registered 21, 20-plus point outings and 11, 30-plus point performances in 2013-14. For her career she has contributed 78, 20-or-more point games and 29, 30-plus point outings. Coley ranks first on the FIU career charts for scoring average (23.1 ppg) and her career point total of 2,822 also ranks first in program history. This season, the 2012 and 2013 Associated Press All-America selection has been responsible for 42.4 percent of the Panthers' scoring efforts, and for her career, she has scored 36.6 percent of FIU's total points. In addition to scoring the St. Petersburg, Fla., native leads her team in nine statistical categories: field-goal percentage (.415), field goals made (245), free-throw percentage (.834), free-throws made (161), three-point field-goals made (36), assists (4.1 apg), steals (1.7 spg), blocked shots (1.3 bpg) and minutes played (38.8). The senior point guard, who scored a career-high and school-record 47 points versus Wake Forest (12/29/13), has scored 40-or-more points twice this season adding another record-breaking performance a couple weeks later against Tulsa. On Jan. 18, she broke four building records at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa with her 43 points. It was only the eighth time a Panther has scored 40 or more points in a single game.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss has won its last six straight league contests, most recently posting a 91-73 victory against Tulsa on Saturday. The Lady Eagles are also winners of 13 of their last 16 games, including a huge win over then-21st ranked Middle Tennessee. Two of USM's three conference losses were on the road in overtime. As a team, Southern Miss sits atop C-USA and ranks seventh in the nation in assists (18.8 apg) and 10th in steals (11.0 spg). The Golden Eagles also lead the conference and rank in the top 35 in the NCAA in two additional categories: 16th in field-goal percentage (.462) and 33rd in assist/turnover ratio (1.1). In addition, Southern Miss ranks second in the conference and 20th in the country in turnover margin at +5.2. The Lady Eagles are led in scoring by senior Jamierra Faulkner, who averages 16.2 points-per-game. She is followed by junior Tamara Jones at 14.8 points-per-game, while sophomore Jerontay Clemons adds 11.1. Faulkner is one of the best point guards in the country as she ranks first in the nation in assists (8.6 apg) as well as fifth in steals (3.1 spg).
THE COACHES
Head Coach Cindy Russo recently picked up her 700th (2/5/14) career victory at UTSA. Over 37 years of coaching, she is the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I. For her career, Russo has amassed an overall record of 700-377, and owns a record of 661-355 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 Lady Eagles are led by veteran head coach Joye Lee-McNelis, who guided Southern Miss to the WNIT Sweet Sixteen in 2008. She has spent 45 percent of her basketball career with the University of Southern Mississippi, which includes 10 years of coaching experience at a 145-155 record. Before her time in Hattiesburg, Lee-McNelis spent 13 seasons as the head coach for the University of Memphis where she brought the Lady Tigers to four NCAA Tournament appearances, four WNIT appearances, a WNIT Final Four appearance and two Conference USA Tournament Championships.
#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.#####
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, visithttp://www.fiu.edu/
