Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) 

MIAMI (Feb. 19, 2014) - The FIU women's basketball team fell to Southern Miss, 106-96, on Wednesday evening on Lime Court at FIU Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 11-14 on the season and 5-7 in Conference USA, while the win lifts the Lady Eagles to 20-5 overall and 9-3 in league action.

Senior Jerica Coley led the game in scoring, tying a career-high 47 points, while adding five rebounds, five assists and four steals. In addition, the 5-foot-8 point guard shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the field, 50.0 percent (3-of-6) from behind the arch and 80.0 percent (16-of-20) from the free-throw line. This marks the third time this season she has netted 40-plus points and the 12th time she has scored 30-plus. Coley was followed by junior Tynia McKinzie who produced 15 points, while junior Zsofia Labady and sophomore Taylor Shade had nine each. Labady also pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. 

For the game, the Panthers shot 50.8 percent (32-of-63), while the Lady Eagles were an impressive 54.4 percent (37-of-68), including a 60.5 percent (23-of-38) performance in the second half.

Southern Miss led at the start, opening the game with the first four points and holding the Panthers without a field-goal until the 13:07 mark, when Shade connected from long range. The Lady Eagles remained in front until FIU was able to tie it up with a Katrina Epnere jumper with 6:38 remaining in the half.  With the game locked at 29, the Panthers went on a 17-4 run over the next four minutes to take its largest lead of the night, 46-33. With two minutes left in the first, the two teams exchanged free-throws and a field-goal, and FIU went into the locker room with a nine-point advantage, 50-41.

The second half opened with both teams trading baskets over the first four minutes of play. At the 13:56 mark, Southern Miss began to slowly chip away at the Panthers' lead. The Golden Eagles went on an 18-9 run over the next five minutes to regain the lead. The Panthers tied it up two more times, but could not take back the advantage.

Southern Miss out-rebounded FIU, 39-32. The Panthers are now 2-7 when being out-rebounded by the opposition. The Lady Eagles also forced 13 FIU turnovers that led to 19 Southern Miss points. The dagger, however, was in the paint as USM converted 52 points in the paint, compared to 34 for the Panthers.

FIU will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 22, when it hosts the Marshall Thundering Herd on Lime Court at FIU Arena. The game will serve as the Panthers' Play 4Kay Pink event. Tip of is set for 6:00 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). 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, visit http://www.fiu.edu/