FIU Game Notes
MIAMI (Feb. 28, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team (12-15, 6-8 C-USA) will play its final home game of the season on Saturday when it hosts Old Dominion (14-14, 7-7 C-USA). The game will tip off at 6 p.m. ET from Lime Court at FIU Arena.
SENIOR NIGHT
Saturday's game will serve as the Panthers' Senior Night. FIU's three seniors, Jerica Coley, Arielle Durant and Timeyin Oritsesan, will be honored for their four years of hard work and dedication. Coley will be presented with a ball recognizing her as FIU's all-time leading scorer. Head Coach Cindy Russo will also be honored with a ball for her 700 career wins.
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 also available via PantherVision, by clicking HERE, and fans can also follow the action live on Twitter (@FIUWBasketball).
SERIES HISTORY
FIU and Old Dominion are meeting for the fifth time the series on Saturday. Last time out, in Miami, the Panthers came away with an 80-76 win back on Dec. 21, 2005. FIU leads the series 3-1, with the Lady Monarchs' lone victory coming two years before on Dec. 15, 2003, 77-66, in Norfolk, Va.
SCOUTING FIU
Junior Tynia McKinzie dropped a career-high 18 -points as FIU fell to Charlotte, 79-68, last Wednesday night from Halton Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fell to 12-15 on the season and 6-8 in the conference. FIU was led in scoring by Coley, who had 30 points off 14 made field goals. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native moved to the number one spot on FIU's all-time field-goals made list with 1,039. In addition, Coley added six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. McKinzie and fellow junior Zsofia Labady finished as the Panthers' top rebounders with eight boards apiece. For the game, FIU shot 44.9 percent (31-of-69) from the floor, while Charlotte hit 53.0 percent (35-of-66) of its attempts. The 49ers out-rebounded the Panthers, 38-31. FIU is now 2-8 when being out-rebounded by the opposition. Charlotte also took advantage of the Panthers' lack of depth with 16 fast-break points and 25 points coming from their bench. Coley continues to move up the list in career points at FIU with 2,934. She is 66 points away from reaching the 3,000 plateau and would be only the 10th player in history to reach that point.
#HolyColey
In addition to leading the conference and ranking second in the nation in scoring (29.6 ppg), Coley sits atop the FIU career charts for scoring average (23.5 ppg) and her career point total of 2,934 also ranks first in program history. The senior sensation has scored in double-figures in all 27 contests this season and in 116-of-125 career games. Coley also has registered 24, 20-plus point outings and 14, 30-plus point performances in 2013-14. For her career she has contributed 81, 20-or-more point games and 32, 30-plus point outings. This season, the 2012 and 2013 Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection has been responsible for 42.9 percent of the Panthers' scoring efforts, and for her career, she has scored 36.9 percent of FIU's total points. She also leads her team in nine statistical categories: scoring (29.6 ppg), field-goal percentage (.423), field goals made (285), free throw percentage (.824), free throws made (187), three-point field goals made (42), assists (4.2 apg), steals (1.8 spg), blocked shots (1.3 bpg) and minutes played (38.9). The 5-foot-8 point guard, who scored a career-high and school-record 47 points versus Wake Forest (12/29/13), has scored 40-or-more points three times this season, including another 47-point performance against Southern Miss (2/19/14). It was only the ninth time a Panther player has scored 40 or more points in a single game. Coley was recently selected as the Conference USA Player of the Week (week ending in Feb. 23), a Nancy Lieberman Award finalist, a Third Team Capital One Academic All-American and a Senior CLASS Award finalist.
SCOUTING OLD DOMINION
Old Dominion has won three-straight C-USA games, most recently at home against Louisiana Tech on Wednesday, 75-64. Sophomore Galaisha Goodhope led four Lady Monarchs in double-figures with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from long range to go along four rebounds and four assists. Junior Shae Kelley recorded her 15th double-double of the season, as she scored 15 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, had three steals and blocked two shots. ODU is led in scoring by Kelley who averages 17.1 points-per-game. She also is the Lady Monarchs' leading rebounder as she grabs 10.1 boards-per-contest, good for fourth in the league. As a team, Old Dominion is solid on the defensive end of the ball, averaging 8.7 steals-per-game, which is fifth in the conference.
THE COACHES
Head Coach Cindy Russo recently picked up her 700th (2/4/14) 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 701-378, and owns a record of 662-356 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 Monarchs are under the direction of third-year Head Coach Karen Barefoot, who in her second year at Old Dominion, as she guided her team to its best start since the 1998-99 season. The team tallied 19 wins, an eight-win turnaround from the 2011-12 season, which was tied for 14th best nationally and earned a spot in the WNIT. Old Dominion finished in fourth place in the CAA and defeated eventual WNIT champion Drexel. In her 15 complete years as a head coach, Barefoot has compiled 12 winning seasons and has garnered two National Coach of the Year Awards.
#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.
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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 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/
