FIU GAME NOTES (PDF)
MIAMI (Feb. 7, 2014) – The FIU women's basketball team (11-10, 5-3 C-USA) looks to make it four-consecutive wins when it heads to El Paso, Texas to take on the UTEP Miners (18-4, 7-2 C-USA) on Saturday, Feb. 8. The game will tip off in the Don Haskins Center at 9:05 p.m. ET.
KEEPING UP WITH THE PANTHERS
Wednesday's game can be viewed by clicking HERE. Live stats are also available for all games and can be accessed via the FIU women's basketball schedule page at FIUSports.com. Fans can also follow the action live on Twitter (@FIUWBasketball).
SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers and Miners will be meeting for just the second time in series history. The last time these two teams met was nearly 15 years ago, on Nov. 27, 1998 at the Lady Eagle Classic in Hattiesburg, Miss., where FIU dominated UTEP, 82-38.
SCOUTING FIU
FIU enters Saturday's game with an 11-10 overall record and a 5-3 mark against Conference USA opponents. Head Coach Cindy Russo picked up her 700th career win Wednesday night from the Convocation Center in San Antonio, as FIU defeated UTSA, 53-40. Senior Jerica Coley recorded a game-high 20 points, while adding five rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists. It is the 19th time this season that Coley has scored 20-or-more points. Joining Coley in double figures was junior Tynia McKinzie with 14. The Ovieto, Fla., native also contributed a team-high nine rebounds followed by junior Zsofia Labady, who finished with seven boards. For the game, FIU shot 27.4 percent (17-of-62), while the Roadrunners shot 23.4 percent (11-of-47) from the floor. The difference was points via turnovers, as the Panthers converted 15 points off of takeaways, while UTSA only had six. FIU also forced 21 turnovers for the game. FIU is currently on a three-game winning streak for the second time this season and the first time in conference play.
#HolyColey
Reigning two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and 2013-14 C-USA Preseason Player of the Year,Jerica Coley, has done everything and more this year. She currently leads the nation in scoring, averaging 29.8 points-per-game. The senior sensation has scored double-figures in all 21 contests this season and in 110-of-119 career games. Coley also has registered 19, 20-plus point outings and 11, 30-plus point performances in 2013-14. For her career she has contributed 76, 20-or-more point games and 29, 30-plus point outings. Coley ranks first on the FIU career charts for scoring average (23.2 ppg) and her career point total of 2,761 also ranks first in program history. This season, the 2012 and 2013 Associated Press All-America selection has been responsible for 43.3 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 FIU in seven statistical categories – field goals made (226); three-point field goals made (30); free throws made (150); assists (86, 4.1 apg); steals (36, 1.7 spg); blocks (28, 1.3 bpg) and minutes played (38.8 mpg). 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 UTEP
UTEP is off to one of its best starts in program history, as it continues on a 69-18 run since the start of the 2011-12 season, including 17-4 this year. The Miners recently picked up their fifth-straight win last Wednesday as seniors Kristine Vitola (career-high 23 points, 10 rebounds) and Kayla Thornton (22 points, 11 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles to help lift UTEP past upset-minded Louisiana Tech, 85-75, at the Don Haskins Center. Trailing 70-69 with 3:29 to play, the Miners (18-4, 7-2 C-USA) turned to their seniors. Vitola and Thornton carried the load, scoring a combined 11 points during a game-closing 17-5 surge to extend UTEP's win-streak. Freshman Sparkle Taylor (career-high 15 points) and junior Stacie Telles (10 points) also reached double figures in scoring, as the Orange and Blue improved to 13-1 on the year at home. Thornton, the back-to-back C-USA Player of the Week, leads UTEP averaging 19.8 points-per-game and 10.5 rebounds-per-game. Two other Miners average double-digit point numbers as sophomore Jenzel Nash adds 11.3 points-per-game and Vitola contributes 10.5 off a .506 field-goal percentage. As a team, UTEP leads the conference in scoring offense (80.0 ppg) and scoring margin (+13.8).
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 700-374, and owns a record of 661-352 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.
UTEP is led by 13th-year head coach and the all-time win leader in program history, Keitha Adams, who is 224-161 in that time frame. In the last two seasons UTEP has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons and reached the Conference Championship as well as one NCAA Tournament berth. Adams has led her teams to UTEP's only four 20-plus win seasons, three C-USA Championships and two NCAA Tournament bids.
#PantherNation
Fans who 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/
