Box Score Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)
EL PASO, Texas (Jan. 8, 2014) - The FIU women's basketball team held its own for the first half, but came up short in an 83-62 loss to UTEP Saturday night. With the loss, the Panthers drop to 11-11 overall and 5-4 in Conference USA, while the win lifts the Miners to 19-4 on the season and 8-2 in league contests.
Four players scored in double-digits tonight as sophomore Taylor Shade led FIU with 14 points. Juniors Zsofia Labady and Kamika Idom chipped in double-figures with 13 and 12, respectively. Senior Jerica Coley was held to seven points for the majority of the game until a three-point basket with 36 seconds to go, put her to 10 for the night. Redshirt junior Arielle Durant led the Panthers on the boards, grabbing seven.
Freshman Sparkle Taylor led the way for UTEP with a career-high 16 points and five rebounds, while seniors Kayla Thornton and Kristine Vitola posted 14 and 12 points, respectively. Thornton, the back-to-back C-USA Player of the Week, posted her 13thdouble-double of the year as she contributed a game-high 12 rebounds.
The first half was tightly played, as it featured seven ties and four lead changes. Neither team led by more than six points or shot above 38.0 percent from the floor. Although the Miners got on the board in the first 30 seconds of play, the Panthers quickly answered. The remainder of the half featured mini-runs by both teams, but the most important one came with 1:45 remaining in the first when UTEP went on a 6-2 run to close out the half leading by five.
Trailing 30-25 coming out of the break, FIU scored the first four points of the second; however, at the 17:26 mark, the Miners went on a 15-3 run over the next four minutes to gain a 43-32 lead. Despite several attempts, the Panthers could not get back within single-digits for the remainder of the night.
For the game, FIU shot 34.4 percent (22-of-64), connecting on 8-of-23 three-point attempts and scored only 14 points in the paint. UTEP shot 44.1 percent (30-of-68) from the field and scored 50 of its 83 points in the paint.
The Miners also won the rebounding battle, 48 to FIU's 36. UTEP also converted 26 second-chance points, compared to the Panthers' six.
FIU returns home next week as it hosts conference-rival MTSU on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. from Lime Court at FIU Arena.
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.
#####
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/
