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MIAMI (Mar. 1, 2014) - The FIU women's basketball team closed its final regular-season home game with a 72-56 loss to Old Dominion on Saturday from Lime Court at FIU Arena. The Panthers now stand at 12-16 overall and 6-9 against Conference USA opponents, while the Lady Monarchs improve to 15-14 on the season and 8-7 in the league.
Senior
Jerica Coley led the team with 29 points in addition to seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals. Aiding in the Panthers' play was sophomore
Taylor Shade, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and an assist, while junior
Tynia McKinziecaptured a team-high of 10 rebounds. The Lady Monarchs were led by junior Shae Kelley with a career-high-tying 30 points, along with redshirt junior Chelisa Painter and redshirt senior Becca Allison collecting 10 points apiece.
Old Dominion led by as many as 10 in the first half, but lost its edge after a three-pointer from Shade and a jumper from Coley put the Panthers within five with less than two minutes to go. The Lady Monarchs quickly responded with a 4-0 run of their own in less than 30 seconds. With the clock winding down, Coley hit a last second three, and the Panthers went into the locker room down by six, 37-31. Old Dominion scored 28 of its 37 first-half points in the paint, compared to the Panthers' 10.
After a quick McKinzie layup, Old Dominion went on a 9-0 run to take a ,46-36, lead. The Panthers crawled their way back into single digits after back-to-back Shade layups, but for every FIU made basket, the Lady Monarchs responded. At the 13:05 mark, Old Dominion went on a 18-4 run that lasted almost 10 minutes, and FIU was held without a field goal until Coley hit long jumper with 4:24 to go. Despite the last minute attempt, FIU could not get back within single digits.
For the game, Old Dominion shot 49.2 percent (31-of-63), while FIU was only 31.1 percent (23-of-74) from the floor. The Panthers forced 16 Lady Monarch turnovers, with led to 16 FIU points. The biggest difference, however, came on the boards, with FIU being out-rebounded, 45-39. The Panthers are now 2-9 when being out-rebounded by the opposition.
FIU will play its final regular-season game on Wednesday when travels to Louisiana Tech. The game is scheduled to tip at 7:30 p.m. ET from the Thomas Assembly Center (TAC).
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/
