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EL PASO, Texas (Mar. 11, 2014) – Senior Jerica Coley scored her 3,000th career point in FIU's 85-65 victory over Rice, Tuesday afternoon from Memorial Gym during the first round of the Conference USA Championships.. Coley joins the elite list of nine other players in NCAA history to collect 3,000-plus points in a career.
With the win, the Panthers (13-17, 7-10 C-USA) advance to meet No. 5 seed East Carolina in Wednesday's second round. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be aired live by the C-USA Digital Network (http://www.conferenceusa.com/).
Despite only being held to four points in the first half, Coley led the four Panthers who registered double-figures with 20. She was joined by sophomore Taylor Shade who provided a huge spark, hitting 7-of-9 shots from the field and 3-of-4 shots from behind the arch for 18 points. The 5-foot-6 guard also provided a career-high eight assists. JuniorTynia McKinzie added 16 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double on the year, while redshirt juniorArielle Durant finished with a career-best 14 points.
The game began with both teams exchanging baskets over the first seven-and-a-half minutes of play. Shade started her three-point shooting rampage almost immediately as she hit back-to-back threes in the first two minutes of the game. FIU went on an 8-2 run at the 12:53 mark to go ahead by eight, 22-14. Rice, however, quickly responded with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game at 22 apiece. Shade and the Panthers' answered the call when she and fellow sophomore Katrina Epnere hit three consecutive treys to go take their largest lead of the day. FIU headed into the locker room on with that nine point lead, 37-28.
The second half opened just like the first as the Panthers and Owls traded baskets over the first 5:30 of play. At the 14:28 mark, FIU went on an 8-2 run over the next two minutes to take its then-largest lead of the day, 55-41. From that point on, the Panthers never gave up their double-digit lead and led by as many as 20 to close the game out at 85-65.
FIU shot an impressive 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the floor, while Rice only converted 36.9 percent of its shooting efforts. The Panther defense forced 14 Owl turnovers which led to 16 points.
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 FIU 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/
