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EL PASO, Texas (Mar. 13, 2014) – Senior Jerica Coley exploded for 34 points and 13th-seeded FIU danced its way into the semifinals with a 69-55 upset of fourth-seeded Tulane at Memorial Gym Thursday afternoon.

The Panthers (15-17) will square off against nationally-ranked (No. 22/20) and top-seed Middle Tennessee at 9 a.m. MDT at the Don Haskins Center Friday morning. The contest will be broadcast nationwide by CBS Sports Network.

It was a back-and-forth affair which featured seven lead changes and one tie, and the FIU margin was just three, 58-55, with 5:31 to play. The Green Wave (20-10) used good ball movement to get a wide-open look at a three-point shot for Danielle Blagg but the shot went halfway down only to pop out.

The Panthers secured the rebound, and Coley took over down the stretch. FIU outscored the Green Wave, 11-0, over the final 5:31, with Coley accounting for 10 of the 11. Tulane, which looks to be a serious candidate for an at-large bid to the WNIT, continued to play extremely hard but could not find a way to close the deficit. 

Junior Tynia McKinzie and sophomore Taylor Shade joined Coley in double-figures with 15 and 13 points, respectively. FIU drilled 50 percent (28-of-56) of its shots from the floor while also dominating the boards, 46-33, which more than compensated for 17 turnovers. The Panthers are now 12-1 when out-rebounding opponents.

Coley also dished out six of the Panthers' nine assists in the game, and McKinzie grabbed 10 boards to record her third consecutive double-double and her seventh on the year.

The Green Wave was led by Tiffany Dale's 17 points. Leslie Vorpahl and Adesuwa Ebomwonyi also contributed 12 each, but no other player pitched in more than six points.

Overall Tulane finished at 31.8 percent from the floor (21-of-66), which was affected by going 4-of-17 from three-point range (23.5 percent).

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/