GAME NOTES 

MIAMI (Jan. 23, 2015) – The women's basketball team (3-13, 0-5 C-USA) plays its third straight road game on Saturday when it heads to Boca Raton, Fla., to take the Florida Atlantic Owls (8-8, 2-3 C-USA). The game will tip off at 5 p.m. ET in FAU Arena.
 
BROADCAST
Saturday's game will be live streamed and heard on FAU Sports.com with Brandon Goodwin announcing the action. There will also be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @FIUWBasketball.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will be the 37^th meeting between FIU and Florida Atlantic and will be the second game in three weeks between the two teams. The Panthers have won 29 of the previous games, while the Owls have claimed 10 wins in the series. FAU came out on top in the last meeting on Jan. 4, 79-63, in Miami. The win snapped a four-game losing streak in the series for the Owls as their last win came back in February 2012 in Boca Raton, Fla.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU went 0-2 last week with losses at Marshall (67-61) and at then-(RV) WKU (81-42) to move to 3-13 overall and 0-5 against league opponents. Redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound scored double-figures in both games with 24 points, one shy of her career-high, against the Thundering Herd and 14 versus the Lady Toppers. Joining her in double figures was senior Marita Davydova with 11 at Marshall and junior Desini Feagin with 11 at (RV) WKU. Both Pound and Davydova also recorded double-doubles against the Herd as Pound had 12 rebounds, while Davydova pulled down 10. Pound continues to lead the Panthers offensively with an average of 15.5 points-per-game, while Davydova leads the team and ties for 43^rd in the nation with 10.0 boards-per-contest. The Moscow, Russia native is only one of two players in C-USA to average a double-double as she also contributes 11.3 points-per-game.
 
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLATNIC
Florida Atlantic opened conference play winning two straight before dropping its last three games, first versus Middle Tennessee, 78-62, then at (RV) WKU in an 80-43 blowout before falling at Marshall, 66-59, last Saturday. The Owls have led the conference for the majority of the season in free throw percentage, currently at 75.4 percent which ranks 23^rd in the nation. Florida Atlantic is scoring 70.6 points-per-game, which ranks fourth in C-USA. The Owls are led offensively by sophomore Shaneese Bailey and junior Ali Gorrell, who average 16.9 and 15.6 points-per-contest, respectively. Four players average 4.4 rebounds or more per game, led by Gorrell's 6.6 boards.
 
LAST MEETING
The Panthers fell in their Conference USA opener, 79-63, to the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sunday, Jan. 4 from Lime Court at FIU Arena. With the loss, FIU moves to 3-9 overall and 0-1 in C-USA. This was FIU's first loss in the series in four meetings with the Owls. The Panthers had four players score in double-digit figures for the evening, with Marita Davydova recording a team-high 16 points. Junior Destini Feagin contributed 13 and Kiandre'a Pound added 12, while junior Taylor Shade put in 11 to round out the double-digit scoring. Davydova led the Panthers on the boards with 10 to notch her fourth double-double of the season.
 
KIANDRE'A POUND EARNS FOURTH C-USA FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONOR THIS SEASON
Redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound has been named Conference USA's freshman of the Week four times this season. She is the first player in FIU history to be named a conference freshman of the week multiple times. Last week (week ending in Jan. 19), the guard/forward from Vero Beach, Fla., scored 19.0 points-per-contest, as she reached double-figures for the 12th and 13th time this season. The redshirt freshman netted 24 points at Marshall on Jan. 15, one point shy of tying her career best, and pulled down 12 rebounds in her seventh double-double of the year. Pound added another 14 points at WKU on Jan. 17. The Vero Beach, Fla., native also swiped four steals, dished out two assists and had two blocks on the week. Pound continues to lead the Panther offensive threat with an average of 15.5 points-per-game to rank 10th in the conference and ranks sixth in rebounding (8.4 rpg).
 
COACH RUSSO STEPS DOWN AS FIU'S HEAD COACH
After a 36-year career at FIU, Cindy Russo announced on Thursday that she is stepping down as head coach of the women's basketball team effective immediately. Russo was the driving force behind the women's basketball team for 36 of the program's 39 years. Over that time, she has guided FIU to 22-consecutive winning seasons (1981-2003) and at least 20 victories on 18 occasions. Russo has led her teams to six NCAA Division I Tournament berths, seven Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournaments (WNIT), three NCAA Division II Tournaments and three AIAW Small College National Tournaments, in addition to winning eight regular season conference titles and seven tournament crowns. She has been recognized as conference coach of the year seven times in three different leagues and has coached seven All-Americans. Russo has the 15th-most wins in Division I women's basketball history and owns a career record of 707-391 (.647) over 37 seasons, and a record of 667-371 (.643) in 35 seasons at FIU.
 
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).
 
                          #
 
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 Ocean BankField at FIU Stadium.
 
 About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.