GAME NOTES 

MIAMI (Jan. 28, 2015) – The women's basketball team (3-14, 0-6 C-USA) returns to FIU Arena for the first of back-to-back home games on Thursday when it hosts the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs (11-7, 4-3 C-USA). The game is slated for a 6 p.m. ET tipoff.
 
PROMOTIONS
There are several promotions in place for Thursday's game against Old Dominion including:

• Res Life Roar: FIU Housing and Residential life will track attendance for eight athletic events throughout the year. The hall with the highest percentage of residence in attendance at the end of the year will win a pizza party.
• In-game contests such as trivia, the uniform challenge and a halftime dance contest.
• T-shirt tosses
• Free team posters & schedule magnets

 
BROADCAST
Thursday's game will be livestreamed via PantherVision on FIUSports.com. The game can also be heard on the FIU Sports Radio Network with Pete Pelegrin announcing the action. There will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @FIUSports.com.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday's game will be the sixth meeting between FIU and Old Dominion and will be the second time the two teams have met in two years. The Panthers have won three of the previous games, while the Lady Monarchs have claimed two wins in the series. ODU won last year's game, 72-56, in FIU's final home game of the season, which occurred on March 1, 2014.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU fell to Florida Atlantic, 77-62, in the Panthers' lone contest last week to move to 3-14 overall and 0-6 in Conference USA play. Redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound notched double-figures for the third straight game to lead FIU in scoring with a career-high 29 points. She was just shy of her eighth double-double with nine rebounds. Junior Taylor Shade and senior Marita Davydova also recorded double-digit scoring figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Through six league games, Pound leads the Panthers in scoring with an average of 16.3 points-per-game.
 
SCOUTING OLD DOMINION
Old Dominion enters Thursday's game fresh off a 58-46 victory over UAB on Sunday in Norfork, Va. The Lady Monarchs are 11-7 over and 4-3 in league play this far. As a team, ODU averages 58.8 points-per-game and 40.9 boards-per-contest. Redshirt sophomore Jennie Simms leads the team with 16.9 points-per-game and a .418 three-point field goal percentage that ranks fourth in the conference and 30^th in the nation. Simms is also Old Dominion's leader in rebounds, averaging 6.7 boards-per-outing.
 
LAST MEETING
The FIU women's basketball team closed its final regular-season home game of 2013-14 with a 72-56 loss to Old Dominion from Lime Court at FIU Arena. The Panthers then stood at 12-16 overall and 6-9 against Conference USA opponents, while the Lady Monarchs improved to 15-14 on the season and 8-7 in the league. 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 Taylor Shade, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and an assist, while Tynia McKinzie captured 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. 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, which led to 16 FIU points. The biggest difference, however, came on the glass, with FIU being out-rebounded, 45-39. The Panthers are now 2-9 when being out-rebounded by the opposition. 
 
KIANDRE'A POUND NAMED C-USA FRESHMAN OF TH WEEK FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK
For the fifth time this season, redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound has been named Conference USA's Freshman of the Week, the league announced Monday afternoon. This is the second consecutive week she garnered the honor, and it is the only time in FIU history a player has picked up a conference weekly honor more than four times in one season. Pound posted her third consecutive double-digit scoring performance of the season on Jan. 24 at Florida Atlantic with a career-high 29 points. It was the 14th time this season the freshman registered a double-digit scoring effort and the sixth time she has scored 20-plus points. Pound's 29 points came off a .571 field goal percentage (12-of-21). Her 12 field goals made were also a career-best mark. The Vero Beach, Fla., native was just shy of her eighth double-double with nine rebounds.
 
COACH RUSSO STEPS DOWN AS FIU'S HEAD COACH
After a 36-year career at FIU, Cindy Russo announced last 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 39 seasons, and a record of 667-371 (.643) in 36 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).
 
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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 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/.