GAME NOTES

MIAMI (Jan. 3, 2015) – The women's basketball team (3-8) will tip off its 2015 Conference USA slate with intra-state rival Florida Atlantic (6-5) on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET from Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
BROADCAST
Sunday's game can be viewed on FIUSports.com via Panther Vision. Fans can also follow live stats through FIUSports.com, and there will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @FIUWBasketball.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's game will be the 36^th meeting between FIU and Florida Atlantic. The Panthers own an impressive 29-6 advantage in the series, winning four of the last five meetings. FIU swept the Owls in the two meetings last season posting a 96-88 win in Boca Raton, Fla., and a 76-72 victory at home. FAU's last win came back on Feb. 4, 2012, where the Panthers were slightly edged, 51-49.
 
SCOUTING FIU
 FIU heads into C-USA play with a 3-8 mark after topping Bowling Green, 68-55, on Tuesday in the consolation game of FIU's Sun & Fun Classic. With the win, the Panthers have defeated two of its last three opponents thanks to a balanced offensive attack. FIU was led in scoring by redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound's 20 points, while juniors Destini Feagin and Taylor Shade added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Senior Marita Davydova also had a double-digit scoring performance with 12. The Panthers had seven players record three or more rebounds, led by Pound, who finished with 14 to notch her sixth double-double of the season. FIU outrebounded the Falcons, 45-42, and got 18 points off 14 BGSU turnovers. The Panthers also limited BGSU to 17 made field goals in the game and a .270 field goal percentage (17-of-63). Pound continues to lead the team for the season in scoring with an average of 16.3 points-per-game, while Davydova leads the rebounding efforts with 9.6 boards-per-contest.
 
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Florida Atlantic heads into Sunday's game with a 6-5 mark, recently snapping a three-game losing skid with an 84-80 victory against UNC-Wilmington to close out non-conference play. Junior Ali Gorrell paved the way for FAU with 27 points, just three shy of her career high. She and fellow junior Morgan Robinson each had seven rebounds while Shaneese Bailey and Malia Kency also reached double-digit scoring. As a team, the Owls are averaging 74.0 points-per-game and 37.1 rebounds-per-contest. Like FIU, Florida Atlantic has three players averaging double-digit scoring figures, led by Gorrell with 18.5 points-per-game. She and Bailey combine for 13 rebounds-per-game to lead the Owls on the glass.
 
THE COACHES
In 39 years of women's basketball at FIU, Head Coach Cindy Russo has been the driving force for 36 of them. 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) and two NCAA Division II Tournaments, in addition to winning eight regular season conference titles and seven tournament crowns. Russo enters the 2014-15 campaign as the ninth-winningest active coach in Division I women's basketball. The veteran head coach owns a career record of 707-390 over 37 seasons, and a record of 667-368 in 35 seasons at FIU.
 
Kellie Lewis-Jay joined Florida Atlantic University as its head coach in May 2012. In her first season at the helm at FAU, Lewis-Jay led the Owls to a 12-17 overall record and a 9-11 mark in the Sun Belt Conference in FAU's final season in the SBC. Her squad finished 15th in the nation in turnover margin and 30th in the country in steals per game. In 2013-14, Lewis-Jay embarked on her fourth conference in as many years as FAU joined Conference USA. Formerly, Lewis-Jay worked in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Sun Belt Conferences.
 
LAST MEETING
FIU won the last meeting against Florida Atlantic using an 11-7 run over the final two minutes of play to give the Panthers a 76-72 victory. The win extended FIU's streak to four against the Owls. The Panthers had four players register double-figure point numbers tonight, as Jerica Coley led the way with 36. This was the 11th time the St. Petersburg, Fla., native has scored 30-plus. She also added a season-high 12 rebounds. The Panthers had a solid all-around performance, out-rebounding FAU, 43-32, and hitting 29-of-60 of their shots from the field, including a 53.5 percent (15-of-28) performance from Coley. FIU also had 19 second chance points compared to the Owls' 12.
 
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/.