GAME NOTES 

MIAMI (Jan. 30, 2015) – The women's basketball team (3-15, 0-7 C-USA) returns to FIU Arena on Saturday to host the Charlotte 49ers (7-13, 3-5 C-USA) in a Saturday night game that will tip off at 6 p.m. ET.
 
PROMOTIONS
There are several promotions in place for Saturday's game against Charlotte including:

• In-game contests such as trivia and the uniform challenge
• T-shirt tosses
• Free team posters & schedule magnets
• A middle school cheerleading squad to perform at halftime after the dazzlers

 
BROADCAST
Saturday's game will be livestreamed via PantherVision on FIUSports.com. There will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @FIUSports.com.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game marks only the third meeting in the series with both teams each posting a win. The teams first met back on Dec. 16, 2002 where the Panthers posted a 71-58 win in Miami; however, 49ers evened the series last season with a 79-68 victory in Charlotte.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU came up just short in a late comeback attempt on Thursday evening, falling 80-67 to Old Dominion from Lime Court at FIU Arena. Four Panthers registered double-digit scoring efforts led by junior Taylor Shade who posted a season-high 22 points. Redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound added 18, while senior Marita Davydova and junior Destini Feagin contributed 10 each. Feagin was just shy of her first double-double on the year with a career-high nine rebounds, while tallying a career-best five assists. Pound continues to lead the team on the season in scoring with an average of 16.4 points-per-game, while Davydova grabs a team best 9.8 boards-per-contest.
 
SCOUTING CHARLOTTE
Charlotte enters Saturday's contest dropping three straight games, most recently at Florida Atlantic on Thursday night. The 49ers are 7-13 overall and 3-5 in league play thus far. As a team, Charlotte averages 62.8 points-per-game and 36.0 boards-per-contest. The 49ers' scoring is extremely balanced compared to other C-USA teams with six players averaging in the 5-10-plus range-per-game led by Lefty Webster's 13.2 points-per-game. Two additional 49ers average double-figures with Hilary Sigmon at 10.4 and Kira Gordon at 10.1. Gordon is Charlotte's leader in rebounds averaging 6.4 boards-per-outing.
 
LAST MEETING
The FIU women's basketball team dropped a 79-68 decision at Charlotte on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 from Halton Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fell to 12-15 on the season and 6-8 in Conference USA, while the 49ers improved to 13-13 overall and 7-6 in the league. FIU was led in scoring by Jerica Coley, who had 30 points off 14 made field goals. It was the 14th time that year, the 5-foot-8 point guard registered 30-or-more points in a game. Coley moved to the number one spot on FIU's all-time field-goals made list with 1,039. In addition, Coley added six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. She was followed by Tynia McKinzie, who contributed a career-best 18 points. McKinzie and Zsofia Labady finished as the Panthers' top rebounders with eight boards apiece. For the game, FIU shot 44.9 percent (31-of-69) from the floor, while Charlotte hit 53.0 percent (35-of-66) of its attempts. The 49ers out-rebounded the Panthers, 38-31.
 
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/.