MIAMI (Dec. 27, 2015) – The FIU women's basketball team (2-7) will host the 2015 Surfing Santa Classic Dec. 28-29 from Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
Taking part in this year's classic along with FIU will be Rhode Island (5-5), Wake Forest (8-3) and Hampton (1-9). The Panthers will host the Rams at noon on Monday to tip off the two-day tournament followed by the Demon Deacons versus the Lady Pirates at 2 p.m.
 
For complete coverage of the Surfing Santa Classic, fans can click here. FIU's contest versus Rhode Island will be live on PantherVision.
 
The Panthers return home after a three-game road swing, looking to snap a three-game losing skid. Monday will mark the first meeting between FIU and Rohde Island.  
 
The Panthers enter Monday's contest, averaging 64.2 points-per-game on 41.5 percent shooting from the floor. Junior Janka Hegedus leads the team, averaging 14.2 points-per-game, shooting 47.1 percent. Senior Taylor Shade comes into this week's contest averaging 13.1 points-per-game on 41.9 percent shooting. Junior Tianah Alvarado rounds out the double-digit scorers, averaging 12.5 points-per-game. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native leads the team and Conference USA in steals, averaging 3.00 per game (No. 20 in the nation).
 
The tournament will wrap up on Tuesday with Rhode Island facing either Wake Forest or Hampton at noon. FIU will close out this year's classic versus either the Demon Deacons or the Lady Pirates at 2 p.m.
 
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Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) 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 Bank Field 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/.