MIAMI (Dec. 29, 2015) -- The FIU Panthers outshot visiting Wake Forest, but fell short over the final three minutes and lost 57-53 to conclude the 2015 Surfing Santa Classic, hosted by the Panthers on Lime Court at FIU Arena Tuesday.
 
The Panthers fell to 2-9 on the season, while Wake Forest improved to 9-4.
 
FIU led at the end of each of the first three quarters, but suffered an ill-timed scoring drought over the final 5:22 of the contest, when the Demon Deacons put together an 8-1 run to close out the game.
 
After Wake hit a three-pointer in the first minute, senior Taylor Shade (Boyton Beach, Florida / Community) dropped in a three-pointer on a fast break from an assist by Alvarado to give the Panthers their first lead of the game, at 5-3 just inside of three minutes into the game.
 
Following that first attempt of the game, FIU limited the Demon Deacons to just 1-for-10 shooting over the next 5:35 while holding the lead for that span in the early going.
 
"With another starter out with injury, we challenged them in shootaround this morning and I could not be more proud of the way we put it all on the floor and competed today, said FIU head coach Marlin Chinn after the game. "It came down to rebounding, as we thought it might."
 
Wake retook the lead on a layup at the 2:27 mark, but FIU finished the quarter with an 11-10 lead after a jumper from junior Soraya Page (Queensland, Australia) with 10 seconds remaining in the period. Junior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary) hit all three field goal attempts in the first and led all players with six points. The Panthers had an assist to go with four of their five made buckets in the period.
 
In the second period, WFU put together a 6-3 run to start the quarter, but the Panthers reeled them in by holding the Demon Deacons to a 2-for-12 shooting drought in the frame. FIU also hit all eight free throw attempts in the second quarter, and produced a 6-0 run in the last two minutes of the half for a 27-24 halftime lead.  
 
At the intermission, the Panthers had an edge in second chance points (6-2), points in the paint (10-8) and turned the eight first-half Wake turnovers into seven points. FIU had half as many turnovers (8-4) as did the Demon Deacons.
 
After the break, the Panthers maintained their lead thanks to a stretch of 5-for-6 shooting as a team through the meat of the third period, though the period was a draw, with both teams scoring 18 points and keeping the FIU margin at three points. FIU's largest lead was six just past the midway point of the third.
 
Wake outscored FIU by nine in the final period to clinch the victory.
 
"Wake did a nice job of turning up the pressure and defending and forcing us into some tough shots," added Chinn. "We'll tighten those things up as we head into conference. We have to keep the score low and knock down some shots to win these kinds of games."
 
Hegedus had a game-high 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting and collected seven rebounds in the loss. Alvarado also nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. She nailed all six free throws she attempted in the contest. Shade added 15 points and nailed two of her five three-point attempts.
 
Wake was led by Amber Campbell's 15 points, 14 from Ariel Stephenson and 10 by Elisa Penna.

The Panthers head up the road to Boca Raton Sunday and the Conference USA opener at Florida Atlantic, with the tip time at 2 p.m.

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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 at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.