GAME NOTES

MIAMI (Feb. 4, 2015) – The women's basketball team (3-16, 0-8 C-USA) heads to San Antonio to take on the UTSA Roadrunners (9-12, 4-5 C-USA) on Thursday night. The game will tip off from the Convocation Center at 8 p.m. ET.
 
THE BROADCAST
Thursday's game can be seen and heard online via GoUTSA.com. Fans can also follow live scoring on FIUSports.com or on Twitter @FIUWBasketball.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Panthers and Roadrunners are meeting for the fourth time in the series on Thursday. FIU leads the series 2-1, including a 53-40 victory last season in San Antonio that was former head coach Cindy Russo's 700^th career victory. UTSA's last and only win in the series came back on Nov. 18, 2011, where the Panthers dropped a 61-54 decision in San Antonio.
 
SCOUTING FIU
FIU is coming off an 81-62 home loss to Charlotte on Saturday. Through its first eight league contests, FIU has played two teams who have been receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll, including WKU and Middle Tennessee. In Saturday's loss against the 49ers, senior Marita Davydova recorded a career-high 21 points and game-high 13 rebounds.  It was the seventh time she has registered a double-double on the season and the 17^th time she has done so in her career. Redshirt freshman Kiandre'a Pound continues to lead the Panthers in scoring with 15.9 points-per-game, while Davydova leads the team and ranks 45^th in the country with 9.9 rebounds-per-contest. FIU continues to attack the basket and get to the free throw line as the Panthers average 13.5 trips to the stripe per game compared to nine for its opponents.
 
SCOUTING UTSA
UTSA is 9-12 overall and 4-5 in C-USA play. The Roadrunners' three-game winning streak was snapped last week with two road losses, most recently dropping a 73-57 decision at UAB. UTSA is one of the better defenses in the conference as it ranks second in the conference in blocks (4.1 bpg) and third in steals (10.0 spg). Senior Kamra King leads the Roadrunner offensive threat with 12.4 points-per-game, while junior Mannasha Bell has a team-best 7.0 boards-per-contest. Bell is also the staple of that defensive threat with 2.3 steals-per-game, ranking third in the league.
 
LAST MEETING
Cindy Russo picked up her 700th career win on Feb. 5, 2014 from the Convocation Center, as FIU defeated UTSA, 53-40. With the win, FIU improved to 11-10 overall and 5-3 within Conference USA action. Jerica Coley recorded a game-high 20 points, while adding five rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists. It was the 19th time that season that Coley scored 20-or-more points. Joining Coley in double figures was Tynia McKinzie with 14. The Ovieto, Fla., native also contributed a team-high nine rebounds followed by Zsofia Labady, who finished with seven boards. For the game, FIU shot 27.4 percent (17-of-62), while the Roadrunners shot 23.4 percent (11-of-47) from the floor. The difference was points via turnovers, as the Panthers converted 15 points off of 21 takeaways, while UTSA only had six.
 
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/.