RUSTON, La. (Jan. 13, 2016) -- The FIU women's basketball squad will make its first conference road swing this weekend, heading to Louisiana Tech Thursday evening, with the opening tip at 7:30 p.m. Eastern against a Lady Techsters squad playing in their first home Conference USA contest.
 
The Panthers are 2-12 so far this season, 0-3 in the league games. All three losses have come in single-digit margins for FIU. Tech is 6-8 overall, 1-2 in conference play.
 
FIU dropped a pair of tight games at home last weekend, the last a seven-point loss to Marshall on Saturday afternoon. In that game, senior Destini Feagin (Philadelphia, Pa.) recorded her second and the team's third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She hit all of her career-high five free throw attempts and had the team-high total of eight defensive rebounds in the contest. FIU held Marshall, second in the league in scoring, to just a .382 shooting mark in the game, just under 35 percent in the second half and more than 10 points below its scoring total. The Panthers cut a 15-point deficit to just two points with a little over two minutes in regulation before Tech pulled away at the end at the free throw line.
 
FIU has climbed to the middle of the pack in scoring in the league, at 63.6 points per contest. The Panthers still lead the league in free throw shooting and are sixth of 14 squads in field goal and three-point field goal percentage. Senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) remains among the league leaders in scoring, sitting seventh at 15.2 points per game. Junior forward Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary) is 10^th, at 14.2 points per contest, making the Panthers just one of three teams in Conference USA with two players in the top ten in scoring.
 
Tech scores less than three points more and shoots eight percentage points worse than the Panthers have this season. The Lady Techsters sit fourth in rebounding. Brandi Wingate sits one spot above Shade at fifth in scoring in the league, at 16.5 per contest. She is tied for 10^th in the league in rebounding and is the fourth-best overall shooter so far this season. The Lady Techsters have dropped six-of-their last nine contests, including three-of-their last four at home.
 
Following the Thursday night contest, the Panthers will head to Southern Miss for a 5 p.m. Saturday contest to complete the league weekend.

 
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).
 
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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/.