RUSTON, La. (Jan. 14, 2016) -- FIU women's basketball ran into some unkind rims and tough defense, falling in Louisiana Tech's first home Conference USA game, 82-63 Thursday night at the Thomas Assembly Center. The loss drops FIU to 2-13 on the season, 0-4 in Conference USA contests. The Lady Techsters are now 7-8, and a level 2-2 in the league.
The Panthers had good ball movement and found lanes to the basket, but the rim in the first half was unkind, as seven layups rolled off as the Panthers were flying at the bucket. Tech finished with a .500 shooting night from the floor in the victory.
The teams played tight defense and forced tough shots early, and neither team could get to .400 from the floor in the opening period. The fouls also piled up early for FIU, though, giving the Lady Techsters five opportunities from the free-throw line. All five attempts were converted for a 19-10 LA Tech edge after one period.
The Panthers were able to get to the rim consistently in the second quarter as well, but came up short in a .308 shooting period. FIU was able to connect on all four free throws earned in the frame, and trailed 36-22 at the half.
FIU had its best shooting quarter of the game in the third (8-for-19, .421), but so did Tech (9-for-14, .643) as the lead widened, 64-41. The Panthers had three scorers in double figures with one quarter to go.
Three players for the Panthers fouled out in the fourth as the fouls added up, and FIU had to play more players in a league game, eight, than they had to this point in four C-USA contests.
Senior
Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) led the Panthers with 18 points. Freshman
Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) also had 18 points, two off her career-high total. Junior
Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State College) added 14 points.
The Panthers will finish their C-USA weekend at Southern Miss, in a 5 p.m. Eastern tipoff.
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto
www.FIUSports.com.
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/.
