MIAMI (Jan. 20, 2016) -- FIU women's basketball returns home to Lime Court at FIU Arena Thursday night, with a Conference USA contest against the UTSA Roadrunners, beginning at 7 p.m. The Panthers will be attempting to win their third home contest of the year and breakthrough for their first league win of 2016. FIU is 2-14 overall, 0-5 in C-USA games. The Roadrunners enter play at 5-10 overall, 1-4 in league games. The teams have evenly split their four all-time meetings with two wins each in the series.
 
UTSA comes in near the bottom in scoring (62.5 points per game, 11^th) and shooting (.392, 11^th) categories, but is near the top of the league in rebounding (40.3 per game, fourth), blocks (4.9, second) and steals (7.9, fifth) this season. FIU has shot better from the field (.407, ninth) and beyond the arc (.332, sixth) than UTSA this season, but has not been as good a rebounding team so far (31.1, 14^th), creating an interesting matchup of strengths versus weaknesses for Thursday's contest.
 
The Panthers hit a season-best 8-for-9 shooting in the first quarter, but had 10 turnovers in the opening frame and ended up with an 82-55 loss at Southern Miss on Saturday evening. Junior Tianah Alvarado scored 22 points, one off her season high. Freshman Kristian Hudson scored 11 points, the eighth time in her first campaign with double digits in scoring.
 
The Roadrunners fell by seven at home to their conference rival UTEP on Sunday. UTSA struggled to shoot in the second half (.353), missing all five three-point attempts and four of their 10 free throws. Niaga Mitchell-Cole came off the bench to lead UTSA with 11 points in the road loss.
 
Following Thursday's contest, the Panthers remain at home to complete the home stand with a Saturday afternoon game against UTEP, with the opening tip at 2 p.m.
 
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/.