MIAMI (Jan. 23, 2016) - Despite outscoring league-leading UTEP by five over the final three quarters, the FIU women's basketball team was unable to knock off the Miners in a 69-57 home Conference USA loss on Saturday afternoon on Lime Court at FIU Arena. The Miners put together a 22-0 run in the first quarter and did not look back in the win to push their school-record start to 16-1, 7-0 in league play. The Panthers drop to 2-15, 0-7 in C-USA.
 
For the seventh time this season, the Panthers got on the board first in the game. The Miners won the opening tip, but the Panthers forced them into a bad shot and senior Destini Feagin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), making her 11th start of the season, knocked down a three-pointer on the other end. The Miners then reeled off the next 22 points in the game and led 24-7 after one quarter.
 
"We told our team that the first quarter was the game," said FIU Head Coach Marlin Chinn after the contest. "We won the other three quarters, but that game was won there in the early part of the first."
 
At the end of the first and start of the second, FIU put together a 13-2 run to cut the 19-point lead down to eight. The Panthers shot .538 in the second period and outscored the Miners by two points. Feagin scored eight of the team's 17 points in the frame. The Panthers forced the Miners into six turnovers in the period to aid in getting back into the game.
 
The Panthers were just 2-for-16 in the first, but rebounded to post a .538 mark (7-for-13) in the second and limited the Miners to .400 in that period.
 
The teams found some scoring rhythm in the third, with both scoring 20 in the quarter. FIU junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Golf Coast State) scored 14 of her team-high 15 points in the third, including the first nine for the Panthers in the frame.
 
One aspect of the game that the coaches and team have been working on is rebounding, and the Panthers were one rebound shy of their season high, set way back in the season-opening game. Though they were outrebounded, 46-40, the 40 were the most collected in conference this season by the Panthers.
 
"I have to give credit to our team, they started to rebound after that first quarter, which took great effort," added Chinn. "Once we can get that competitive effort out of our ball club for four quarters, I think we can do some great things."
 
The teams combined to shoot 6-for-28 in the fourth quarter where the defensive intensity rose to its highest level of the game.

Feagin had 14 points for FIU. She added a game-high nine rebounds in the contest.
 
Because of the number of rebounds the Panthers were able to wrangle, FIU took its second-highest number of shots in the game this season, 63, which was equal to UTEP's total shot attempts. It was the fourth time in a conference game when the Panthers had fewer turnovers than their opponent (21-19).
 
FIU will play its next two games on the road next week. The Panthers head to Halton Arena in Charlotte for their next contest, against the 49ers Thursday night at 7 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/.