MIAMI (Jan. 7, 2016) -- FIU women's basketball had a third-straight game with a fourth-quarter lead, and after a late shooting drought, ran out of time again to finish a comeback as the visiting WKU Lady Toppers outlasted the Panthers, 71-69, Thursday night in Conference USA action at Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
A late three-point basket from Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) gave the freshman her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 assists in the loss. Junior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary) dropped a two-point basket ahead of the final horn to tie for the game-high 22 points and a season-best 79 percent shooting day, converting 11-for-14 from the field.
 
"I was really proud of the effort we gave today," said FIU head coach Marlin Chinn after the game. "I keep telling them to keep knocking on the door, because it's going to blow wide open for them soon."
 
The game was the first Conference USA home game of the season for the Panthers, and the first on the road for the Lady Toppers. FIU falls to 2-11 overall, 0-2 in the league. The Lady Toppers are 11-2, winners of eight-straight, and 2-0 in conference.
 
The first half was a tale of two quarters, with the Lady Toppers shooting 53 percent, limiting the Panthers to 36 percent to take a six-point lead at the first-quarter break.
 
WKU built that lead to as many as 10 early in the second, but the Panthers came to life and finished that frame on a 12-4 run to power to a tie score at 37-all at intermission. More specifically, junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State College) outscored WKU, 12-4, as she made all of the points on the run. She finished the first half with 14 points to lead all scorers. FIU shot 53 percent in the second half, forcing four WKU turnovers and committing just one in the period to aid in the run.
 
"We're just one key rebound or turnover away," added Chinn. "We're just that close to turning these into wins."
 
The third quarter was a defensive battle with the Panthers holding WKU to just 6-for-22 shooting and a 27 percent mark in the quarter. The Panthers finished the period on a 6-0 run and took a two-point lead, heading into the final stanza.
 
That fourth quarter forced the Panthers to fight through a 2-for-8 shooting slump, though they did hit their last four shots to pull it close in the final seconds. WKU hit seven of their 12 free throws in the final period, after getting just four attempts in the first 30 minutes.
 
After trailing 8-1 in the turnover department after the first quarter, the Panthers protected the ball the rest of the way, forcing 11 turnovers from WKU and committing just eight more in the last 30 minutes.
 
Alvarado finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) had 13 points and six rebounds.

FIU outshot their opponent for the third-straight game, posting a .452 mark and allowing .429 of the defending conference champions.
 
FIU plays the second game of the home weekend Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., hosting Marshall.
 
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/.