The FIU women's basketball five-game Holiday home stand reaches its midway point Wednesday, when the Panthers host Texas Southern for a noon contest on Lime Court at FIU Arena. The game is the seventh home game of the season for FIU (1-7) and the ninth overall. The Panthers will host two more games next week before beginning Conference USA play on New Year's weekend on the road.
 
FIU has dropped three in a row, including its last outing, a 20-point home loss to No. 12/13 Miami last Friday night. The Panthers are second in Conference USA in three-point shooting percentage (.368), 41^st in the country, and are also second in the league in free-throw shooting (.743), sitting at 54^th in the nation.
 
Individually, FIU is led by freshman Alexis Gordon (Palm Bay, Florida / Covenant Christian), who averages 11.5 points per game and leads the conference in three-point field goals per game (3.0) and percentage (.444), while second in C-USA with 24 made threes for the season. Her 34 minutes-per-game average is ninth-most in the league. Sophomore point guard Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) is second in the league by playing an average of 36.4 minutes per contest. Hudson is in the top 20 in the league in assists per game (11^th, at 3.8) and free-throw percentage (13^th, at .742) as the team's primary ball handler.
 
Texas Southern (5-5) enters Wednesday after a two-game, two-day Texas road trip, at TCU on Sunday and SMU Monday. The Lady Tigers only play once at home in their first 14 contests, and Wednesday's tilt is the third of a six-game road trip, across four different states. The Tigers started the year 5-2 before losing the last three contest. TSU leads the SWAC in field goal shooting (.389) and defense (.370), as well as rebounding margin (3.0 per game), scoring margin (0.2 per game), defense (allowing 59.2 per contest) and three-point shooting defense (.290). Only Jackson State (5-4) has a better mark among league teams than TSU so far this season. The Tigers opened the year with a win at Conference USA foe UTEP, defeating the Miners by 21 points.
 
Three Tigers are averaging double-figure points per game this season, led by Joyce Kennerson's 12.3 per game. She leads the SWAC in free throws made (23) and attempted (70) and is fourth in the conference in minutes played per game (34.7). The TSU starting five, the same for all 10 games this season, averages 24 or more minutes per game.
 
The two programs first met in Houston in 1987, with TSU getting its only win in the five-game all-time series. FIU has won the last four, an annual meeting in December from 1989-1992, the last of which was a 14-point FIU victory, 78-64, on December 19 of that year.  The teams have not met since.
 
FIU will play Tuesday and Wednesday in the FIU Holiday Classic, hosting Massachusetts on Tuesday at noon and George Mason Tuesday at 2 p.m. to close out the home stand.
 
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/.