SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Feb. 13, 2016) – Senior Brianna Wright (Titusville, Florida / Titusville HS) blocked a career-high four shots and collected a career-best 20 rebounds as the FIU Panthers won their first road game of the year, 59-54, at UTSA Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center. The win was the Panthers' fourth of the year and moves the record to 4-20, 2-11 in Conference USA. UTSA is 8-15, 4-9.
 
FIU's last road conference win also came in San Antonio on February 5, 2014, breaking a run of 19-straight road conference losses. 
 
Up two points with 1:10 remaining, Wright blocked the potential game-tying bucket and junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State) recorded steals on back-to-back UTSA possessions without the Roadrunners able to get off a shot. She nailed three of her four free throws down the stretch to secure the five-point win. Wright's four blocks were more than the two recorded by UTSA, which came into the game third in Conference USA in blocked shots, with 4.5 per game.
 
"It was a phenomenal effort defensively for us tonight," said FIU Head Coach Marlin Chinn. "We explained to the ladies yesterday and today that we needed to make it a defensive game to have a chance to win. I can't say enough about the difference 'Bri' Wright makes for us. I never thought she could come up with 20 boards. She was huge for us and everybody hit timely shots and we hit our free throws down the stretch. We got killed on the boards against them the last time."
 
After the Roadrunners scored the first four points of the game, the Panthers reeled off six in a row and held UTSA to 1-for-9 shooting, which included a scoring drought of over three minutes. The six points came on a pair of three-point baskets by Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama). Hudson had the game-high total of 18 for the Panthers, just two off her career high, set at No. 20 Miami on December 22.
 
UTSA was limited to just .286 on 4-for-14 in the opening period and Hudson led all scorers with eight points as the Panthers led by six at the quarter break, 16-10.
 
The second quarter started like the first ended, with the Miners suffering an 0-for-7 shooting slump and Wright turned up her game. The 6-foot-1 center, playing in just her fourth game of the season after fighting through injury, blocked shots on back-to-back possessions and dropped in two buckets in the lane to set a new season high of four points, which she extended to eight in the second half. The Panthers and Roadrunners played to a near draw in the second quarter, with UTSA outscoring the Panthers by one for a 27-22 FIU halftime lead. Wright tied season highs with seven rebounds, two blocks and a new season high with four points at the half.
 
The Panther defense came up big in the third, limiting the Roadrunners to just nine points on 4-for-15 shooting (.267) in the period. Senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) and junior Nikolina Todorovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) came alive in the period, scoring seven and six points respectively. Todorovic nailed a pair of three-point baskets in the frame.
 
UTSA made its run in the fourth, closing the gap to as close as two down the stretch by scoring 23 points in the frame, more than any other two quarters combined. FIU also had its biggest scoring output in the fourth, with 19 points. FIU never trailed after the 5:53 mark in the opening period.
 
The more amazing fact was that the Panthers only played seven players in the game, making the defensive effort that much more impressive.
 
"We slowed our transition game down because of the number of bodies we used," added Chinn.
 
FIU posted a season-high 44 rebounds and outrebounded the Roadrunners by 11, the Panthers' largest rebounding margin of the season. The Panthers also knocked down a season-high 22 of a season-high 28 free throws. FIU took 12 more free throws than the Roadrunners, one shy of the season high free throw margin. The Panthers are the league's best free-throw shooting team, at .760, posting a .786 mark in Saturday's game.
 
Wright played a season-high 38 minutes in the game. Shade finished with 11 points for the Panthers, her 53^rd-career game with 10 or more points.
 
FIU will be home for the next three games over the next two weekends. Thursday night, the Panthers host North Texas at 7 p.m. before a regionally-televised game against Rice, which will feature a tribute to former Panthers head coach Cindy Russo. That game, televised by Fox Sports Net, will tip at noon Eastern on Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
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/.