MIAMI (Feb. 20. 2016) -- FIU outscored visiting Rice 20-12 in the fourth quarter, but the attempted comeback ran out of time in a 68-62 home loss Saturday in Conference USA basketball action on Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
The Panthers held Rice to 1-for-8 shooting after the Owls made the first bucket of the fourth and FIU knocked down seven of 14 shot attempts (.500) in its best shooting quarter of the game.
 
"This was one of the few fourth quarters where we played well and hit shots down the stretch," said FIU Head Coach Marlin Chinn after the game. "Credit to Rice and Coach Langley. She has those ladies playing well. They made their shots and read our defense and got their fouls and made us pay."
 
Junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State) scored 17 points and corralled seven rebounds, both team highs, in the loss.
 
FIU drops to 4-22 overall, 2-13 in Conference USA. The Owls have won three of four and are 7-18 overall, 6-8 in league play.
 
The rims were unkind to FIU in the first half. The Panthers started out 4-for-14 and missed their first eight three-point attempts to get in an early hole that took much of the second half to get out of. A buzzer-beater in the paint in the first quarter by senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) put the Panthers to within four at the quarter break.
 
When Rice looked like it might run away with the game, FIU scurried for some instant offense, with five points in 20 seconds after an Alvarado jumper, Shade steal and three-pointer from senior Destini Feagin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) to trim an 11-point lead to five. Feagin later hit back-to-back threes in a 40-second period in the last minute to put up 11 points in the half. An Alvarado floating jumper off a tipped inbounds pass before the horn kept the game within double-figures at the half. Rice kept their lead after a 9-for-13 second quarter (.692) performance. Feagin led all players with nine in the period.
 
The Panthers again whittled the lead down to five in the third, but another cold shooting spell (1-for-5) allowed Rice to build it to 14 at the end of the quarter before the Panthers made the late run.
 
Shade finished with 14 and Feagin had 11.
 
The Panthers finished at .386 for the game. Rice shot .449 and outrebounded FIU 39-28. Both teams finished with 14 assists.
 
At halftime, the team honored retired, 36-year head coach Cindy Russo and her 21-year assistant, Inge Nissen. The athletics department named the locker room after Russo and former players and staff returned as her name was hung from the rafters of FIU Arena during the ceremony, along with retired jerseys from the program.
 
The Panthers will host their home finale next Saturday on Senior Night, against Florida Atlantic, starting 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/.