FIU women's basketball will honor its seniors in the final home game of 2015-16 this Saturday against Florida Atlantic. The game time has been moved to 7 p.m. on Lime Court in FIU Arena.
 
The program will honor its four outgoing senior players in a pregame ceremony. Katrina Epnere (Riga, Latvia), Brianna Wright (Titusville, Florida / Titusville HS), Destini Feagin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) will appear for the final time in front of the home crowd.
 
This game is a rematch of the January 3 game held in Boca Raton where FAU survived an 87-82 shootout. The Panthers were one point off their season high, yet the most points they have scored in a Conference USA game this season.
 
Shade posted a season-high 26 points, with junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg / Gulf Coast State) adding a season-best 22 points, but a three-minute drought without a field goal in the third quarter and a 2-for-9 shooting slump in the fourth cost FIU the win. The Panthers had a better shooting percentage (.493 to FAU's .475) and more rebounds (37-32) in the loss, just the second time this season that has happened to FIU, but the Owls attempted 14 more and hit 13 more free throws in the win.
 
Statistically, FIU leads the league in free-throw shooting and is in the middle of the pack in three-point shooting, steals and turnover margin. FAU is second in Conference USA in three-point shooting and assists, while sixth in scoring, free-throw shooting and turnover margin.
 
Individually, the Panthers and Owls have one player in the Top 10 in scoring in the league. Shade averages 14.4 points per game, sitting ninth. FAU's Ali Gorrell averaged 15.1 points per contest and it seventh in C-USA. Shade is also fourth in the league in free-throw percentage, at .832, and eighth in three-point percentage, at .378. Gorrell checks fifth in assists, at 4.4 per game, and eighth in free-throw shooting, at .818 this season. FIU freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) is seventh in assists, at 4.1 per game. Alvarado is tied for sixth in the conference with a 2.2 steals-per-game average. FAU's Sasha Cedeno leads the league in three-point shooting, at .475, while teammate Kat Wright is fifth, hitting threes at a .394 clip.
 
The women's team will finish the regular season on the road, at UAB next Thursday, March 3, and at Middle Tennessee on March 5.
 
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/.