FIU will host the annual Play 4Kay game Saturday, where the team will wear pink warmup tops and have pink accessories as part of the uniform during the game. The Panthers will raffle off a pair of pink basketball shorts as part of raising awareness and funds for the Kay Yow Foundation to fight breast cancer. The event and foundation were named for famed North Carolina State head coach Kay Yow, who lost her life in her third battle with cancer in 2009.
 
The women's basketball coaching community fostered the inception of Play 4Kay in 2007, helping the Kay Yow Cancer Fund raise nearly $5.2 million for research and related cancer-fighting projects.
 
FIU Women's Basketball: Game 22, versus Middle Tennessee
Saturday, February 6, 2016 | 2 p.m. (ET)
Lime Court at FIU Arena | Miami, Florida | C-USA Digital Network
 
FIU Panthers
Record: 3-18, 1-9 Conference USA
Last Game: W, 72-61 vs. UAB on Thursday, February 4, 2016
Head Coach: Marlin Chinn (Hampton, '92)
Career Record: 3-18 / first season
 
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Record: 14-7, 8-2 Conference USA
Last Game: W, 83-73 at Florida Atlantic on February 4, 2016
Head Coach: Rick Insell (Middle Tennessee, 1977)
Career Record: 266-83 / 11th season
ODU Record: 266-83 / 11th season
 
The Matchup: Middle Tennessee is in the middle of the pack in most statistical categories in the league, while sitting second in rebound margin (+3.8 per game) and third in steals (8.9 per game) in Conference USA to this point of the season. FIU leads the league in free throw shooting (.762) and is fifth in three-point shooting (.334).
 
FIU Last Game: FIU got its first league win in nearly two years with a 72-61 decision at home over UAB. Senior Taylor Shade tied her career high with 26 points, while senior Destini Feagin did eclipse her career high with 19 points. The Panthers set a season-high with a .700 shooting mark in the fourth quarter and .652 in the second half.
               
Middle Tennessee Last Game: The Blue Raiders led by 19 after three quarters and held on to win their fifth-straight game, 83-73 at Florida Atlantic Thursday. Four Blue Raiders scored in double figures, led by Brea Edwards' 23, on 4-for-5 shooting from three-point range and a game-high nine rebounds. The team shot .592 in the game after a .643 first half from the floor.
 
FIU senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) kicked her scoring average up nearly a point after tying her career high on Thursday and now sits eighth in the league with a 15.1 scoring mark.
Middle Tennessee's Brea Edwards is second in the conference with a 19.0 points-per-game scoring average and leads the league in three-point shooting (.463) while neither team has a player in the Top 10 in the league in rebounding average.
 
Middle's Alex Johnson sits seventh in field goal percentage (.506) and FIU freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Ala.) is sixth in the conference with 4.2 assists-per-game and is fifth in Conference USA in minutes played, at 35 minutes-per-contest.
 
FIU will make its long road trip of the season next week, heading to El Paso, Texas on Thursday before playing in San Antonio on Saturday.
 
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/.