MIAMI (March 2, 2016) -- FIU women's basketball goes on the road to complete the 2015-16 regular season, ahead of the Conference USA Championships, starting with a Thursday night contest at UAB. The opening tip, from Bartow Arena, where the first three rounds of the conference championships will take place for the women, is set for 8 p.m. Eastern.
 
Looking back to the previous meeting between the two teams, FIU defeated UAB on February 4, to snap a league losing skid that lasted almost two seasons, by a 72-61 final. Senior Brianna Wright (Titusville, Florida / Titusville HS) returned after missing all of the season to that point and aided the Panthers with seven rebounds in the win.
 
The team also shot a season-best .700 (7-for-10) in the fourth quarter. Senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) tied the team season high of 26 points and Kristian Hudson added 10.
 
The Panthers sit at 4-23 overall and 2-14 in league games. UAB is 13-14, 6-10 in Conference USA. Since the loss to FIU, UAB is 3-3.
 
Shade leads the team with a 14.2 points-per-game average. She has scored in double figures 20 times this season. She stands at 1,025 career points, 20^th-best in the career for a Panther. She is just 16 points away from 19^th and 23 from the 18^th spot on the scoring list.
 
Deanna Kuzmanic leads the Blazers with an average of 13.1 points per game this season. Senior Brittany Winborne averages a double-double this season, with 10.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in 2015-16. She had 11 points and 13 rebounds against FIU on February 4, but the Panthers outshot UAB by six percentage points (.464 to .404) and turned 16 UAB turnovers into 31 points for the difference in the game.
 
The Panthers are locked into the 14 seed in next week's Conference USA Championships, meaning their first game will be Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. from Bartow 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/.