MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (March 5, 2016) -- FIU junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State) poured in a career-high 24 points, but the Panthers were limited to a .385 shooting clip and concluded the regular season with a road loss at Middle Tennessee 77-55 at the Charles M. Murphy Center Saturday afternoon in Conference USA women's basketball action. FIU finishes the regular campaign at 4-25, 2-16 in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders are 21-8, 15-3 and the two-seed seed (with two byes) in next week's C-USA Championships.
 
As it did in the first meeting, MT was able to put tremendous defensive pressure on the Panthers, and including a 7-0 run in the first five minutes, the Blue Raiders got out to a 15-4 lead. Following a timeout at that point, FIU cut it to seven on buckets by freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) and Alvarado, but the Blue Raiders pushed the lead back out to nine by the quarter's end.
 
FIU was able to shoot better in the second quarter (.417), but the Blue Raiders put up a .583 period and outpaced FIU by four to take a 40-27 halftime lead. Alvarado led all players with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting in the opening half, including a pair of three-point shots. She also collected seven rebounds in the first half to lead the Panthers.
 
FIU scored the first four points of the third and looked like the defensive surge may carry them to cut into a chunk of the lead, but a 4:24 scoring drought immediately after allowed Middle to push the lead out to 18 points and cruise to the win.
 
Hudson finished with 11 points and senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) added 10. Alvarado led the Panthers with nine rebounds.
 
The Panthers will head to Birmingham, Alabama for the Conference USA Championships, with FIU's first game on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern against either Florida Atlantic, UTSA or North Texas, depending on the results of Saturday's action.
 
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/.