BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 8, 2016) -- Despite losing a top scorer in the opening minutes of the game, the FIU Panthers women's basketball squad stuck to the gameplan and won its opening-round game over UTSA, 61-56, Tuesday at the Conference USA Championship at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The five-point margin was identical to the Panthers' last conference win, a 59-54 win over the Roadrunners in San Antonio on February 13.
 
FIU, the 14-seed at the Championships is 5-25 overall. UTSA, seeded 11th, ends its season 10-19.
 
Just 63 seconds into the game, junior Tianah Alvarado (St. Petersburg, Florida / Gulf Coast State) got fouled and hobbled to the free throw line, refusing to come out. She hit both for the first points of the game, but had to leave the game and could not return. She averages 13 points per game, but 17.2 in the team's last five contests. Her status for Wednesday's game is uncertain.
 
Senior Taylor Shade (Boynton Beach, Florida / Community HS) and local freshman Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) took over the game. Shade put together a 22-point afternoon, with Hudson adding 16 in the win.
 
"Everybody woke up this morning in a really good mood," said Shade in the postgame press conference. "I told the team that we had nothing to lose. When Tianah went down, we all just had to find a way to step up."
 
"We stuck with everything we needed to do," said Interim Head Coach Tiara Malcom, after the game. "I told the bench, 'If we call upon you, just give us everything you have.' The players stuck with the coaching staff and believed in us and believed that we would put them in a position to succeed."
 
The Panthers played the kind of defense that helped them beat UTSA in the previous meeting. FIU held the Roadrunners to just .263 (5-for-19) in the opening period. A balanced attack saw five Panthers score in the first and lead 12-11 at the quarter break.
 
The second quarter started the Panthers' way, with FIU pushing the lead out to four. But the Roadrunners put together their own run and got the lead out to seven with 2:08 to play. That's when the Panthers rallied and scored the half's final seven point, capped by a Shade jumper to tie the game at 28.
 
FIU scored five quick points to open the third, but went on a scoreless streak of nearly three minutes and watched UTSA put together an 8-0 run to take a 39-33 margin. But the Panthers pieced together an 8-2 run to tie the game at 41. The third ended with two UTSA baskets and a 45-41 lead.
 
The Panthers posted a 20-point quarter, their first in the last four games, on 6-for-14 shooting (.429) and their best quarter of the contest. UTSA got the lead to seven with 6:12 remaining, but the Panthers ripped off an 13-6 run, capped off by a Hudson three to tie the game at 54 for the game's sixth tie score, and the first since the end of the third.
 
The game remained tied for nearly a minute until a Shade drive and score put the Panthers up for good with 24 seconds left. The Panthers hit five of six free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
 
Hudson added five assists in the victory. Senior Brianna Wright (Titusville, Florida / Titusville HS) collected 10 rebounds and blocked two shots in the win.
 
The Panthers, the top free-throw shooting team in the conference this year, hit 12 of 17 from the charity stripe. The Roadrunners only went to the line eight times.
 
FIU advances to face six-seeded Marshall, in the last game of Wednesday night, with the tip slated for 8:30 Eastern.
 
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).
 
#####
 
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/.