MIAMI (November 9, 2017) -- With the 2017-18 season fast approaching, the FIU women's basketball program is ready to tackle the upcoming season, which starts Friday at 6 p.m., with a date at Miami (Florida). The Panthers are coming off a 5-24 campaign, which was one overall win and percentage points better than the season before. Tiara Malcom starts her second season as the team's head coach, in her third year at the institution.
 
FIU is one of the youngest teams in the country, with five freshmen on a playing roster of 10, with only four players with previous FIU experience. The Panthers added Wisconsin transfer Elizabeth Toye (Chicago, Illinois), who sat out last season due to transfer rules.
 
The Panthers will not have a senior on the floor this season, but two seasoned junior captains will lead the way. Redshirt junior Kiandre'a Pound (Gifford, Florida / Sebastian River HS) and junior Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) will attempt the lead the program to continued improvement this season. Pound was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2014-15, while Hudson became just the 13^th player in program history to log at least two seasons with 1,000 minutes played.
 
Coach Malcom sat down ahead of the first weekend of action to talk about the upcoming campaign.  
 
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 eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.