• Sophomore Alexis Gordon (Palm Bay, Florida / Covenant Christian HS) set a new school record with nine made three-point field goals in a game, and set a new career-high with 40 points as FIU defeated Vermont 80-70 Saturday at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center to finish the calendar year.
• FIU hit 13 three-point tries in the game, tying the mark accomplished twice before. FIU is now 3-10 on the season heading into Conference USA play to start 2018. The victory stops a six-game slide. Vermont has an identical 3-10 record.
• The Panthers led by as many as 14, their biggest lead of the season, in the fourth quarter, but a 10-0 Vermont run in the final period cut the Panthers lead down to three with just over three minutes remaining. FIU called a timeout, and outscored the Catamounts 11-4 down the stretch, which included back-to-back threes from Gordon (and three free throws when fouled on another attempt) in the final 3:01 of the contest. Gordon was fouled three times in three-point attempts, hitting all nine of those, and all 11 free-throw attempts.
• Trailing by two after the first period, FIU outscored Vermont 25-15 in the second quarter, powered by 13 made free throws in the period. Gordon hit all eight attempts from the line in that frame.
• After losing late leads in the last two games, due to poor shooting in the fourth quarter, the Panthers posted a .625 shooting mark in the fourth this afternoon, and a season-best .468 total in the game.
• Also producing a season-high point total was newcomer Lauryn Snipes (Wellington, Kansas). The freshman scored 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting, and added five rebounds in the contest.
• Freshman Callie Cavanaugh (Holyoke, Massachusetts) led the team with eight rebounds. Junior Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) added 11 points.
• The individual point total is the most by a Conference USA student-athlete this season, and the most for a Panther since Jerica Coley scored 42 in a Conference USA Tournament game against East Carolina in March of 2014. Coley holds the arena and school record with 47 points in a single game.
• Gordon is the seventh player in team history to reach 40 points and this is the 11^th time the feat has been accomplished by a Panther, but only the third time at home. Both of Coley's 47-point outings came at home. Her previous high for made threes in a game was six.

Stat of the Match                            
FIU was 23-for-27 from the free-throw line. The Panthers hit more than 20 free throws in back-to-back games and are 54-for-59 from the stripe in a stretch over their last three games.

From the Sideline
"Lex did a great job today. She was aggressive, made free throws, played defense and rebounded," said FIU Head Coach Tiara Malcom. "The difference today (from results in the past) was when I called timeout in the fourth quarter, the players were already talking to each other. It started with our focus in shootaround. We knew our sets and our rotations defensively. It was important for our guards to rebound today, and they did a good job with that. I think they are starting to get it. When we can find a place to drive, we need to keep doing that and it got us to the free throw line today."

From the Floor
"There are no excuses for what I have done in the past, but I can do this," said Gordon after the game. "I just have to focus. I was just shooting and it was going in. I had to tell myself not to stop. I was looking to shoot every time I got the ball."

Next Up
FIU will begin Conference USA play next week, with home games Friday night and Sunday afternoon. The league docket starts with UTEP on Friday night at 7 p.m. The two teams played to triple overtime last January, with FIU winning 88-87 on a buzzer-

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