MIAMI (February 15, 2017) -- The FIU women's basketball team begins its fourth home Conference USA weekend of the season Thursday night, with a contest scheduled against Southern Miss Thursday night at 7 p.m. on Lime Court at FIU Arena.
 
The Panthers enter the game with a 5-18 overall record and a 3-9 league mark. Southern Miss is 16-9, and 8-5 in Conference USA.
 
FIU has won four games on its home court this season, including a pair of league contests. The Panthers have a trio of players with double-figure averages in conference games only, including sophomore Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama), with a mark of 14.4 points and senior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary), who averages 12.0 points per contest.
 
Hudson also has 58 assists and 27 steals in 12 league games, both tops on the team this season. They both average better than five rebounds per C-USA game in 2016-17.
 
Southern Miss is led by Brittany Dinkins, the conference's steals leader (3.56 per game), as her 89 steals are fifth-most in the nation. The Miami native and graduate of Norland High averages 18.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest. She had 26 in a win at home against UTEP last Saturday. Teammate Jayla King averages 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
 
The Panthers have won twice in eight meetings against USM, in 1996 and 1998, both in Hattiesburg, but USM has won the last three since FIU joined Conference USA. Southern Miss dispatched FIU last January 16 in Mississippi by a final of 82-55.
 
FIU will host LA Tech to finish the weekend Saturday, in the annual Play4Kay pink game. Opening tip is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
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/.