SAN ANTONIO (February 23, 2017) -- FIU women's hoops started their final road trip to Texas looking for a second road win of the season, but could not shoot its way to a win in a 69-55 loss at UTSA Thursday night in Conference USA action. The loss drops the Panthers to 5-21, 3-12 in league play. UTSA is now 12-14, 8-7 in C-USA.
 
The Panthers defense was great in spurts, holding the Roadrunners scoreless for more than two minutes four different times, including a stretch of almost five minutes in the third quarter. The Panthers' offense could not match the proficiency, shooting .333 for the contest. In a rare statistical anomaly, the Panthers had a worse overall shooting mark than from three-point range. FIU tied its season high with nine made three-point buckets on 21 attempts and shot .429 from long distance.

As they did last Thursday, the Panthers' best quarter was the last, scoring 19 points to close the gap to 14, despite a lead of as much as 26 in the opening minutes of the fourth.
 
The Roadrunners shot .400 from the field and outrebounded the Panthers, 46-33.
 
Freshman Alexi Gordon (Palm Bay, Florida / Covenant Christian) tied for the game-high total of 17 points, her third-highest point total of her first collegiate campaign. She was 5-for-13 from three-point range, one away from her team-high of six threes, hit in the non-conference portion of the schedule.
 
Sophomore Kristian Hudson (Birmingham, Alabama) added 11 points and seven assists.
 
The Panthers head to El Paso to take on UTEP on Saturday, Feb. 25, starting at 4 p.m. Eastern.
 
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/.