EL PASO, Texas (February 25, 2017) -- A rough start shooting put too much hill in front of FIU women's basketball to climb in the Mountain Time Zone as the Panthers suffered an 88-47 Conference USA road loss at UTSA in the Don Haskins Center Saturday.
 
The Panthers are 5-22 overall, 3-13 in Conference USA. The Miners are 8-20, 5-11 in C-USA. FIU is now two games out of 12^th place in the standings and the final berth to the Conference USA Championships, presented by Metro PCS.
 
FIU hit its first two field-goal attempts, but despite working for open looks, finished the period 1-for-12, and did not hit a field goal in the final 5:31 of the frame. The Panthers shot .214 in the first, with UTEP shooting 9-for-21 (.429) to start the game 29-8.
 
FIU rebounded in the second period, shooting .500 (8-for-16) in the stanza. Senior Janka Hegedus (Budapest, Hungary) was the bright spot for the Panthers, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds by intermission. She was 4-for-6 from the floor in the first half. 
 
The momentum built in the second quarter was lost to start the third, as the Miners scored the first 20 points of the second half. Hegedus scored the first bucket of the quarter for FIU at the 3:50 mark, with a nifty finger roll layup around her defender.  FIU started 0-for-4 in the period, but finished 4-for-6 from the field. UTEP produced 31 third-quarter points, their most prolific period of the game. 
 
FIU outscored UTEP 14-13 in the fourth.
 
After setting and tying the season-high total with nine three-point field goals in the previous two games, FIU was 0-for-10 from long distance, just the second time this season the Panthers were held without a triple in the contest. 
 
Hegedus finished with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting. She added six rebounds in her 60^th career start and 80^th career appearance. Redshirt sophomore Kiandre'a Pound (Gifford, Florida / Sebastian River HS) added 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
FIU will finish the regular season at home with two games. The home stand begins with Middle Tennessee on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Miami.
 
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/.