MIAMI (Dec 31, 2020) – To officially ring in the new year, the FIU women's basketball team will open Conference USA play with a two-game set at Old Dominion.  
  
The conference-opener is set to tipoff at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. ET start time on Saturday as well. Both games can be streamed on CUSA.tv.
   
Click here for full game notes.

Series History
FIU and Old Dominion have met 11 times on the hardwood, with ODU taking eight match-ups, including the last seven.
 
Putting In Work Defensively
In the early going of the 2020-21 season, the Panthers have stepped up their game on the defensive end of the court, ranking 66th nationally in turnovers forced per game at 19.67. FIU places fifth in Conference USA in forced turnovers and second in turnover margin (3.83)
 
The Panthers also lead C-USA in total team steals with 59 led by Raquel Ferrer-Bernad.
 
Panther Sharpshooters 
Led by Kyla Nelson and Alma Danielsson, FIU's offense has come out of the gates firing on all cylinders from behind the arc. The Panthers rank second in all of C-USA with 8.5 made threes per game, which is good enough to rank 39th nationally. 
 
Nelson and Danielsson both rank in the top 10 of C-USA in made threes per game, with Nelson averaging 2.83 (5th) and Danielsson splashing 2.17 (10th). 
 
Ekpiteta Grabbing Boards 
Emerald Ekpiteta is also making her presence known. The grad transfer from Niagara ranks second in C-USA on the glass, averaging 10.0 rebounds per contest, which ranks 36th nationally. 
 
In FIU's blowout win over Florida Memorial, Ekpiteta pulled down 13 rebounds and 10 points for the first FIU double-double of the season. The forward also collected 17 points and 13 boards for her second double-double of the year in the series opener against FGCU.

The Emergence of RFB 
Panther point guard Raquel Ferrer-Bernad is averaging 5.5 assists per contest after a stellar stretch of games to close out the non-conference slate. The performance has catapulted the Spaniard in the assists per game rankings, landing her at 25th nationally. The JUCO transfer leads all of C-USA in total assists (33) and assist-to-turnover ratio with 4.12.
 
Not to be outdone on the defensive end, Ferrer-Bernad has tallied 15 steals to lead C-USA in total steals.  
  
Up Next
FIU returns to Miami on Friday, Jan. 8, to host Middle Tennessee for the C-USA home-opening series. 
   
SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUWBB on Facebook and @FIU_WBB on Twitter and @FIUWBB on Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.