MIAMI (Jan. 7, 2021) – Coming off an impressive opening to Conference USA play, the FIU women's basketball team returns to Miami to host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders for a two-game set at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

The weekend-opener is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. ET start time on Saturday. Both games can be streamed on CUSA.tv.
   
Click here for full game notes.

Series History
FIU and Middle Tennessee have met 39 previous times with the Blue Raiders taking 30 of the 39 meetings, including the last 13.
 
The English Connection
The transfer duo of Kyla Nelson and Emerald Ekpiteta brings a wealth of experience to Miami, with Nelson playing in 64 games over three seasons at Pittsburgh and Ekpiteta playing in 85 games over three seasons at Niagara. Both impressed in their FIU debuts with Nelson scoring 13 points, one short of tying a career-high, and Ekpiteta picking up eight points and 13 rebounds to lead all Panther bench players.
 
The pair shined to open league play, becoming to first Panther duo to score 20+ points in the same game since Dec. 21, 2018, against South Alabama.
 
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 9.1 made threes per game, which is good enough to rank 20th nationally.
 
Nelson and Danielsson both rank in the top 10 of C-USA in made threes per game, with Nelson averaging 2.88 (6th) and Danielsson splashing 2.38 (8th).

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 10.4 rebounds per contest, which ranks 33th nationally. Ekpiteta also enters this weekend's play as one of only five players in C-USA that is averaging a double-double for the season.
 
The Emergence of RFB 
Panther point guard Raquel Ferrer-Bernad is averaging 5.0 assists per contest after a stellar stretch of games. The performance has catapulted the Spaniard in the assists per game rankings, landing her at 44th nationally. The JUCO transfer leads all of C-USA in total assists (40) and assist-to-turnover ratio with 3.33, where she enters this weekend's play ranked 21st nationally.
 
Scoring In Bunches
Under first-year coach Burks-Wiley, the Panther offense has been resurrected to top the C-USA and rank among the leaders in the entire nation. FIU is averaging 78.8 points per game, which places the Panthers almost a full point ahead of the rest of the C-USA and ranks 41st nationally.
 
Bombs Away in Norfolk
In FIU's thrilling 81-80 victory over Old Dominion on Jan. 2, the Panthers splashed 14 threes, which sits as the most for a game in program history. The previous mark was 13 against N.C. State on Nov. 13, 2009, and Jan. 5, 2018, against UTEP.
 
Panthers Helping Panthers
The increase of scoring for FIU has brought an influx of assists, with the Panthers averaging 15.6 assists per game which ranks third in C-USA and 70th nationally. More impressively, FIU's average of 15.6 assists per game is nearly six assists better than the 2019-20 average of 9.7.
  
Up Next
FIU opens the home-and-home series with South Florida foe Florida Atlantic on Friday, Jan. 15, in Boca Raton.
   
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.