MIAMI (Feb 11, 2021) – After a road sweep at UTSA, the FIU women's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Ocean Bank Convocation Center for a two-game weekend series with the visiting UTEP Miners.  
  
The series-opener is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. ET start time on Saturday. Friday's game can be streamed on CUSA.tv, while Saturday's will be on ESPN+.
   
Click here for full game notes.
  
Series History
FIU and UTEP have met 11 times with all but one meeting coming since 2014. The Miners lead the all-time series 9-2 and have won five straight over the Panthers.
 
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 8.6 made threes per game, which is good enough to rank 29th nationally.
 
Nelson and Danielsson both rank in the top 10 of C-USA in made threes per game, with Nelson averaging 2.93 (3rd) and Danielsson splashing 2.25 (6th).
 
Ekpiteta Grabbing Boards 
Emerald Ekpiteta is also making her presence known in 2020-21. The grad transfer from Niagara ranks third in C-USA on the glass, averaging 10.6 rebounds per contest, which ranks 29th nationally. Ekpiteta also enters this weekend's play as one of only four 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 4.4 assists per contest midway through the year. The performance has catapulted the Spaniard in the assists per game rankings, landing her at 82nd nationally. The JUCO transfer leads all of C-USA in assist-to-turnover ratio with 2.82, while she enters this weekend's play ranked 23rd nationally.
 
Scoring In Bunches
Under first-year head coach Jesyka Burks-Wiley, the Panther offense has been resurrected near the top of the C-USA and rank among the leaders in the entire nation. FIU is averaging 76.8 points per game, which places the Panthers second in C-USA and 30th nationally.
 
Panthers Helping Panthers
The increase of scoring for FIU has brought an influx of assists, with the Panthers averaging 14.9 assists per game, which ranks second in C-USA and 89th nationally. More impressively, FIU's average of 14.9 assists per game is almost a full six assists better than the 2019-20 average of 9.7.
  
Roary Stays Swiping
The increased pressure on the defense has led to more steals for the Panthers. FIU currently ranks second in C-USA with 134 total steals.
 
Burks-Wiley COY???  
In her first year at the helm of FIU, Coach Burks-Wiley has already set a standard for years to come with the most wins in a season since the 2013-14 season.
 
Triple Dip
The Panthers triple-overtime thriller on Feb. 6 was the longest game that the Panthers have played in since beating UTEP in triple overtime on Jan. 12, 2017.
 
Once in a Decade
Also in that triple-overtime epic, the Panthers scored 100 points in a game for the first time since scoring an even 100 against FAU on Feb. 19, 2011.
 
Nimmo Shines in Triple OT
Sophomore Fujika Nimmo shined in the second half and overtime of last Saturday's game with 23 of her career-high 28 coming after halftime. Nimmo's 28 is the most by a Panther in a game since Alexis Gordon dropped 40 on Vermont in December of 2017.
 
Satter Plays
When Liz Satter checked in at the 5:32 mark of the first quarter during Feb. 5's 72-60 victory over UTSA, it was the first time that the grad transfer played in a competitive college game since Feb. 4, 2017, when she was still at Penn. The two games bookended a 1,463-day streak without playing.
 
Feb 4, 2017 superlatives
Price of gas: $2.29
No. 1 song in America: "Bad and Boujee" by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert
No. 1 Movie in America: Split - Written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan.
Most watched show on cable: 1.8 million people watched No. 20 Florida down No. 6 Kentucky 88-66 on ESPN.
 
Up Next
After the two-game series with the Miners, FIU closes out the road slate of the season with two games at Southern Miss on Feb.19-Feb. 20. 
   
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.