Miami, Fla. – Sophomore guard Tanajah Hayes recorded a new career high 27 points to lead the FIU Women's Basketball team to an 84-81 victory over the UAB Blazers (10-12, 2-11 C-USA) Saturday afternoon at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

It was another high scoring affair between these two teams as the last time they squared off, FIU came out of Bartow Arena with a 91-89 win. Eight different Panthers recorded at least one field goal today and three players reached double digit points headlined by Hayes.
 
The win over the Blazers improves FIU's overall record to 12-10 and 7-6 in Conference USA action while earning back-to-back wins at home.

Hayes did it all today for FIU as she also led the Panthers with six rebounds, six assists, and was a perfect 3-3 from three-point range.

Kaliah Henderson is coming off a career high performance (28 points) in FIU's previous game against Charlotte and the senior guard followed that up today with another scoring clinic off the bench. Henderson was second on the Panthers with 20 points and her double-digit point streak has now reached eight consecutive games. Henderson was tied for the team lead in rebounds (6) and chipped in two steals.

The Panthers' second unit was a huge lift today outscoring the Blazers bench 36-18. Redshirt freshman Sifa Joyeuse was a spark off FIU's bench finishing with 13 points, shooting 75% from behind the arc (3-4) and was 4-5 from the charity stripe.
 
Today FIU tallied 10 made three pointers, the third highest mark this season, and recorded their highest three-point percentage at 67 percent (10-15) compared to UAB shooting 29 percent from long distance (4-14). FIU led for over 36 minutes of the game and their defense had a large part in that. The Panthers forced 18 turnovers for 19 points in their favor and recorded 10 steals.
 
Another factor that helped FIU in the win was the difference in rebounding. They out-rebounded the Blazers 34-22 overall and 13-4 on the offensive glass that led to 12 second chance points.

The Panthers' offense came out firing on all cylinders today after only scoring 50 points in their previous game. They had one of their highest scoring quarters of the season recording 32 points in the second quarter to give them a 13-point lead at the half (53-40). In the first half, FIU was perfect from three-point range going 8-8 and shot 61 percent from the field (19-31).

In the second half, FIU's lead would reach as high as 15 points at the 6:08 mark in the third quarter and took an 11-point lead into the fourth (75-64).
UAB opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 scoring run to cut the Panthers' lead to four. The Blazers would continue to keep the game close, and it was a one possession game in the final minute and a half.

The Panthers led 83-81 with 11 seconds left after Hayes missed two free throws leading to UAB securing the rebound and calling a timeout. Out of the break, Joyeuse came up with a clutch steal on the inbound pass and UAB had to foul to stop the clock.

Joyeuse made one of the two free throws to lead 84-81with nine seconds left and UAB was down to their last possession with no timeouts remaining. The Panthers' defense pulled through to hold off the Blazers. UAB missed a three-point attempt and the Blazers' Denim DeShields corralled the offensive rebound but junior Maria Torres blocked her three-point attempt that could have tied the game.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers will be traveling next week for a two-game road trip as their first stop will be in Ruston, LA to take on Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. ET. Their trip will continue to Houston, TX to play against Rice on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Both games will be streamed on C-USA.tv
 
TICKETS
For more information on FIU tickets to FIU basketball home games, including student ticketing, call 305-FIU-GAME or visit HERE
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Instagram (@fiuwbb), Twitter (@FIUWBB), and Facebook (@FIUWBasketball) for all the latest Women's Basketball news. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.