Las Cruces, NM - Tanajah Hayes drops a season high 18 points and Maria Torres drops a new career high as they lead FIU to their first road win of conference play against New Mexico State by a score of 57-52.

Defense was the name of the game for both teams throughout the contest, with neither team breaking 15 points in a quarter until the fourth. Graduate student Kaliah Henderson led the charge for the Panthers defensively, tying her season high in steals with five on the night. This is the third time this season the guard has had five steals in a game, with wins over Florida National and Bethune-Cookman being the other games she racked up five steals. The Tampa native ended with six points and three rebounds on top of her stellar defensive game. As a team, FIU swiped 13 steals, their third highest of the season, capitalizing with 22 points off turnovers as opposed to the Aggies' 15.

Junior Tanajah Hayes made sure the Panthers never lost steam, scoring in every quarter to end the game with a game high and a season high 18 points. The FIU ball handler made clutch buckets down the stretch, hitting five free-throws in the final 2:30 of the game to ice the Panthers' win and grab win number two of conference play. The 5'6 guard ended with three assists and one steal on top of her great offensive performance. 

The second half belonged to Maria Torres, scoring 12 of her 16 points in the final 20 minutes, contributing to the Panthers' game-leading 32 points in the paint. The forward put up an efficient 8-11 from the field, with six rebounds, one assist and three steals in career performance from the senior. It is her second time this season putting up a career high, with her previous high of 15 coming in FIU's comeback win over Utah Tech.

The Panthers conference leading production off the bench continues to be a force, with 30 of their 57 points coming from their second unit. FIU currently sits at 28.6 points per game off the bench, leading CUSA and coming in at 20th in the nation.

UP NEXT
The Panthers will travel to El Paso to take on UTEP in their second game of their western road trip on Saturday, January 13th at 2:30 p.m. ET.

TICKETS
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