Miami, FL - FIU Women's Hoops will be back at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and welcome 2,000 kids from various schools across the Miami-Dade area to take on Sam Houston on Thursday, February 15th at 11 a.m. in their annual STEAM game.
Thursday, February 15th vs Sam Houston
*since 2006
The FIU Women's Basketball Team (16-7, 7-2 CUSA) dropped their second game of conference play and second game to MTSU last Saturday by a score of 73-54.
FIU battled out of the gate, going toe-to-toe with the leading team in the conference for the entire first half. Six Panthers put up buckets in the first 20, led by junior Tanajah Hayes' eight points on 3-4 shooting, including 2-2 from three-point range. The guard ended with 13 points, four rebounds and one assist. As a team, the Panthers shot well in the first half, going 45.5% from three and 75% from the free-throw line to trail by only five heading into the break.Â
The Blue Raiders kept their momentum alive, not allowing FIU to regain momentum and creating some of their own, with MTSU going on a 7-0 run in the last minute of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. The Panthers outrebounded MTSU 36-35, beating the Blue Raiders in offensive boards 13-9 as well. FIU also led in bench points 13-2, and tied Middle Tennessee in steals 6-6, but could not come away with the win.
Along with Tanajah Hayes, Senior Maria Torres and Sophomore Mya Kone ended the content with double-digit points. Torres ended her afternoon tying Tanajah Hayes for the most points on the team with 13. The forward added four rebounds, an assist and a block to her efforts. The Panthers' leading scorer on the season Kone achieved 10 points the game, going 2-3 from three and filling up the stat sheet with five rebounds, one block and one assist.
Scouting Sam HoustonÂ
Sam Houston (6-15, 1-8 CUSA) is coming off a 58-56 loss to Jacksonville State. The Bearkats sit at last in the conference in CUSA and overall record, but have promising team stats. SHS sits at third in the conference in offense, averaging 68.1 points per game this season. FIU's challenger is also a great rebounding team, averaging 39.7 combined rebounds per game (second in the conference) and 17 offensive rebounds per game (first in the conference). Along with being a dynamic team on the glass, SHS is a prolific steals team, grabbing 9.19 steals per game which is good for second in the conference.
Sam Houston spreads the scoring around, with four players averaging 10+ points per game, led by the 12th leading scorer in the conference with 12 points per game, senior guard Diana Rosenthal. Guard Sydnee Kemp is second on Sam Houston in scoring with 11.1 points per game, and a tandem of forwards in Kaylee Jefferson (10.5) and Raanee Smith (10.1) round out the top scorers for the Bearkats. Along with being a double-digit scorer Smith averages nine rebounds a game, good for second in the conference.Â
This is FIU and SHS's second game of the year, with FIU coming out victorious in their first matchup by score of 71-65.
TICKETS
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