Miami, FL - FIU Women's Basketball completes the season sweep of Louisiana Tech in back-breaking fashion, winning 68-51.
The Lady Techsters started off the contest spreading the ball around nicely, with six Bulldogs scoring in the first quarter. FIU responded well, with a pair of graduate students in Kaliah Henderson and Olivia Trice putting up five points each in the opening frame, leading to a two-point deficit for the the good guys after the initial frame. Henderson ended in double-digits, putting up 11 points in the game and adding on five rebounds and three steals. Trice finished with nine, going 3-4 from the field while adding a rebound and two assists.
After going into the second quarter down 16-14, the offense and defense started clicking for the Panthers, with the home team putting up 17 points. Sophomore Angena Belloso led the charge into the half with five points, ending the game with eight. Graduate student Courtney Prenger scored four in the frame, ending the game with 13 points, tying her highest point total of conference play. The Panthers locked down on defense, allowing only 10 points in the quarter and forcing eight turnovers, three of which came on steals. FIU took the lead with 8:03 left in the second quarter and did not look back, holding the lead for the remainder of the game. The Panthers went into the half up 31-26.
FIU came out of the half with a fire, clicking on all cylinders and putting up 24 points in the quarter and holding the Lady Techsters to only nine points. Four Panthers scored in the frame, led by Mya Kone's 11 points on 3-4 shooting, all of which came on the three ball. The sophomore ended with 13 points and a career high 18 rebounds, 15 defensive boards and three offensive. The performance was her team-leading sixth double-double The guard added on three blocks to round out her afternoon. As a team, FIU tallied five blocks, their most of conference play. They went into the last frame 55-35.
The Panthers shut the door in the final quarter to secure their 18th win of the season and ninth win of conference play. Junior Tanajah Hayes had a notable performance, stuffing the stat sheet with nine points, four rebounds, three assists, one block and two steals. The two steals put the guard at 179 career steals, tying her for 10th all time in career steals at FIU.
UP NEXT
The Panthers will hit the road again, travelling to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on the current third seed in CUSA in Liberty on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
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