Lynchburg, VA - FIU Women's Hoops will hit the road again to play the number three team in Conference USA in Liberty on February 22 at 7:00 p.m. It will be the second time the Flames and the Panthers have matched up this year.
Thursday, February 22nd at Liberty
*since 2006
The FIU Women's Basketball Team (18-7, 9-2 CUSA) completed the season sweep of Louisiana Tech 68-51 at home at the Oceanbank Convocation Center on Saturday the 17th.
LA Tech started the game off well, with six Lady Techsters putting up points in the opening frame. The Panthers responded back well, with two graduate students in Olivia Trice and Kaliah Henderson putting up five points in the frame. Henderson ended the contest in double-digits with 11 points, adding on five rebounds and three steals. FIU went into the second quarter in a two-point hole.Â
The Panthers offense started clicking in the second quarter, scoring 17 points with sophomore Angena Belloso leading the Panthers in scoring in the frame with five points, and graduate student Courtney Prenger not far behind her with four. Prenger tied her highest point total of conference play with 13 points. As a team, FIU locked down on defense, holding LA Tech to only 10 points in the quarter. The Panthers took the lead with 8:03 left in the second quarter and would not give it up again.Â
All facets of FIU's game seemed to show in the third, with the team going on a 24-9 run in the frame and putting the Panthers up by 20 with only one quarter to play. Mya Kone stole the show in the penultimate frame, putting up 11 points on 3-4 shooting, with all three field goals coming from behind the arc. The sophomore guard ended with 13 points and a career high 18 rebounds.Â
The Panthers defense allowed no comeback from LA Tech and shut the door for their 18th win of the year. In the victory, Tanajah Hayes recorded two steals, with her second tying her for 10th all time in career steals in FIU history with 179.
Scouting Liberty
Liberty (12-13, 7-4 CUSA) is coming off an 86-56 blowout win over Sam Houston. The Flames have climbed to third in the conference, after starting the season closer to the bottom of the standings. Liberty, currently places sixth in the conference in points per game, averaging 65.1 and are seventh in points allowed, giving up 67.4 points per game. Liberty is third in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting the ball at a 41.9% clip, and are second in three-point percentage with 32.9%. The Flames have a talented frontcourt, coming in at third in the conference in rebounds per game with 38.8, and are second in the conference in blocks per game with 4.46. LU also spreads the ball around well, as they are first in the conference in assists per game with 14.08.
The Flames are led by forward Bella Smuda, who at 14.8 points per game leads Liberty and is fourth in the conference in scoring. The redshirt junior is also first in CUSA in rebounds per game, averaging 9.5. Guard Emma Hess compliments Smuda, averaging 12.4 points per game which is ninth in the conference.The junior is one of the best three-point shooters in the conference, shooting at a 37.7% clip.Â
This will be FIU's attempt at a season sweep, beating Liberty 70-59 at home.Â
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