Murfreesboro, TN - FIU Women's Hoops will travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee for their second round against the first place Middle Tennessee.
Saturday, February 10th at Middle Tennessee
*since Jan 7, 2009
The FIU Women's Basketball Team (16-6, 7-1 CUSA) completed their short road trip with a 2-0 record after a 71-65 victory over Sam Houston, highlighted by Tanajah Hayes' season high 24 points.
The Panthers dominated the first quarter offensively, doing the majority of their work down low with 18 of their 21 first quarter points coming in the paint, with forwards Maria Torres and Courtney Prenger leading the charge with six and five points in the first quarter. The duo both finished the game in double digits, with the senior Torres ending with 11 points and six rebounds, with five of her rebounds coming off the offensive glass. Graduate student Prenger ended with 13 points along with two rebounds, two assists and one block.
FIU's leading scorer on the season, sophomore Mya Kone, led the charge in the second quarter with eight points, ending the game with her team leading sixth double-double of the year. The guard put up 12 points and 13 rebounds, contributing to the Panthers beating the Bearkats on the boards 40-35. Before the game, Sam Houston was the conference leader in total rebounds per game and offensive rebounds per game. The Panthers won in both categories, with FIU grabbing 14 offensive boards as opposed to Sam Houston's 12. FIU now leads the conference in combined team rebounds with 40.1 per game.
FIU went into the half with a 12-point lead, but Sam Houston battled back in the third and was able to tie the game going into the fourth quarter. Sam Houston took a small lead at the beginning of the final 10 minutes, but quick answers by Angena Belloso and Maria Torres gave the Panthers the lead again and they did not look back. Sam Houston led for a total of 37 seconds in the game, with the Panthers putting up 23 points in the fourth, their most in a quarter in the game.
Tanajah Hayes led all scorers with 24 points, on top of four rebounds and four assists, including a steal. The junior guard went 8-9 from the free-throw line, her most points from the charity stripe on the season.
Scouting Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee (17-4, 7-0 CUSA) currently sits at first in the conference in overall record, scoring offense and scoring defense. In fact, Middle Tennessee is top-3 in the conference in almost every overall team team statistic aside from steals per game, where they place seventh in the conference.
The Blue Raiders are led by 3,000 point scorer Savannah Wheeler, currently sitting at second in the conference with 16.3 points per game. The guard is a stout playmaker as well, placing first in the conference in assists per game with 4.7. MTSU boasts three more players who are top-10 scorers in the conference, with forward Anastasiia Boldyreva sitting at fifth in the conference with 14.5 points per game, as well as first in CUSA in field goal percentage at 58%. Guards Jaylynn Gregory (12.8) and Ta'Mia Scott (12.7) place seventh and eighth in the conference in scoring, with Gregory placing first in the conference in 3-point percentage (33.7%), 3-pointers per game (2.7) and free-throw percentage (88.7%).
This is FIU and MTSU's second game of the year, with MTSU coming out with the victory in their first match.
TICKETS
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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