By: Joel Delgado / Sports Director
If there is one thing the Panthers are thankful for in the midst of the Thanksgiving holiday, it has to be the stellar play of guard Jerica Coley.
And the sophomore standout turned in yet another performance on Nov. 25, scoring 24 points against a staunch Maryland Terapins defense.
But unfortunately against the the the visiting No. 8 ranked Terrapins, it was nowhere near enough.
The Terps outmatched the Panthers in just about every single way in an 84-52 rout, powered by a balanced offense attack and strong defense.
Coley scored 19 of her 24 points in the first half to keep the Panthers in the game, but the Terps still managed to take a 14-point at the half.
Things got worse for FIU when the Terps made some defensive adjustments in the second half kept Coley unproductive and essentially a non-factor.
“We had to defend her by committee,” Maryland coach Brenda Fraser said of Coley. “We did a better job communicating and knowing where she was at. She’s a talented player and we’re excited to come out of here with a win.”
Besides Coley, only one FIU player scored in double digits: Fanni Hutlassa with 13 points. The rest of the Panther squad struggled all night long to establish a presence down low and were forced to settle for mid-range jump shots.
Panthers head coach Cindy Russo was not pleased with her team’s inabilty to get more involved on offense.
“We had very few stepping up tonight and it was a poor performance,” Russo said. “We’re trying to get more people involved and we’re still learning a lot about each other.”
FIU finished the night shooting just 31 percent from the field and an abysmal 16 percent from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, the Terps had no problems getting multiple players involved in the offense with four players reaching double-digit scoring, led by Laurin Mincy and Lynetta Kizer who scored 15 points each.
Maryland converted 63 percent of their shots from the field and was able to physically outmatch FIU underneath the basket, outrebounding the Panthers 35 to 23.
The loss was a frustrating one for the Panthers, who simply could not find a way to slow down the red-hot Terps, who remain unbeaten on the season.
Despite the loss, FIU is hoping to use this lose as a stepping stone and a wake-up call to make adjustments that will be necessary going forward if this team is expected to compete for a conference championship.
“We were excited to play a really good team,” Coley said. “We take away the good things from a loss like this. We were able to keep it close. We just have to build on everything we did wrong and keep getting better.
About Post Author
