Panthers’ comeback bid falls short

By Rebecca Charur/Staff Writer

Despite an incredible comeback effort from the women’s basketball team, FIU fell to Old Dominion 80-67. With the loss, they drop to 3-15 overall and remain winless in Conference play at 0-7.

FIU came out strong, hitting three threes to take an early 11-4 lead. They even built a 10 point lead early on in the half, but the Lady Monarchs came storming back a couple minutes later with a run of their own. For nearly five minutes they held the Panthers without a field goal, as they went on a 15-0 run.

The Panthers closed out the half with a traveling violation called on Taylor Shade and went into the locker room trailing ODU, 25-38. Simms was the highlight if the half scoring 21 points to led both teams, while Destini Feagin led FIU with 7 points.

In the second half, however, Shade and Pound combined for 31 points to spark FIU’s comeback run, which brought them within one multiple times.

“Coach put the best line up for us to go on the run and we knew that if we put some pressure on them we could get them to turn the ball over since they couldn’t really run with us so once we put the pressure on them they started turning the ball over and that gave us a lot of momentum,” said guard Taylor Shade.

Unfortunately, they were unable to knock down the shot that would get FIU their first lead since the first half. In addition, the Lady Monarchs were able to the extend the lead as they hit 11 free throws in the final minutes of the game. ODU’s Jennie Simms, who converted on nearly all of her free throw attempts, finished with a career-high 45 points. This was three shy of breaking the building record for most points in a game.

FIU played a solid overall team game as Shade, Pound, Davydova, and Feagin all finishing in double-figures. Shade scored a team high 22, while Pound recorded 18.

There was a dedication to Cindy Russo during a timeout in the second half honoring her 707 career wins and 36 years at FIU.

“It’s been a tough year, and she [Russo] has been having a tough year as well but our coaches have done a great job of trying to prepare us as much as possible,” said Shade, “Coach Russo would call and check in on us every now and then. She’d tell us to keep working and have fun, things to keep us going.”

Even in the absence of former Coach Cindy Russo, the Panthers continue to fight for each other and are one step closer to a victory after each game.