Richard Gibson / Sports Director
The FIU women’s basketball team was swept at home by the Texas-El Paso Miners this past Friday and Saturday by scores of 64-76 and 57-73.
FIU entered the doubleheader with momentum to give, following a victorious series against the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners. Now, they have an even overall 9-9 record, along with a 6-6 record in Conference USA. They’re currently in third place out of the seven teams in the Eastern Division, trailing the Charlotte 49ers and Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.
Game one of the doubleheader was evenly contested, with the Panthers closing out the first quarter with a narrow 21-19 lead. UTEP would turn the game around in the next quarter, taking the lead and slowly growing it to a score of 37-31 at halftime.
UTEP’s lead carried into the third quarter, though FIU was able to cut it down to 44-41 late in the third quarter. The Miners wouldn’t give the game over, going on a 12-2 run that closed out the third quarter and secured them the game in the fourth, sealing it with a 74-64 win.
Despite the loss, FIU guard Jiselle Thomas scored a career high 27 points and collected eight rebounds. Fellow guard Fujika Nimmo also scored in the double-digits, with 14 points of her own.
For the Panthers, game two began just like game one. They had led the game coming out of the first quarter by a score of 22-18, but slowly gave it away to the Miners after two minutes in the second. The two teams exchanged leads until halftime, with a 42-39 lead in favor of UTEP.
In the third quarter, UTEP dominated the scoreboard, going on a 15-7 run to close it out. The Miners added 16 more points in the fourth quarter, and finished the game with a lopsided 73-57 win.
For FIU, guard Kyla Nelson, Thomas, and Nimmo all scored in the double digits. Nelson also led the team with six rebounds, and tied Nimmo in assists with four each.
The Panthers will now travel to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Friday, February 19th at 7pm and Saturday, February 20th at 5pm. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
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