Daniela Manzo / Contributing Writer
The FIU Women’s basketball team will be heading on the road to Hattiesburg, Mississippi this upcoming Friday and Saturday to face the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Game one will be played on Friday, February 19th at 7 pm and game two will be played on Saturday, February 20th at 5 pm. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
FIU guard Jiselle Thomas led the team with 40 points combined from last weekend’s doubleheader against the Texas- El Paso Miners. However, the Panthers were swept by scores of 64-76 and 57-73.
The Panthers currently hold an overall record of 9-9 and a conference record of 6-6. They are currently third out of the seven teams in the Eastern Division of Conference USA. A possible advantage for FIU against Southern Miss could be that they have a 6-3 record on the road.
Southern Miss currently holds a 6-8 overall record and a 4-8 conference record. They are currently in fifth place in the Western Division, and are also coming off a sweep last weekend against the North Texas Mean Green.
Historically, the Golden Eagles currently hold a record of 9-1 over FIU dating back to 2014. Both teams met last year on February 15th, 2020, with Southern Miss winning by a score of 58-53.
The only win for the Panthers in the series dates back to March 2018 with a 74-70 win.
Currently, the Panthers have the third best offense in C-USA out of all 14 teams, averaging 74.9 points per game. Thomas is currently leading the team in points with a total of 275 and guard Kyla Nelson is following suit with a season total of 241.
Despite their offensive firepower, the Panthers defense has struggled throughout the season as their opponents have averaged 74.2 points per game which is dead last in the conference. FIU has also allowed opposing offenses to score a total of 1335 points so far.
The Golden Eagle’s defense is ranked sixth overall in C-USA, with opposing offenses averaging 68.9 points per game. They also have the fourth ranked rebounding defense out of the 14 teams in the conference.
FIU has the advantage offensively over the Golden Eagles, but the defense for the Panthers needs to adapt and keep Southern Miss off the scoreboard to get back on track before it’s too late.
The Panthers will host the final game of their regular season against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Friday, February 26th at 7 pm and Saturday, February 27th at 4 pm.
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