Fabio Lopez / Staff Writer
The FIU women’s basketball team capped off their Conference USA campaign by splitting their doubleheader against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers this past weekend.
They lost the first game by a score of 56-66, but rebounded in game two with a 82-79. This is FIU’s first win against WKU since their initial encounter in 2018.
The Panthers are now 11-11 overall, and 8-8 in the conference, achieving the most Conference USA wins in the programs’ history. They placed third out of seven teams in the Eastern Division and seventh out of 14 teams overall, their best-ever C-USA finish.
Game one of the series saw FIU fall behind 9-18 in the first quarter. The Panthers fought back in the second with guard Fujika Nimmo scoring nine consecutive points in the final minutes to ensure the Panthers entered halftime with a 33-32 lead.
The second half was tightly contested as the teams took turns topping the scoreboard. Despite Guard Jiselle Thomas and forward Emerald Ekpiteta putting the Panthers ahead on three occasions, FIU struggled to establish themselves and ran out of steam by the fourth quarter, where WKU scored 23 points to win the game 66-55.
Thomas was FIU’s most efficient player, leading the team with 25 points and four assists throughout the game. Nimmo and Ekpiteta were behind Thomas with 13 points each. Ekpiteta led the squad with nine rebounds.
Game two of the series saw the Panthers experience deja vu. They fell behind 18-20 in the first quarter but once again came back strong to end the half on top 46-40.
Akin to Friday’s game, both teams took turns taking the lead heading into the final 10 minutes. However, unlike the last game, FIU kept their engine running and held on to their advantage to win the game 82-79.
Thomas once again led in points scored with 21 for the Panthers. Nimmo came second with 16 points scored. Ekpiteta earned her eighth double-double of the year with 15 points scored and 10 rebounds. Guard Kyla Nelson logged the most assists with four.
Throughout both games, Thomas, Nimmo, and Ekpiteta scored 103 out of the 138 total points in the series, or 75% of the teams’ points.
FIU finished seventh out of the 14 teams in the conference, thus qualifying them for the C-USA Championships for the first time since their 2015-16 season.
Since they first joined the conference in 2013, the Panthers have never ranked above penultimate place. In their last four consecutive seasons, FIU finished 13th out of 14 teams.
The Panthers ended last season with a 3-15 C-USA record, enduring an eight-game losing streak in the process. Having played two fewer matches this season, FIU topped their previous record of six C-USA wins in 2014 by finishing with an 8-8 conference record this year.
The C-USA Championships will be held from March 9th – 13th in Frisco, Texas. The bracket will be officially released on Saturday, March 6th.
In preparation for the tournament, the Panthers have scheduled an additional non-conference game against the Florida Memorial Lions at home on Wednesday, March 3rd at 7 pm.
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