Women’s basketball going for sixth straight Feb. 17


FIU tips off a three-game home stand Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m., against FAU, as the Panthers face their in-state rival for the first time since their 77-75 overtime win in Boca Raton Jan. 30. That victory kicked off the Panthers’ current five-game win streak.

Wednesday’s game will serve as the annual WBCA Pink Zone Think Pink matchup. The Panthers will wear special pink shirts for warm-ups to raise awareness for breast cancer research, and shirts will be sold at Gate 2. Fans wearing pink at the game will receive pink breast cancer awareness bracelets.

FIU will close out its season in Miami, but the Panthers have won four of its last five games on the road, including Saturday’s 55-47 win at Troy. Sophomore Rakia Rodgers proved she hasn’t lost her step after missing 11 games to a knee injury when she came in off the bench to boost FIU to its fifth-straight victory by scoring 12 unanswered points in four minutes en route to her first double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds). Michelle Gonzalez led the team with 16 points and Elisa Carey notched her sixth straight game in double digits with 13 points.

In the last meeting, FAU rallied late in the second half to force overtime before Gonzalez took control, scoring all 10 of FIU’s points in the extra period to seal the game. Senior guard Monika Bosilj smashed the school record for career three-pointers, breaking the mark of 172 and kept on going, netting five treys in the game.

Since that loss to FIU, the Owls have strung together three straight wins. FAU has had a week-long break since its 84-75 victory over Louisiana. The Owls came into this season with an all-time record of 7-37 in road contests, but have significantly improved this year with a 5-2 mark away from Boca Raton.

Brittany Bowe leads the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game. Bowe and fellow senior Carla Stubbs surpassed the 1,000-point mark last Wednesday, becoming the eighth and ninth players in FAU history to achieve the feat. FAU is third in the conference for scoring with 68 points per game, and the Owls are one of the best from behind the arc, ranking third with 6.1 three-pointers per game.

The FIU women’s basketball team will try and record their sixth straight victory Wednesday, Feb. 17, when they face off against conference rival Florida Atlantic University at 7 p.m. in U.S. Century Bank Arena.