This is what to expect this year from the FIU Panthers women’s basketball team
FIU women’s basketball team, which lost its four top scorers from last season’s 8-21 team, opens its new year Tuesday night, hosting the Miami Hurricanes.
According to a poll of Conference USA head coaches, FIU has been predicted to finish 14th out of 14 teams in the league.
Panthers coach Tiara Malcolm has rebuilt her roster with eight newcomers. But all four of the departed players had eligibility remaining, and point guard Kristian Hudson was probably the biggest loss.
A three-year starter who led the team in scoring (14.5) and assists (4.7) last season, Hudson is now playing for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as a graduate transfer.
Hudson has a good shot at starting on a Huskers team that won 21 games last season and made the NCAA Tournament. She will be back in Miami on Nov. 23 as the Hurricanes host the Huskers.
“She made a decision to play at a higher level,” Malcolm said of Hudson. “She’s not relevant to our current team.”
Three other ex-FIU players with eligibility remaining are gone: Kiandre’a Pound, who averaged 12.9 points and led the team in rebounds (8.9); Alexis Gordon and Kayla Rogers.
Gordon, who transferred to North Florida, scored 40 points last season in a win over Vermont, breaking a school record with nine three-pointers.
Malcolm said Chelsea Guimaraes — a 6-3 junior transfer from Georgia Tech — has been her most impressive player this fall.
The only returning players who started any games for FIU last season are TaMiracle Taylor, who started nine games and averaged 3.6 points; and Cabria Lee, who started three games and averaged 2.3 points; Shante Walker, a 5-11 forward, is the team’s top returning scorer. She played 28 games last season, all off the bench, and averaged 5.8 points.
Walker will compete for playing time with 6-0 freshmen forwards Kylee O’Hara of Canada and Ce’’Nara Skanes as well as 6-0 junior-college transfer Ieva Spigule of Latvia.
Besides Taylor and Lee, the guards include junior Paula Orenes Sanchez of Spain (by way of a Wyoming junior college); Texas freshman Paris Netherly; junior-college transfer Bre’Osha Scott; and sophomore Jiselle Thomas, a transfer from High Point.
Thomas, even though she isn’t eligible this season as per NCAA transfer rules, has been made a team tri-captain along with Guimaraes and Sanchez.
Starters have yet to be determined, but Guimaraes figures to be the go-to player inside.
Taylor, Sanchez, O’Hara and Spigule are also possible starters.
FIU’s schedule is Florida-heavy as the Panthers do not leave the state until a Jan. 10 game at Charlotte. All seven of FIU’s out-of-state games are part of the Conference USA schedule.
THIS AND THAT
▪ FIU’s men’s soccer team, seeded fourth, will open the Conference USA tournament Wednesday at 2 p.m. against fifth-seeded Marshall. FIU beat host Marshall 2-1 on Sept. 7.
The tournament is in Charlotte, and the title game is set for Sunday.
FIU (7-9, 5-3), which reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year, has not gotten untracked this season. The Panthers started the season 0-3 and have never won more than two consecutive games.
The Panthers enter Charlotte on a two-match losing streak, including Friday’s 3-2 loss to South Carolina. FIU fell behind 3-0 and scored two goals in the final 20 minutes before coming up short.
It was Senior Night for the Panthers, who honored All-American forward Santiago Patino, goalie Hugo Fauroux and defender Simen Olafsen.
▪ The volleyball team (15-11, 7-5), which snapped a four-match losing streak on Sunday, will conclude its regular-season with home matches on Thursday (Middle Tennessee) and Saturday (Rice).