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Thursday, January 23, 2003
FIU holds off Arkansas State
to remain in first place in East
 nita
Heller scored seven of FIU's final 13 points to lead the Golden
Panthers to a 72-62 victory over Arkansas State on Thursday night
in Jonesboro, Ark. With the win, FIU (13-5, 4-1) remains in first
place in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division.
Heller, who finished the game with 11 points, nailed a three-pointer
with 1:33 remaining in the game to give FIU a 62-57 advantage.
The Golden Panthers then went on shoot 10-of-10 from the charity
stripe in the final 1:19.
FIU looked like it might cruise to an easy victory early as
the Golden Panthers went up by as much as nine with 3:43 left
in the first period and went into the locker room at halftime
with a 26-20 lead.
But FIU point guard Ivelina Vrancheva picked up her fourth
and fifth personal fouls in quick succession early in the second
period and fouled out with 15:52 remaining. The ball was then
put in the hands of Heller directed the Golden Panther offense
for the remainder of the game.
The teams battled through six ties in the second half before
FIU went ahead for good, 57-55, on a pair of free throws by Cormisha
Cotton with five minutes remaining. FIU connected on 13-of-14
free throw attempts in the second half.
Cotton recorded the 20th double-double of her career with
a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. Dace Cinite posted her
fourth career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while
Mandy Shafer scored 16 points - all of which came in the second
half.
Jolie McKeirnan led ASU (7-12, 2-4) with 16 points and six
rebounds.
Next up for FIU is a televised game at Arkansas-Little Rock
on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. EST. The contest will be aired live
on the Sunshine Network. |