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Saturday, February 15, 2003
Shafer's 25 leads FIU past
New Orleans
 andy
Shafer scored 18 of her game-high 25 points in the second half
to lift Florida International over New Orleans, 82-70, Saturday
night at Golden Panther Arena in Miami. Shafer nailed a three-pointer
with 1:02 remaining to give FIU an eight-point advantage and
push the game out of reach of the Privateers. With the win, FIU
remains in second place in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division
while UNO drops to second in the West.
In a physical contest marred by numerous fouls, FIU connected
on 31-of-41 free-throw attempts for a 76 percent success rate
while UNO finished 16-of-27 for 59 percent. Shafer was a perfect
6-of-6 from the charity stripe while Golden Panther point guard
Ivelina Vrancheva finished 12-of-13 from the line.
FIU (16-7, 7-3) led almost the entire contest but could not
pull away from the pesky Privateers (10-14, 7-5). The Golden
Panthers built a 10-point halftime advantage but saw that disappear
in the second period as UNO knocked down six treys to cut the
lead to one, 62-61, with 5:14 left. FIU then settled down and
closed out the game with a 20-9 run including nine made free
throws.
It was the second-highest point-total of the season for Shafer
and tied for the third-highest of her collegiate career. The
senior guard shot 8-of-18 from the field and 3-of-9 from behind
the three-point arc.
FIU's Cormisha Cotton posted her 21st career-double-double
with 17 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots while Vrancheva
turned in 18 points and nine assists.
Jasmine Smiri finished with 24 points while Lora Ruddy notched
14 points and 12 rebounds for the Privateers.
Next up for the Golden Panthers is a trip to league-leading
Western Kentucky on Thursday and a contest at Middle Tennessee
on Saturday. |