Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
FIU
Herd Hosts Block Party Versus Panthers
12/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
Press Conference Video
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team swatted a season-high 11 shots to stymie visiting FIU 70-52 Friday evening at the Cam Henderson Center.
The Thundering Herd improved to 9-3 overall, while FIU dropped to 2-10. The game was the Conference USA opener for both schools.
The 11 rejections were the most for the program since recording that many in an 81-76 overtime win versus UTSA on March 5, 2014.
Freshman Ashley Saintigene (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.) had her second double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with five blocks. Junior Shayna Gore (Logan, W.Va.) led all Thundering Herd scorers with 16 points (4-for-9 on 3-pointers) and classmate McKenzie Akers (Princeton, W.Va.) added 10 on 3-for-4 shooting from long range.
Gore and freshman Asheika Alexander (Gwinnett, Ga.) had three assists.
FIU's Kristian Hudson notched a game-high 17 points, but was held to a 4-for-16 shooting effort. She made up for it by going 8-for-8 at the free throw line. Janka Hegedus added 10 points and Kiandre'a Pound led the rebounding effort with eight.
The Thundering Herd jumped out to a 24-12 first quarter lead and increased it to 16 (40-24) by the half. The margin grew to as many as 28 (70-42) on a Gore 3-pointer with 3:24 left in the contest before FIU rattled off the game's last 10 points.
The Panthers came into the contest sixth in the league in 3-point percentage (.329) but the Marshall defense hounded the visitors on the perimeter all night and forced just a 2-for-14 (.143) effort Friday. The first make came with 7:18 left in the game after 11 consecutive misses.
Marshall will be back in action Sunday in the Henderson Center when Florida Atlantic visits for a 1 p.m. contest. The Owls played at WKU Friday evening.
Marshall head coach Matt Daniel
On the win:
"It's a great win. Any win you can get all year is a great win. Anytime you can protect the home floor, it's a great win. Anytime you can get a win in conference, it's even better, so it's a great accomplishment. We were really focused on the game plan, we executed the game plan and it showed."
"Game experience is valuable and the game will teach you lessons that I can't. I'm glad she is on our roster for sure."
On the defense:
"The focus has been great and we have gotten better over the last couple weeks. We executed the game plan and did a good job defensively, but that is behind us now. We have practice tomorrow and then a dangerous FAU team comes in here Sunday."
