Herd Heads South in Search of Thursday Success

MIAMI, Fla. – The Marshall women's basketball team will play FIU Thursday at 7 p.m. in Miami. The game will be streamed live on CUSA.tv.

The Thundering Herd enters the game with an 11-9 overall record and 6-5 in Conference USA play. The Panthers come in at 11-10 overall and 3-7 in league play.

Game Details
Game Notes: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/herdzone.com/documents/2022/2/9/2_10_22_FIU_Notes.pdf
Live Stats: https://fiusports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
Live Video: https://conferenceusa.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=15444&path=fiu
Marshall Radio: online at https://www.marshall.edu/wmul/wmul-stream-2/ with Jason Corriher
Series History: 16 all-time meetings – Marshall leads 11-5
Last Meeting: January 20, 2022 in Huntington, W.Va. – Marshall won 62-59

Last Time Out
Charlotte's Octavia Jett-Wilson scored 21 points and KeKe McKinney added 16 rebounds to pace the 49ers in a 39-37 overtime win at Marshall Saturday afternoon in Conference USA women's basketball action at the Cam Henderson Center.

The 49ers improved to 11-7 overall and stayed atop the league with a 7-1 conference mark.

Marshall received 14 points from Savannah Wheeler and 12 by Kennedi Colclough (before fouling out) in defeat. Lorelei Roper led a balanced Herd rebounding effort with nine.

Both teams struggled to score throughout the game. The host Thundering Herd held a 6-2 lead after 10 minutes and a 16-12 margin through one half.

Marshall looked to pry open a measure of daylight in the third quarter when two Colclough baskets and one by Alexis Johnson pushed its advantage to seven (26-19) with 3:35 left in the period.

Colclough connected again, this time with 3:40 left in game, as MU went up 33-28. However, Charlotte's Jett-Wilson responded by scoring the last five points of regulation. She had a chance to win the game at the end of the fourth period but couldn't get a layup to fall and a buzzer-beating second chance opportunity by Molina Williams went by the wayside as well.

The 49ers used two McKinney free throws at the 3:43 mark of overtime to grab a two-point lead and never relinquished the advantage. With the Herd down 38-35, Wheeler hit a fall-away jumper near the top of the key with 3.1 seconds left, but was ruled to have a toe on the 3-point line.

Marshall then fouled Kameron Roach, who made one of two from the line to give the 49ers a two-point lead. That allowed the Herd to call timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt. On the inbound attempt, Charlotte used a double team to deny Wheeler the ball, so Marshall threw it to Ferby in the left corner. The Smyrna, Tennessee native stepped inside the arc from the wing, but couldn't get the game-tying leaner to fall as the final horn sounded.

Charlotte finished the game at 18.6 percent (11-for-59) from the field and 4-for-26 (15.4 percent) from the 3-point line. Marshall was 14-for-67 (20.9 percent), including a 2-for-29 clip (6.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Both teams combined for 107 rebounds (56-51 Charlotte).

The Thundering Herd, who led the game for exactly 30 minutes, did manage an 18-6 edge on points in the paint.

The Opponent
The Panthers went 8-3 in non-conference play.

Kyla Nelson leads FIU with 12.5 points per game and Emerald Ekpiteta is the leading rebounder (6.5).

Tanajah Hayes paces the team in assists (3.3) and steals (2.2) per contest and the 28 blocks by Maria Torres is also a program-best.

Nelson is also second in the conference with 2.5 3-pointers per game.

FIU is third in the league in steals (10.4) and 3-pointers per game (6.8), but last in rebounding offense (34.1) and defensive rebounds per game (21.8).

The head coach is Jesyka Burks-Wiley, who is in her second year at the helm of the Panthers.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall women's basketball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdWBB, Facebook at Marshall University Basketball and on HerdZone.com.

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