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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – No. 2 FIU (20-10, 12-6 CUSA) advances to the semifinal round, knocking off No. 7 Jax State (16-16, 9-9 CUSA) 76-66 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Air National Guard CUSA Championship Wednesday afternoon at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center.
 
After trailing 32-35 at halftime, the Panthers used a third quarter surge to outscore the Gamecocks 22-8. Parris Atkins stepped up big for FIU, recording 17 of her 23 points in the second half along with a total of five rebounds, four assists, while shooting 9-10 from the charity stripe. Judit Valero also went off in the second half, tallying 12 points, shooting a perfect 5-5 from the field.
 
Maria Ponce Sanchez was the leading scorer for Jax State with 20 points, shooting 6-10 from the field.
 
FIU will face off against the winner of No. 3 MTSU and No. 6 Missouri State at 8:00 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN+.
 
FIU Head Coach Jesyka Burks-Wiley
Opening Statement…
“I’m just really excited to finally get over that hump. We’ve been to the quarterfinals almost every year that I’ve been here, but our first year was the last time we got a win. I’m really proud of our girls coming in, and one, doing the work to get us the great seeding that we have, but two, also being able to come in here and get us to the next round, because you can have great seeding, you can also still go home, so I thought our kids did a great job of that. I think [Parris Atkins] played like an alpha tonight, and so I’m really proud of her. You know, we ride her a lot. We put a lot of responsibility on her on both sides of the ball, and this kid's done a great job of growing up for us and answering the call. I couldn't be happier, and I love that we did it our way. I think the first 20 minutes was difficult, and that's the tough part of playing a team that's in that play-in game. As great as it sounds, they've already been able to cut their teeth and be in this environment and be in this intensity, and so I thought our kids did a great job of weathering that first 20 minutes and then coming out the next 20 minutes and putting our fingerprint on it.”
 
On the defensive improvements in the third quarter…
“I think just ratcheting up the intensity, and that's where, for me as a coach,  I think in my earlier years, when I would be frustrated in those moments, not understanding, like, hey, like, why is this happening? I also have to take a step back and realize that I think the only kid that's currently on our team that actually got to play maybe extensive minutes was Fantasia James. [Judit Valero] was here last year, but unfortunately she went down early for us, so we've got one kid that's been in this environment and played in this game. Internally that fire in me is like, what are we doing? You know, I had to stay the course and understand that my kids haven't let me down all year, so it's no need for me to flip the script on them, just keep encouraging them and keep them believing, and we'll get back to who we are, and they did a great job with that.”
 
Jax State Head Coach Rick Pietri
Opening Statement…
“I think that our team competed today. Obviously, the object of the game is to win it, but  I thought the first half went as well as we could have asked it to go for us. I think the third quarter's clearly where we lost control of it. I think a lot of that had to do with just, I think we had some psychological breakdowns in terms of defensive assignments at times, and then we had some opportunities to score, and we just weren't able to put the ball on the goal. We had some wide-open perimeter shots that if we hit one or two of those, things looked different at the end of the third quarter. I thought in the fourth quarter, though, our team kept competing. We never rolled over. We kept fighting them. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get enough stops and honestly, enough defensive rebounds. We gave up a few too many offensive rebounds in that fourth quarter. If we get a defensive rebound, we get it out. Maybe that changes things. Listen, FIU’s got a heck of a team. Jesyka does a great job coaching them. She and her staff does a great job preparing them. They have a specific way of playing, and it is very effective. It is disruptive. You know, we finished 16-16, and this was a team that was picked to finish dead last, and we finished seventh. And we just gave the second-ranked team in our conference all they could handle in an opening round game after playing 50 minutes the day before, so I have a lot of pride in what this team was able to accomplish.”
 
Jax State Forward Brooklyn McDaniel
On energy levels after 2OT first round game…
“I really just agree with Coach. Definitely in the first and second quarter, I feel like we came out strong. It definitely looked like we didn't play 50 minutes the day before. We have great coaches, we have great staff, so, I mean, we took everything seriously yesterday, recovery-wise, so I feel like that definitely helped a lot. But, we just couldn't finish in the third and fourth quarter.”