Rice Women’s Basketball struggled early and was unable to complete a comeback, falling to Memphis on the road.
The shots were falling early for Rice women’s basketball, but they weren’t coming often enough. Slippery hands led to an astounding 14 turnovers in the first half, forcing the visiting Owls into an uphill battle against a Memphis squad that did not return the favor.
Midway through the second quarter, the Rice offense started to slow down and Memphis began to widen the gap. The Tigers led by as many as 10 points before a well-timed three from Kennedy Clifton cut the Owls’ deficit to eight heading into halftime. Despite their struggles, they had a chance to make it a ballgame in the second half.
The tide began to turn in the third quarter. Memphis turned the ball over more than Rice who got the margin back within five points as the fourth quarter arrived. Emily Klaczek gave the Owls their first lead of the second half, but a last second shot wouldn’t fall, sending the game to overtime without the services of Malia Fisher, who fouled out near the end of regulation.
Rice made just one field goal in extra time. Memphis made three, pulling back in front of the Owls to hand them a costly road loss.
Final Box | Memphis 79 – Rice 74
FINAL | Memphis 79 – @RiceWBB 74 pic.twitter.com/uV8QdLcQ9U
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) February 21, 2024
Key takeaway | Protect the basketball
Memphis had nine more shots than Rice on Tuesday night. The Tigers weren’t roughly as efficient as the Owls, shooting 45.5 percent from the floor to the Owls’ 47.4 percent, but what the home team lacked in efficiency they were able to make up for in volume. That’s because Rice gave the ball away way too many times, committing 22 turnovers on the night.
Even when accounting for the seven Memphis steals, the prevailing storyline was mental mistakes and unforced errors. That’s how a team like Rice, which entered the night tied for first in the win column among all AAC teams, found itself in comeback mode against a Memphis team near the bottom of the standings.
Rice is a better team than Memphis. They didn’t show that Tuesday and there are only a handful of games remaining before the wiggle room goes away. There are no mulligans in March.
Up Next: vs Temple (Sunday, Feb. 25)
