Rice Women’s Basketball rallied from a fourth quarter deficit to beat North Carolina A&T and secure the Owls’ first win of the 2024-2025 season.
Playing another game against a challenging non-conference opponent days removed from a one-score defeat, Rice women’s basketball was pushed to the wire once again. The Owls fell behind to North Carolina A&T early, struggling to score the ball effectively and losing the rebounding battle against the Aggies in the opening quarters of the game.
Rice never led in the first quarter and took their first edge early in the second frame on a three-pointer from freshman Aniah Alexis, who scored nine of her 12 points in that quarter. Her push kept the Owls in the game giving them a chance to work through some of their early season rust in real time,
“Aniah’s special. I’m so thankful she’s in a Rice jersey. The kid scored a thousand points in her senior year of high school. She knows how to score the ball. She’s not afraid of the moment,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said, “For a freshman only in the second game of her career to say she knows multiple positions and the willingness to play wherever I need her, that’s really special. Aniah’s going to do a lot of tremendous things here at her career at Rice. This is just the beginning.”
More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview
Unfortunately for the Owls, Alexis’ beginning would come to a premature end. She folded out in the fourth quarter on the tail end of what was a furious comeback from the home team. Rice trailed by eight but quickly cut the lead down to one score thanks in large part to a dominant showing by Sussy Ngulefac, who led the Owls with 19 points and 10 rebounds, including the winning layup in the final minute.
It was far from a perfect performance, but as Edmonds reminded after the game, “winning is hard.” The Owls will take every victory they can get.
Final Box | Rice 61, North Carolina A&T 60
FINAL | @RiceWBB 61, NC A&T 60
Owls hang on for a thrilling last second win! pic.twitter.com/Tpql9IUUYO
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) November 8, 2024
What They’re Saying
“It feels good to get in the win column. In the Monday night game we played really good in the first three quarters and not our greatest in the fourth. Tonight, unfortunately, felt a little flipped. We didn’t play our greatest in the first three then we played really well in the fourth. We were able to make a run in the fourth and win the game. There’s definitely things that we can still clean up, but they showed some fight tonight, the unwillingness to let the game slip away from us. Proud of them for that.” – Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds
Key takeaway | Downtown doubts
Alexis was the only Owl to knock down multiple three-pointers on Thursday night, going 2-for-7 from deep. Rice women’s basketball attempted 21 threes and made just four, with one apiece from Dominique Ennis and Emily Klaczek. Obviously, the perimeter shooting won’t struggle to this extent every night, but it’s something that should be better than 19 percent given the presence the Owls expect on the interior with Ngulefac and Shelby Hayes.
Rice was one of the better three-point shooting teams in the conference last season and has several of its better shooters back on the roster. It will get better than this, but it’s somewhat surprising to see the bottom of the range be this tenuous given the advantageous positions they should be able to create with this offense.
