No. 9 Seed Rice Women’s Basketball never looked like the underdog, blowing past No. 4 Seed Temple to advance to the AAC Tournament Championship Game.
Rice women’s basketball looked much more like the defending American Conference Tournament Champs than the Cinderella their seed suggested they should be. The No. 9 Seed Rice Owls absorbed the first blow from No. 4 Seed Temple, closing the first quarter on a 13-4 as they took the lead and started to grow it.
Rice held Temple to just four field goals in the second quarter, stretching their advantage to as many as 10 points in the first half. Temple did not hit a three in the first half — they were shutout from deep in the second half, as well — and lost the rebounding battle before break, a focal point for the underdog Rice all season long.
More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense
The onslaught continued after halftime. Rice opened the third quarter with seven straight points, catapulting the lead back to double-double digits, where it would stay for the remainder of the game. Temple trailed by 15 after three quarters and by as many as 20 points midway through the fourth. Temple was never able to claw back because they weren’t able to score.
Temple finished below 50 points for just the second time all season, the first coming in December against No. 15 West Virginia.
“Our defense was incredible. We hung our hat on our defense,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said,.” [We] held them to 31 percent [shooting]. They’re a great team, but I think it just shows how great our defense was tonight.”
Malia Fisher, the MVP of the 2024 AAC Tournament, led all scorers with 18 points and had nine rebounds. Aniah Alexis continued her strong postseason performance with another double-digit scoring output, adding 14 points of her own to the cause.
Final Box | Rice 67, Temple 49
FINAL | @RiceWBB 67, Temple 49
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) March 12, 2025
Rice Owls soar back to the AAC Tournament Championship Game #GoOwls pic.twitter.com/JneAVekMNH
Highlights
What They’re Saying | Press Conference
Key takeaway | Saving Their Best for Last
Rice women’s basketball has won three straight games in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, defeating UAB, UTSA and Temple in successive days to improve to 7-0 in this tournament in program history.
Despite the Owls’ success in Fort Worth dating back to last year, this season’s squad never won more than two consecutive games against conference opponents in the regular season. To think they’ve be able to do this, and do it in such emphatic fashion, is extraordinary.
A season ago, Rice benefited from someone else defeating the No. 1 seed and beat then No. 3 Seed Temple by three. This time Rice took down the top seed and they followed it up by No. 4 Seed Temple by 18.
“I about how we’ve been here before and knowing that we’re very capable of doing what needs to be done,” Malia Fisher remarked, referencing how she and the team stay focused during such a strenuous run. “We just built off each other’s energy,” Aniah Alexis added.
This sets the Owls up for a winner-take-all game tomorrow with the chance to reach consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in program history. The method has certainly been unconventional. This entered the season as a top pick in the conference standings before limping into March. Coach Edmonds certainly hopes they have one more win in them.
“I think we just keep doing what we’re doing right now. We are playing with a lot of energy. We’re playing with a lot of emotion. We’re playing like we’re not ready for it to be over with,” she said. “It’s great to get to the championship but now we have one more that we got to be able to get in order to be getting back into the big dance, and that’s obviously the goal.”
Up Next: AAC Championship vs Winner of No. 2-Seed North Texas vs No. 3-Seed South Florida
