Rice women’s basketball completed a weekend sweep of Florida schools, besting FIU at home on Saturday.
Still without leading scorer Ashlee Austin on the court, Rice women’s basketball didn’t have much trouble notching their second straight home victory. After a low-scoring opening quarter, Rice heated up quickly with a 24-outburst in the second frame, taking an eight-point lead into halftime.
India Bellamy and Malia Fisher were instrumental in helping Rice build their initial lead and then extending it to as many as 15 points in the second half. FIU would cut the margin back down to five points at the midpoint of the fourth quarter, but a layup from Bellamy and a three from Fisher pushed the Rice advantage quickly back to double-digits and helped secure the victory.
Rice has now won back-to-back games and sits at fourth in the conference standings with six games remaining in the regular season.
Final Box | Rice 67 – FIU 58
FINAL | @RiceWBB 67 – FIU 58
Owls complete the weekend sweep of the Florida schools. pic.twitter.com/I1cYiaRsid
— The Roost (@AtTheRoost) February 11, 2023
Key takeaway | Bellamy block party
Bellamy finished one point shy of tying a career-high in points, but it was her defense that was perhaps even more significant on Saturday afternoon. She led the team in defensive rebounds (five) and finished with four blocked shots, that’s a lot. For reference, Rice has only exceeded that total as a team on three occasions this year (they had five total against Sam Houston, WKU and their prior game against FIU).
“I’m really proud of India, her efforts are through the roof, the way that she has just been grinding, and even in those four-point games and five-point games, she was still impacting our team,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “But obviously the offensive side of the ball, we really need it right now and she’s doing a great job at stepping up where the team needs her the most.”
Up Next: at UTSA – Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:00 p.m.
