Without help from Victoria Flores, who did not suit up on Thursday night, Rice Women’s Basketball cruised past Texas Southern at home.
Following a pair of grueling games, Rice women’s basketball was glad to return home and play a much-less threatening opponent. The Tigers most recently lost by 109 points to LSU last Thursday, the largest deficit in a game between Division 1 opponents in history. Prior to that, Texas Southern fell by 54 to Tulane.
Given that the Owls were never going to lose this game, it was nice to see them handle things quickly. Louann Battiston opened the contest with a three, which Texas Southern answered. Then the Tigers took their only lead of the night on a jumper. The rest was all Rice.
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Jordin Blackmon kicked off a 12-0 run in response. Rice led by 14 at the end of the first quarter and maintained that double-digit edge throughout the second period, lengthening their edge to as many as 23 points before the fourth quarter began.
Texas Southern got back within 16 in the final frame, but back-to-back threes from Mylee Guinn and Aniah Alexis ended any hopes the visitors had of an improbable rally. From there, the Owls closed things out with little additional fanfare, improving to 4-0 on the season.
Final Box | Rice 71, Texas Southern 46
What They’re Saying
That’s what I love about this team. You think that, okay, let’s take this one person away, and we’ll be able to beat them. Well, okay, you take Lou away tonight, and she still has 10 points, but then you have Aniah go off for 16, or you say, hey, let’s focus on Hailey, and then you have Reychel come in and give you 14. I think those are the good things. That’s what makes a team great is that we’re a very balanced attack. We’re probably never going to have someone that averages 25 points a game because that’s just not the type of basketball that we want to play.- Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds
Key takeaway | Vic-Less
Victoria Flores did not see the court on Thursday night, instead she was seen on the bench in street clothes. The program did not respond to a request for comment as to the nature of her absence. Hopefully it’s just precautionary, but time will tell. Flores did finish the Owls’ previous game against Richmond, so if there is anything injury related, it wasn’t severe enough to take her off the court in a much more crucial non-conference game.
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Against Texas Southern, it didn’t matter. Truthfully, the Owls could have sat multiple starters and still cruised to a win over the Tigers. That probably won’t be the case next time out against UNLV. Hopefully 55 gets back on the court soon.
Update: Head coach Lindsay Edmonds indicates it was indeed a precautionary decision to hold Flores out. “it was smart to take care of Vics body and just rest her for this game,” Edmonds said.