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Rice Women’s Basketball hangs on to beat Sam Houston

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Rice Women’s Basketball started fast and hung on to edge Sam Houston in a defensive struggle at home.

Rice Women’s basketball engineered their most dominant start of the season to date on Sunday afternoon against Sam Houston. After falling behind 4-0, the Owls went on a staggering 20-2 run, eventually heading into the second quarter with a 23-8 lead.

As has been the case for much of this season, though, a strong early lead doesn’t necessitate a comfortable victory. No sooner had the Owls built their 15-point advantage than did Sam Houston dismantle it. The Bearkats opened the second quarter on a 13-2 run, pulling back within four points at the media timeout. Instead of a potential blowout it was a new ballgame.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

The momentum ping ponged back in the Owls favor in the third quarter. Two threes from Emily Klaczek put the home team in front by 11 at the time and 10 points entering the fourth. Once more, Sam Houston answered, opening the quarter on a 7-0 run.

Rice didn’t make field goal in the final five minutes of regulation, riding their defense to a white-knuckled victory. Sam Houston got back within three points on two separate occasions in the fourth quarter but never got back to even. With the win, Rice women’s basketball improves to 4-1 on the season.

Final Box | Rice 65, Sam Houston 60

What They’re Saying

Winning’s hard. We’ve won four straight, so I’m pleased and proud of our team to be able to finish off tonight’s game. The coach in me obviously wants better. We have high expectations for this team, and we want to be playing the best basketball that we can right now. I don’t expect us to be where we are going to be in March, but I expect the best version of ourselves that we can be on Nov. 17. There are definitely some things we can clean up, and that’s what we will definitely do. [I’m] ready to get back to work with this team and get back to playing our brand of basketball just a little bit more. – Rice Women’s Basketball Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Just enough clutch

To this point, the Rice Women’s Basketball season has been a seemingly never-ending seesaw teetering back and forth between scoring runs and defensive deserts. By the time the final minutes of regulation arrived on Sunday it was hard to remember this was a game Rice led by 15 points early on.

Runs happen within every game and this season’s collection of back-and-forth’s isn’t particularly novel. There’s hope the Malia Fisher’s eventual reinsertion into this lineup will help smooth over the bumpy portions of these games when the Owls’ early leads suddenly dissipate. But until that happens or the current roster can improve in their consistency, having an Emily Klaczek sure helps.

On any given day it might not be Klaczek, but it was her shot that made the difference on this day, a three pointer that turned a three-point game into a six-point game and preventing Sam Houston from tying the score with 5:31 to go in the fourth. Keeping that lead intact was important, especially when it shrinks from double-digits to one score.

Up Next: at Gonzaga (Thr, 11/21)

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AAC Football 2024: Week 12 Roundup

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AAC Football was back in action this weekend. Here’s the latest from the teams on the gridiron this week.

TeamRecord This WeekResultUp Next
Army9-0 (7-0)— OFF — —at Notre Dame
Charlotte3-7 (2-4)vs USFL, 59-24at FAU
ECU6-4 (4-2)at TulsaW, 38-31at North Texas
FAU2-8 (0-6)at TempleL, 18-15 (OT)vs Charlotte
Memphis9-2 (5-2)vs UABW, 53-18— OFF —
Navy7-3 (5-2)vs TulaneL, 35-0— OFF —
North Texas5-5 (2-4)at UTSAL, 48-27vs ECU
Rice3-7 (2-4)— OFF — —at UAB
Temple3-7 (2-4)vs FAUW, 18-15 (OT)at UTSA
Tulane9-2 (7-0)at NavyW, 35-0— OFF —
Tulsa3-7 (1-5)vs ECUL, 38-31at USF
UAB2-8 (1-5)at MemphisL, 53-18vs Rice
USF5-5 (3-3)at CharlotteW, 59-24vs Tulsa
UTSA5-5 (3-3)vs North TexasW, 48-27vs Temple

Notable Results and Storylines // (Standings)

Title Game Set

It’s official Tulane and Army are meeting in the AAC Championship game on Friday December 6, location TBD. The team with the highest winning percentage in league play will host the game, but that could be moot since the teams don’t play in the regular season. If they finished tied, the College Football Playoff rankings will determine the host.

And the Most Disappointing Team is…

Florida Atlantic, what happened? The Owls were picked to finish sixth in the preseason polls. Not frontrunners by any means, but a far cry from dead last in the league. That’s exactly where they sit now after falling to previous bottom-dweller Temple on Saturday. Not only did the miss the mark, they’re in contention for being the worst team in the conference.

Imagine If They Played Defense

North Texas ranks third in the AAC in points per game, a statistic that seems almost fruitless given their 2-4 record in league play. The Mean Green fired defensive Matt Caponi on Saturday following a loss to UTSA on Friday night in which the Roadrunners hung 48 points on his defense. North Texas be feisty… if they could play even a little bit of defense.

Looking ahead – Key storylines

AAC Game of the Year?

Army had the week to rest up and make preparations for a marquee game against Notre Dame next week. The battle of ranked teams could go a long way toward legitimizing the Black Knights in the College Football Playoff discussion. They could still win the AAC with a loss, but surpassing Boise State probably requires a marquee win of this sort.

How About Six?

South Florida (vs Tulsa), UTSA (vs Temple) and North Texas (vs ECU) are all playing for bowl eligibility next week against opponents facing unique circumstances. Neither Temple or Tulsa can reach bowl eligibility, but both second year coaches are desperate for victories. ECU has clinched bowl eligibility, but interim head coach Blake Harrell wouldn’t mind adding to his perfect resume since taking his new post.

Interim success

ECU isn’t the only team in the conference with an interim head coach. Rice interim Pete Alamar got a win in his first game against Navy and nearly knocked off Memphis last week. He’s said publicly he’s not angling for the permanent job, but he’s not throwing in the towel either. An outside shot at a bowl berth via APR scores should have the Owls motivated against UAB next weekend.

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Rice Basketball survives Northwestern State in OT

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Rice Basketball needed overtime to eek out a win over Northwestern State, but the Owls found a way to hang on.

Things were never comfortable at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon. Even though Rice basketball had never lost to Northwestern State in 11 previous meetings, the Demons made sure they did everything they could to jeopardize that streak.

Rice scored first, but never led by more than seven points in the first half, allowing Northwestern State to pull even on two separate occasions. In fact, Northwestern State went more than 59 minutes without seeing a lead, trailing by as many as 13 points midway through the second half when Denver Anglin drained one of a trip of threes.

More: Rice Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

From there, though, the comeback was on. The Demons responded with a 13-4 run to get back in the game and took their very first lead of the contest with 48 seconds on the clock. Kellen Amos would knock down three free throws to go back in front by two, only for Northwestern State to take the lead again on another three, this time with 6.2 seconds left in regulation.

Amos leveled the score with another free throw, but missed what would have been the game clinching shot from the charity stripe and the game went to overtime. In OT, it was Alem Huseinovic who hit a three with 1:01 to play to give Rice some breathing room before Rice made one final defensive stand to hang on for the win and improve to 3-1 on the season.

Final Box | Rice 77, Northwestern State 75

What They’re Saying

We’re obviously on a journey trying to become a good team. We’re not there yet, but the mark of a good team is that when you are in close, hard-fought games, that you can find a way to win. Whenever you do that, it becomes a frame of reference. To have a game like that early in the year, where a lot of things went against us late in the game, missed free throws, turnovers, and some good one-and-one play by (Northwestern State), when things looked bleak we still found a way to fight our way back. It’s a credit to our guys that we have this frame of reference. – Rice basketball head coach Rob Lanier

Key takeaway | Winning Ugly Works For Now

Rice basketball doesn’t have a longer active winning streak against any other Division 1 opponent on the hardwood. Losing to Northwestern State on Saturday wouldn’t have been a fatal blow, but it would have marred a season that’s shown so much promise despite the obvious growing pains. Lanier hasn’t hid from those warts, but they’re still painful to grow past in real time.

Because Rice did win, they start 3-1 for the first time since 2021-2022. They snapped a three-game losing streak in overtime and found a way to win on a day when so much wasn’t going their way. Winning every game by 50 would be nice, but if that’s not going to happen, the end result is the most important factor to replicate. Especially right now as this team learns to win well, a win is a win.

Up Next: at Louisiana (Tues, Nov. 19)

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Rice Women’s Basketball coasts past Houston

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Rice Women’s Basketball built an early lead and stayed locked in for four quarters, coasting past rival Houston at home.

After a minor setback in their season opener, Rice women’s basketball is gaining momentum and living up to their preseason billing as an AAC favorite. On Thursday night, it took the Owls just over a quarter to establish a double-digit lead over rival Houston, showcasing a strong defensive effort that effectively stifled the Cougars’ offense.

Rice held Houston to 34.8 percent shooting in the first half, building a lead that grew to as many as 15 points. Freshman Aniah Alexis was the catalyst early on, scoring eight of her nine points before halftime and giving the Owls some offensive consistency along the way.

“The stage is not too big. The lights aren’t too bright,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said of Alexis. “She’s confident in herself. She’s done the work.”

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

Alexis and the Owls charged into the second half, countering every challenge the Cougars threw their way. Houston managed to close the gap to just six points briefly, but Rice answered with a decisive 6-0 run, pushing their lead back to double digits and effectively silencing any hopes of a Cougar comeback. From there Dominique Ennis and Sussy Ngulefac took over, scoring 15 of the Owls’ 24 second-half points.

After a layup at the 6:11 mark, Houston went cold, failing to score another field goal for the next six minutes, save a meaningless three at the buzzer in an already decided game. Once more, it was the Rice women’s basketball defense that sealed the game as the Owls improved their season record to 3-1.

Final Box | Rice 60, Houston 48

What They’re Saying

That was a good win. A good win for this team, a good win for this university and a good win for this city. It’s an incredible game for us to be playing, we should be playing it every single year as we have done the last couple of years. It’s good for women’s basketball. It was good for us tonight. We built upon what we did last game. [In] the last game we won all but one media and did exactly the same thing again tonight. I thought we came out with the aggressiveness and intensity and really set the tone for what the game was going to look like. Everything wasn’t perfect, but we had energy, we had toughness and we had togetherness, and I’m really proud of our team. – Head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | A new season

Last season, Rice and Houston battled to overtime, with the Cougars edging out a home victory. But after Thursday’s game, it’s hard to believe how much has changed for both programs. Since then, Houston has struggled, finishing second-to-last in the Big 12, while Rice has soared—winning the AAC Tournament and securing an NCAA Tournament berth.

Throughout the offseason, head coach Lindsay Edmonds emphasized the heightened expectations for the Owls this year. While a single game doesn’t predict the season’s outcome, the 2024-2025 Rice squad did more than just edge past a struggling team—they comfortably cruised past their rivals.

ESPN’s in-game win probability never dipped below 78 percent after the end of the first quarter and was above 95 percent for the entire fourth frame. It certainly looks like Edmonds is coaching with that level of urgency. Up by 13 points at the half, her focus never waivered. “I think we can turn it up even more,” she declared.

For a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations, this is exactly the attitude they need. After shaking off early-season rust, Rice is starting to look like the force they were projected to be.

Up Next: vs Sam Houston (Sun, 11/17)

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 192 – Where does Rice Football fit with Shehan Jeyarajah

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Rather than dwell on the Memphis game we welcome Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports to discuss where Rice football fits in the college football world right now.

As Rice football embarks on a head coaching search — the latest on that front is right here — it felt appropriate to step back from the game to game realities and look big picture. To do that, we brought back longtime friend of the show Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports. We picked his brain on the state of the sport, where Rice fits in that bigger picture and what kind of coach makes the most sense for the Owls moving forward.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 192.

Episode Notes

DCTF

The Roost Podcast is now part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You’ll still get the same content with the same hosts, but now under the DCTF banner.

Homefield

We’re thrilled to partner with Homefield Apparel, the premier proprietor of college football clothing. First-time buyers can use the code ROOST for 15% off their order. The Owls hoodie is a personal favorite as is the Luv-Ya-Owls shirt. Make sure you check out the brand-new sailor hat (pictured below) as you shop the Rice collection or pick up something else (or both)!

Homefield

Patreon

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Where does Rice Football fit with Shehan Jeyarajah

  • The state of college football right now
  • The case for optimism in the Group of Five
  • Who should Rice football hire as its next head coach?
  • How good is the AAC, really?
  • Army, Tulane and the College Football Playoff

Where can you find us?

The Roost Podcast is part of the Dave Campbell’s Republic of Football Podcast Network. You can find this podcast and all of our partner podcasts on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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