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Rice Women’s Basketball earns 12-Seed in NCAA Tournament

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The Rice Women’ Basketball team has learned their NCAA Tournament fate. The Owls are a 12-Seed and open up against 5-Seed Marquette in the first round.

In the aftermath of Rice’s NCAA Tournament clinching victory over Middle Tennessee, coach Tina Langley quoted Clemson Tiger headman Dabo Swinney. “The next game is the biggest game of the year.”

It’s that mantra which has carried the Owls through the most impressive season in school history. As they make their way to the Big Dance, Rice leaves history behind them as the only team in CUSA history to obtain perfection in both the regular season and the conference tournament.

Join The Roost’s Tournament Challenge

Now they’ll take that mantel onto the NCAA Tournament. Rice was awarded a 12-Seed in the Chicago Region. Their first round game will be on Friday against 5-Seed Marquette. If the Owls win, they’ll face the winner of 4-seed Texas A&M and 13-seed Wright State in the Round of 32 for the right to play in the program’s first Sweet 16.

Rice has made two previous Women’s NCAA Tournament appearances. Last appearing in 2005, 11-Seed Rice fell to Georgia in the first round. In their only other appearances, 2000, the 13-Seed Owls knocked off 4-Seed UC Santa Barbara in the first round before losing to 5-Seed North Carolina in the Round of 32.

The Owls know they’ll be the underdogs, but they’re playing with a level of confidence and poise right now which suggests they won’t be intimidated. No matter the draw, this team was always going to ready to battle for a full 40 minutes.

It’s true, their next test will be their toughest yet. But as Swinney says, it’s the biggest game of the year. You can be sure this group will be ready. Look out, March Madness has only just begun.

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Rice Baseball falters in first conference road series, falling to FAU

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Rice baseball got off to a rough start in conference play, falling to FAU in three games on their first true road series of the season.

Things weren’t clicking for Rice during a rainy weekend in Boca Raton. The starting pitching wasn’t at it’s best and the hitting remained up and down. The Owls improved in the field, but with the other two phases faltering, it wasn’t enough. Here’s a rundown of the action and three thoughts from the tough weekend.

FRIDAY | FAU 4 – Rice 2

One week removed from earning his first win of the season, Rice ace Matt Canterino had one rough inning which cost him dearly. FAU struck early, putting up four runs on five hits in the opening frame. Canterino would recover quickly, allowing no runs and just two additional hits through the remainder of his six innings of work.

Trailing 4-0, Rice had their chances. They sent the minimum to the plate twice in nine innings. The Owls had runners in scoring position five times but failed to collect any run-scoring hits in those opportunities.  A fifth inning double by Andrew Dunlap which followed a Justin Collins single as well as a sixth inning sac fly were the only offense Rice could muster, falling in a close opener on the road.

SATURDAY | FAU 12 – Rice 7

The woes at the plate which plagued Rice on Friday night didn’t seem to carry into their matinee tilt with FAU on Saturday. In fact, Rice struck first. Andrew Dunlap launched a ball over the right field fence, driving in three runs to give the visiting team their first lead of the series. Rodrigo Duluc followed with a sac fly to add to the lead in the same inning.

Up 4-0. Rice was able to hold onto their lead through the first four innings. Then the dam broke. Evan Kravetz couldn’t finish the fifth, walking two and allowing two hits and two runs before he was relieved by Addison Moss with one out. Moss, who up to this point had been viewed as one of the most reliable bullpen options, wasn’t able to close the door.

By the time Kravetz’s runners had been driven in and Moss left the ball game in the sixth, Rice was staring and a 10-5 deficit from which they would never recover.

SUNDAY | FAU 12 – Rice 4

When it rains it pours. Jackson Parthasarathy entered the weekend with a 2.05 ERA and looked as dialed in as ever when the game got under way. Then, with two outs in the first inning, a sharp comebacker bounced off his leg. A double would follow, then a home run. All of a sudden, Rice was down 3-0.

Parthasarathy never settled in. He was lifted after allowing five runs on seven hits in two long innings. Kendall Jeffries came in out of the pen and kept the game within reach as the Rice offense chipped away.

As has been the case, the Owls had their chances, none better than a bases loaded situation in the fifth inning. Andrew Dunlap, who already had a big home run in the series, struck out. Justin Collins hit a hard hit liner, but it went straight to the third baseman to end the inning. Dunlap would push two across with a single in the seventh, but that was the end of Rice’s scoring on the day.

FAU took advantage of rough outings from Jackson Tyner and Blair Lewis to break the game open late, winning 12-4.

TAKEAWAYS | FAU wins series 3-0

1. You’re allowed to have one bad game

That’s a message Matt Bragga has preached all season long. Even the best aren’t immune to off nights from time to time. Mistakes will happen, but once they become a regularity changes have to be made. Rice had a few “one bad games” against FAU.

Canterino wasn’t the sharpest he’s been in his win over Oklahoma, but he found a way to win. It was just one bad inning against FAU, but the lineup behind him was unable to recover. Moss had by far his worst outing of the season.

For the most part, these are guys who have been consistent. The pitching staff has been far from infallible, but Canterino and Moss have been and are supposed to continue being the anchors. They get a pass, but the pressure is going up on each of their next appearances.

2. Double the Dunlap

Andrew Dunlap has locked himself into the core of the Rice line up. The rest of the lineup has been reconfigured around him, but his spot in the middle of the order remains secure. He came through several times this weekend, going 2-for-3 with and RBI on Friday and kicking things off with his three-run home on Saturday. He added a 2-of-4 showing on Sunday with 2RBI.

While Andrew was expected to be a key contributor to the team in 2019. the younger Dunlap, Justin (unrelated), has become a pleasant surprise. The highly touted freshman has forced his way onto the lineup card in recent weeks. His versatility and ability to make contact could keep him there for some time. Justin picked up three hits against FAU, walking five times.

3. It’s a long season

Sports, by their very nature, tend to produce polarizing observations. Few teams or players are penciled in as “average”, most are labeled either exceptional or atrocious. In reality, most teams, Rice included, will tend to settle in somewhere around the middle.

This team has some obvious strengths like the starting pitching. They have some holes, primarily in the bullpen. The roster is a bit lean, and injuries to some of the Owls’ middle of the lineup hitters haven’t helped the cause.

2019 is Matt Bragga’s first season at the helm in Houston and he recognizes this is a marathon, not a sprint. 0-3 is not how this team wanted to start conference play, but there are plenty of games still to be played.

ON DECK | vs Texas A&M (Tues),  vs UTSA (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Women’s Basketball proves the Rice Way works

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Rice women’s basketball became a beacon for the university, overcoming all obstacles to clinch their first Conference USA Tournament Championship.

For Rice women’s basketball, winning isn’t a new thing. The Owls haven’t lost in this calendar year. They haven’t played too many close games either. At least, not up until they found themselves in two make-or-break elimination games in the conference tournament.

Undefeated in conference play, Rice overcame not one, but two double-digit deficits to clinch their first Conference USA Tournament Championship in school history. The win was massive, not just for head coach Tina Langley or this team, but for the university as a whole.

“We’re really proud to do that for Rice,” Langley said, “We wanted to help the basketball program be as respected as this university is… we have a tremendous university that we want to represent well.”

Langley’s comments underscore the often unspoke undercurrent of Rice athletics. It’s hard. At least to some degree, it’s hard to win at Rice. Not because of any perceivable flaw with the school or the basketball program, but because the level of excellence Rice requires of its athletes is extraordinary.

“It’s hard to be a student-athlete at Rice,” Langley went on, “to perform on the basketball court the way they are right now and also have to do the work in the classroom every day takes an exceptional student-athlete.”

That extra gear was instrumental in helping this team will themselves to victory on Saturday. Trailing by eight at halfitme, Langley didn’t resort to a generic “go get ’em” pump up speech. Instead, she gathered her team around them and point blank explained the plan. Then they went out and executed it

“We’ve always known our IQ is very high,” Langley said, knowingly. “I think when you have a team that’s very smart you can go into the locker room and say ‘okay, this is what we’re going to do. We’re fine and we’re going to make a couple of adjustments and we’re going to be okay.”

Those adjustments worked. The added aggression on offense was noticable, as was the overall change in energy after the break. The result was, quite literally, historic. Langley’s understanding of the caliber of athletes she had in her locker room was instrumental in the come from behind victory. More still, it serves as a guide for every other program at Rice. It can be done.

The highest levels of achievement can be reached, not in spite of Rice’s lofty academic standards, but because of them. It truly has to be the Rice Way.

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Rice Women’s Basketball stays perfect, wins CUSA Title

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Rice women’s basketball stayed perfect, rallying in Frisco to win the Conference USA Tournament and clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament field.

A 30 game season came down to 40 minutes on a Saturday night in Frisco. Rice needed a win in the Conference USA Basketball Tournament to secure a trip to the NCAA Tournament. They got it, but it took every ounce of grit and competitiveness they had left.

Middle Tennessee made it clear from the opening possession they would not go quietly. The Lady Raiders were the clear aggressor through the first half, making active passes to set up four three-pointers in the first quarter and an early eight-point lead.

With the Rice offense struggling out of the gate, MTSU extended their lead to as many as 10 — the same margin Rice trailed by against Western Kentucky in the semis. It wouldn’t last.

Nancy Mulkey was the most consistent player for the Owls on both sides of the ball in the first half, scoring 13 points as she racked five blocks on the other end of the floor. She would finish with 24 points, eight blocks and five rebounds. Mulkey was named CUSA Tournament MVP for her efforts.

Digging deep when it counted

Nicole Iademarco jumpstarted the offense in the second half, hitting two big threes to spur a 7-0 run for the Owls. As Iademarco keyed in from long range, Mulkey’s confidence continued to grow on the interior. She turned around and took some semi-contested shots from the edge of the paint to help spark the Rice rally.

Syden Wiggins drained a floater in the key to take the lead in the third quarter. Rice relinquished it. Middle Tennessee threatened but was never able to regain a lead they’d held for the majority of the contest despite Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike spending a considerable amount of time on the bench with foul trouble.

Ogwumike would return to the game with four fouls at the 4-minute mark of the fourth quarter. She promptly knocked down two free throws and drained a deep three, taking over when the team needed her most to secure the Owls’ first Conference USA Tournament Championship.

Survive and advance

As the confetti falls, the team can exhale and reminisce. Rice women’s basketball won an almost unbelievable amount of games this season. The 28 victories mark a program high — one of the countless records broken this season by a team which has already cemented themselves among the best in school history.

Winners of 21-straight and a perfect 19-0 against Conference USA opponents, Rice has blown past lofty preseason expectations and secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. For one day, they’ll enjoy the moment. On Monday they’ll discover who their next opponent will be. Then it’s back to business as they seek to build upon an already historic run.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls come from behind to clinch CUSA Title Game berth

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Rice women’s basketball clinched a berth in the Conference USA Tournament Championship Game, coming from behind to beat Western Kentucky.

Few teams have tested Rice like Western Kentucky did on Friday night. The 1-seed had just dispatched North Texas by 19 the day before, but looked almost mortal through the first half of the semifinal against the Hilltoppers. The Owls watched their opponents go on a 15-0 run, erasing a 5-point advantage and putting the tournament favorites in a 10-point hole.

Rice could have stumbled through the rest of that arduous second quarter. Instead they rallied, cutting the deficit to five points by the halftime buzzer. Back within reach, the second half was an entirely different story.

Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike took over. Jasmine Smith drilled a three to give Rice the lead on the final shot of the third quarter, then it really was all Owls.

Rice went on an 11-0 run, pulling away down the stretch. At one point, Ogwumike had made 10 straight points for the Owls who kept a two score margin through the fourth quarter. Western Kentucky tried to extend the game with free throws, but the result was never in doubt with Rice winning by a final score of 64-57.

Ogwumike finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Sydne Wiggins was next in scoring with 11. Although she was held without a bucket, Nicole Iademarco came through with eight rebounds.

Up Next (Bracket)

Rice will play the winner of Friday’s late tip between Middle Tennesse and UAB on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the Conference USA Tournament Championship Game. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Rice beat Middle Tennesse 60-47 on the road earlier this season. Two days later they traveled to Birmingham and topped UAB 55-43.

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