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Rice Women’s Basketball rallies to beat UTSA

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Rice women’s basketball fought through some early shooting woes and exploded from the three-point line to beat UTSA.

Rice women’s basketball was clearly looking for an early three-point bonanza against UTSA but the expected fireworks fizzled early on. The Owls shot a miserable 1-for-12 on three-pointers in the first quarter alone, accounting for nearly seventy percent of their average of 18.6 three-point attempts for the game in the first 10 minutes as they fell behind 20-12.

Despite falling behind, Rice did not abandon the game plan. They took 10 more three-pointers in the second quarter, this time hitting four of them, and rallied to retake the lead in the final minute before halftime.  After trailing by as many as 11, the Owls were right back in the mix at the break.

Both teams traded blows in the third before Rice appeared to have opened up a commanding fourth quarter lead, going up 11 points on a three by Katelyn Crosthwait with 3:19 to play. UTSA would claw back to within two points in the final 30 seconds, but Rice did enough to hang on for the win.

Final Box | Rice 78 – UTSA 76

Key takeaway |  Three-point throwdown

Head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her staff had noticed UTSA play more zone in a recent game and was ready to act on it should the Roadrunners do something similar against the Owls on Monday. They did, and the Owls took to the air.

Even with some early misses, Edmonds stayed the course, despite turning to the scorer’s table at one point to check how many threes they had taken to that point — 14 — “Oh my goodness,” was her only reply.

“A lot of our threes were coming from three of our best three-point shooters,” she said afterward. “Those are what those players do, So I have no problems with them taking good shots.”

Edmonds did admit the quality of shot improved as the team entered the heart of the second quarter, moving the ball more effectively and playing inside out. That set up leading scorer Katelyn Crosthwait for a massive evening. She connected on 7-of-14 threes, scoring a team-high 23 points.

“Threes are my thing. That’s what I rep every single off day,” Crosthwait said win a grin.

Up Next: vs North Texas – Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB and WBB vs UTEP

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Both Rice basketball teams were in action against UTEP on Saturday. Here’s a brief rundown of how the men and women faired and what’s next for both.

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball fended off an early UTEP run then made a thriller at the buzzer to notch their first conference home win of the season.

After failing to hold sizable leads in previous games, Rice basketball was handed a very different game script on Saturday against UTEP. The game began with a modest back and forth before a 13-3 UTEP run late in the first half put Rice into a perilous position. Quincy Olivari quickly keyed an 11-2 Rice spurt to return the game back to near level in the waning minutes of the first half.

Already survivors of an early scare, Rice entered the second half motivated. Olivari and Travis Evee strung together a trio of three-pointers and a few more buckets, a 13-0 run, which put Rice back in front for the first time since the 11:25 mark in the first half.

It wouldn’t be easy, though. UTEP took the lead on a free throw with six seconds to play. Then Evee took the ball down the court and put one up at the buzzer, watching it fall through the net for the game-winner.

Final Box | Rice 83 – UTEP 82

Key takeaway | In the hunt

Entering Saturday, eight of the 11 teams in Conference USA were within one game of .500 in league play, with most hovering somewhere between 2-3 and 3-3. If Rice basketball had hopes of contending for an upper-half finish in the conference they needed to avoid falling too far in the race early on in the season. They did that this weekend, earning an important win to move back to .500 in league play.

The Owls were one of only two teams in the conference without a home win in league play prior to this important victory. Head coach Scott Pera is quick to preach the significance of taking care of home court, and they achieved that today.

Up Next: at UTSA – Monday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball was able to build a lead and maintain it, taking down UTEP on the road for their second conference win.

On New Year’s Eve, Rice women’s basketball beat UTEP to stop a losing skid. On Saturday, they did it again, taking down the Miners for the second time this season. The game was tight early, with the Owls holding small leads in the first and second quarters with both teams shooting well early on. Things began to shift in the third quarter when the Rice defensive effort was cranked up to another level.

UTEP was held to 7.1 percent shooting in the third frame, making just one shot from the field. That stingy defense, combined with a 50 percent shooting mark of their own from the floor, helped Rice open up an 18-point advantage which proved too big for the Miners to climb out of, even with a stronger fourth quarter.

“I felt we imposed our will for 40 minutes. We really executed the defensive gameplan and we then we had a really balanced attack on the offensive end,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. ” You saw a lot of effort and energy, but most importantly, I just liked our focus.”

Final Box | Rice 73 – UTEP 62

Key takeaway | Confidence builder

With the loss, UTEP falls to 4-2 in conference play, undefeated in games against all other foes except for the Rice Owls. The win was important, if for no other reason that to soothe any anxieties associated with a prolonged losing streak. But more than that, it was a win against a very good conference foe.

UTEP is second in the conference standings right now and Rice has already beaten the Miners twice. Middle Tennessee (6-0) is playing exceptional basketball right now, but everyone else in the conference is on the Owls’ level — as things currently stand — and we’ve seen this team hang with great teams over the past year and a half.

Every team has tough stretches of its season for one reason or another. Notching a second win against this team proves that this Rice women’s basketball squad can be a real force if they’re clicking at the right time.

Up Next: vs UTSA – Monday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Football 2022 Rising Star: Blake Boenisch

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From a reserve to a marquee defensive player, Blake Boenisch was a difference maker this season and our 2022 Rice Football Rising Star.

If spring ball was any indication, Rice football was going to have an abundance of riches on the defensive line entering the 2022 season. Unlike at wide receiver where injuries thinned the group near the bare minimum number of bodies needed to operate, the defensive line was relatively healthy this year. Which made the emergence of Blake Boenisch, our 2022 Rice Football Rising Star, even more impressive.

When Boenisch arrived on campus, all the reports were glowing. Head coach Mike Bloomgren called him a “big specimen” with “a great mindset” heading into Boenisch’s true freshman season in 2021. The true freshman from Needville, TX would appear in two games, but not record any statistics.

Boenisch would be one of the first to tell you he had to get adjusted to the college game. Everything was a step up, from the workouts to the practice field. The coaching staff was patient, challenging him and working with him until things started to click this spring.

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“The kid is a freak of nature,” fellow teammate and captain Trey Schuman said of Boenisch. “He’s 6-3, 330 and can move. It’s not every day that you see somebody like him. Really the thing about Blake is his maturation process has been insane.”

Following the spring game, Bloomgren began a short synopsis of who he viewed as the players who stood out the most during the sessions. Blake Boenisch was near the top of the list.

“Blake Boenisch made the jump you want someone to take from freshman ball to spring,” Bloomgren said. “And I’m really encouraged by what he’s doing.” Those wishful platitudes would turn into bonafide praise soon enough.

Boenisch saw some action against USC but really made his mark in the Owls’ first home game of the year against McNeese State. De’Braylon Carroll was forced to exit the game early with an injury, opening the door for Boenisch who wasted no time in announcing his presence.

He racked up five tackles including 1.5 sacks, flashing time and time again. It was impossible not to notice how much impact he was having on the field, regardless of whether or not he registered any tangible statistic on the play. He changed the game, no small praise for someone working in just their fourth collegiate contest.

It was wheels up from that point onward. Boenisch would no longer be a “break glass in case of emergency” reserve. He became part of the active rotation, seeing meaningful minutes from that point onward.

More: Special Teams Player of the Year — Christian VanSickle

Boenisch had four tackles against UAB and four more against UTEP on his way to 28 total tackles for the season. Only Quent Titre (31) had more tackles from the interior line position and outside of Josh Pearcy (43 tackles) off the edge, Boenisch finished just five tackles short of Ikenna Enechukwu who is expected to be an NFL Draft selection this offseason.

When asked to sum up just how impactful the second-year player had been for the Owls, Bloomgren was almost at a loss for words. “Blake’s a lot to deal with,” he remarked, praising Boenisch on the heels of his second consecutive start of the season, which came against UTSA in mid-November.

Rice football will always employ a heavy rotation on the defensive line. Keeping players fresh is a maxim defensive coordinator Brian Smith will forever hold true. But make no mistake, Boenisch has climbed very near to the top of that pecking order and he’s not backing down any time soon.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB and WBB each fall to MTSU

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Both Rice basketball teams were in action against Middle Tennessee. Here’s a brief rundown of how the men and women faired and what’s next for both.

Rice Basketball

A last-second three-point attempt at the buzzer hit iron as Rice basketball ran out of time for a second-half comeback against MTSU.

Rice basketball arrived ready to play on Wednesday night against MTSU. Things were back and forth for a few minutes before Rice basketball started to click.

Travis Evee knocked down a couple of threes to help spark a 32-12 finish to the first half. The Owls shot the ball well, connecting on 50 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half, but defended even better, holding the Blue Raiders to 10 field goals before the break on 33 percent shooting.

Middle Tennessee would get their sea legs in the second half, cutting a 14-point Rice lead down to a single point with just over nine minutes to play. Then, after some back and forth, they’d take their first lead of the second half with just over five minutes remaining in the contest. Rice had their chances, including a three-point shot at the buzzer, but they ran out of time.

Final Box | MTSU 71 – Rice 68

Key takeaway | Which team is it going to be?

It was hard to avoid feeling like the sky was falling on Rice basketball through the first eight days of their 2022-2023 season. The Owls opened the season with a 39-point defeat against Pepperdine (a team they handled comfortably last season) and followed it up seven days later with a 35-point loss to Middle Tennessee. The season has just started and things were already a mess.

Since then? Rice is 9-3 with crucial conference wins over WKU and UTEP and a heartbreaking Middle Tennessee team that embarrassed them in Murfeesborro two months ago. Even Wednesday was a tale of two halves. The first half looked like the team that played through most of December. The second half was reminiscent of the November version.

Head coach Scott Pera took the loss hard on himself, calling the team’s second half defense “atrocious” and vowing “I have to do better,” as a string of challenging league games await them.

Guard Quincy Olivari shared the disappointment but was resolute in his focus on moving forward and climb out of their 2-3 conference start. “We can only win one game at a time,” he said. ” We can only focus on the next game ahead.”

Up Next: vs UTEP – Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball put together an early push, but fell apart late, getting blown out on the road against Middle Tennessee.

Middle Tennesse made one field goal in the first four and a half minutes of regulation, allowing Rice women’s basketball to build an early 9-3 advantage. After some challenging starts for the Owls, an early lead felt meaningful, but it quickly disappeared. They ended the quarter trailing by three and were outscored by the same 16-16 margin in the second quarter, too.

Trailing by six at halftime, things started going further south until — as the broadcast put it — “the wheels came off.” Rice was outscored 53-30 in the second half. Leading players Malia Fisher and Ashlee Austin each fouled out. The team shot 32.7 percent from the field in the game and allowed MTSU to shoot 51.6 percent. Rice missed nine free throws. It wasn’t a good night.

Final Box | MTSU 85 – Rice 56

Key takeaway | Something isn’t right

For the fourth time in their last five games, Rice women’s basketball has lost. They’ve also allowed 74 points or more in all four of those losses, a scoring threshold they’d allowed opponents to pass just twice in their first eight games that didn’t reach overtime. The defense hasn’t been stellar in recent weeks.

But that’s not the only cause for concern. Rice scored at least 76 points in their first six games of the season, only failing to reach that mark three times in the non-conference play, against Texas A&M, TCU and Sam Houston (all wins). In five conference games, Rice has scored 76 points zero times.

There haven’t been significant changes to player availability. They aren’t playing teams that are drastically more talented than they are. But something isn’t working. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and figure it out, beginning with a win against UTEP on Saturday.

Up Next: at UTEP – Saturday, Jan. 14 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Football 2022: NFL Owls Regular Season Recap

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Rice Football is well represented on 2022 NFL rosters. Here’s the latest from the NFL Owls from this week and the season as a whole.

There are former Rice football players scattered across the NFL. Stay tuned each week for their game results and notables from each player.

Team NFL Owl(s) Week 18 Result Next
Denver Broncos Calvin Anderson (OL)
Elijah Garcia (DL)		 vs Chargers W, 31-28  —
Detroit Lions Jack Fox (P) at Packers W, 20-16  —
Indianapolis Colts Kylen Granson (TE) vs Texans L, 32-31  —
LA Chargers Bryce Callahan (DB)
Christian Covington (DL)		 at Broncos L, 21-28 at Jaguars
LA Rams Austin Trammell (WR) at Seahawks L, 19-16 (OT)  —
Pittsburgh Steelers Chris Boswell (PK) vs Browns W, 28-14  —
Seattle Seahawks Myles Adams (DL) vs Rams W, 19-16 (OT) at 49ers
Tampa Bay Bucs Nick Leverett (OL) at Falcons L, 30-17 vs Cowboys

Offense

Calvin Anderson – OT, Broncos

Anderson appeared in 14 of the Broncos’ games this season, including seven starts. Before this year, he’d started five games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons combined. The Broncos did not make the playoffs.

Kylen Granson – TE, Colts

Granson set career-best marks across the board, making four starts for the Colts this season. He caught 31 passes for 203 yards. The Colts did not make the playoffs.

Nick Leverett – OT, Buccaneers

Leverett started his tenth consecutive game this weekend. He’s appeared in every game for the Bucs following Week 7 after making two appearances for the Bucs a season ago with no starts. The Bucs host the Cowboys in a Wild Card game on Monday night.

Austin Trammell – WR, Rams

Trammell played in the Rams’ final six games, catching two passes for 13 yards. His primary role was on special teams this season where he played roughly a third of his total snaps. The Rams did not make the playoffs.

Defense

Myles Adams – DL, Seahawks

Adams appeared in a career-high 10 games for the Seahawks this season, tallying 16 tackles with one tackle for a loss, one quarterback hit and one pass defended. The Seahawks visit the 49ers in a Wild Card game on Saturday.

Bryce Callahan – CB, Chargers

Callahan appeared in a career-high 15 games for the Chargers this season, setting career highs in starts (11), tackles (47) and interceptions (3). He also posted six passes defended, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits. The Chargers visit the Jaguars in a Wild Card game on Saturday.

Christian Covington – DL, Chargers

Covington appeared in four games for the Chargers this season before being placed on Injured Reserve after suffering a pec injury in the Chargers’ Week 10 game against the 49ers. He finished the season with 12 tackles. The Chargers visit the Jaguars in a Wild Card game on Saturday.

Elijah Gacia – DT, Broncos

Garcia was signed off the Rams practice squad and appeared in his first game with the Broncos in Week 17. He recorded his first career tackle a week later against the Chargers. The Broncos did not make the playoffs.

Special Teams

Jack Fox – P, Lions

Fox punted 52 times this season with a long of 66 yards. He pinned 14 balls inside the 20 and averaged 48.6 yards per punt, the sixth-best mark in the league. The Lions did not make the playoffs.

Chris Boswell – K, Steelers

Boswell made 20-of-28 field goal attempts this season and all 18 of his extra point tries. He was lethal from long range, converting on 7-of-9 field goal tries from 50+ yards away. The Steelers did not make the playoffs.

More Owls in the NFL

From practice squads to current free agents, there are other Owls on the cusp of returning to active rosters. Find more detail on current contractual agreements and former Rice football players waiting for their next opportunity here.

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