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Rice Women’s Basketball tops Temple, advances to AAC Title Game

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Rice Women’s Basketball got pivotal plays from its leaders in crunch time to knock off Temple and advance to the AAC Championship Game.

Two of the better defensive teams in the American Conference slugged it out in the semi-finals on Tuesday night as Rice Women’s basketball took on Temple with a trip to the conference championship game on the line. The all-Owl affair featured lots of physicality and intensity with points at a premium.

The squads combined for 18 fouls in the first half, with two starters apiece charged with multiple fouls before halftime. Even with the interruptions, the teams shot the ball fairly well. Malia Fisher and Sussy Ngulefac took charge for Rice, scoring 20 of the team’s 33 first-half points as Rice sought to pound the interior and force Temple into defensive mismatches.

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A modest four-point halftime lead ballooned to as many as 13 in the third quarter as Ngulefac, Destiny Jackson and Emily Klaczek sparked an 11-0 run to take command of the game, but the edge would be fleeting.

Temple battled back, whittling the lead down to single digits before taking the lead with 3:29 remaining in regulation. It was then, with the season hanging in the balance, that Rice got three near-perfect performances from three of its most important leaders.

Klaczek followed a Fisher layup with a massive corner three to put Rice back in front by three. Destiny Jackson won on an iso play the following possession, keeping the lead at four. Then, with Temple inbounding as Rice nursed a two-point lead, Fisher stepped in front of the pass and effectively ended the game.

“I’m long and lanky,” Fisher said of that pivotal play, a play that effectively sent Rice to the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.

“That’s why they’re in the game, late game. I trust them. I count on them. They know what it’s like. I said it yesterday,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “They’re tough. They’re competitors. I trust them. When the game is on the line, I know they’re going to do what it takes to make sure Rice comes out on top.”

Final Box | Rice 61 – North Texas 59

What They’re Saying

“We’ve been on a little bit of a revenge tour here, since we’ve been here. UAB got us at their place. We lost at home to North Texas and Temple. So we had a little bit more fuel to our fire behind all of the games that we were facing to make sure that we came out on top and we came out on top at the right time.

Toughness has really prevailed. Our togetherness has really shown. We have hung our hats on defense. I’m just really, really proud of the efforts. We could hung her heads a couple of times tonight but we found a way to get one more, to get one more rebound, to come out on the winning end. Really, really proud of the group.” – Head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Don’t Settle

During Rice women’s basketball’s five-game losing streak to end the regular season, the Owls shot 20.2 percent from three including a 3-for-30 outing against North Texas. Head coach Lindsay Edmonds saw those results and made a change, keeping Sussy Ngulefac in the starting lineup for each game of the conference tournament and making a concerted effort to attack the rim.

“We were just talking about not settling for threes and talking about being aggressive, putting pressure on them, putting pressure on the paint, putting pressure on officials to make calls for us,” Edmonds said. “I really liked how they executed to start the game.”

Ngulefac, whose only start before this week came in the regular season finale against UTSA, was named player of the game for her efforts, finishing with 11 points and five rebounds with two blocks.

The Owls’ focus on going inside would eventually open up opportunities to make an extra pass and set up open looks from three. Klaczek’s huge triple in the final minute was made possible because of pressure inside that opened up the shot.

Rice women’s basketball has found a recipe that works. If they want to win one more game and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, they need to stay aggressive, attack the basket and keep winning on defense. If they can, they’re going dancing.

Up Next: vs ECU on Wednesday in the AAC Title Game, March 13 at 6:00 pm

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Bats go cold as Rice Baseball drops series at Hawaii

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Rice baseball got things started with a Friday night win, but couldn’t hang on, dropping the four-game series 3-1 at Hawaii.

FRIDAY | Rice 5 – Hawaii 2

Treyton Rank and Brendan Cumming picked up RBI hits in the second inning to stake Parker Smith to an early lead on Friday night. The Owls’ ace would allow one run on three hits, working five innings before giving way to the bullpen. The pitching staff would be given a bit more cushion as the offense tacked on an additional run in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, getting to the bottom of the ninth with a 5-2 lead.

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It was at that point that Davion Hickson, in his second inning of work, ran into a bit of trouble. With the potential tying run at the plate and one out, he was lifted in favor of Garrett Stratton. After walking a batter to load the bases, Stratton induced a game-ending double-play, the Owls’ fourth of the game.

SATURDAY | Hawaii 4 – Rice 3

Rice starter JD McCracken battled through five innings and pitched rather well on Saturday, with one tough inning that would prove problematic for the Owls. Hawaii tagged McCracken for three runs in the fourth, collecting four hits, only one of which left the infield.

Trailing by three, Rice chipped away. Jack Riedel doubled in one run in the sixth before Kyte McDonald’s third home run in the eighth, his third of the season, tied the game. The deadlock wouldn’t last long. Tyler Hamilton allowed a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, which proved to be the difference in the one-run game.

SUNDAY | Hawaii 12 – Rice 1

Following a pair of tight games, the third rendition was anything but close. Hawaii struck for seven runs in the first inning, knocking starter Ryland Urbaczyk from the game quickly and taking out the rest of their fury against reliever Mauricio Rodriguez. Rice would never recover.

The rest of the bullpen struggled with free passes, walking a combined 11 batters on the afternoon and surrendering additional crooked numbers in the fifth and eighth innings. Rice scored their only run of the day in the second on a home run from Trey Duffield.

MONDAY | Hawaii 7 – Rice 5

Things looked dire early on in the series finale when Rice starter Robert Fernandez was ambushed for three runs in the first inning via a bases-clearing double. Fernandez settled in and got through another inning and change, giving way to Tom Vincent who got the Owls through five innings without further damage.

The fifth was when Rice offense started to wake up. Kyte McDonald and Treyton Rank each delivered RBI doubles, one in the fifth and another in the sixth, give Rice a 4-3 lead. Hawaii would answer with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the sixth, taking a 6-4 advantage. Rice would not lead again, dropping the game and the series.

THREE FOR THE ROAD

Rice baseball leaves another weekend with a series loss, turning in several competitive outings with only one win to show for it. Here are three takeaways from the series:

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1. Doubled-up

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ON DECK | vs Houston Christian (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Football 2024 Spring Practice Notebook 1: Spring Intros

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The 2024 Rice Football spring practices are officially underway. Here’s the latest on the roster and their plans this spring.

Rice football was back on the grass for the first week of spring practices this week. The Owls will have a short hiatus for spring break, then return to finish the final four weeks of camp and conclude with their spring game on April 13. That’s a short window to accomplish a lot. Stay tuned here for updates throughout the weeks ahead, starting right now with more on their starting point, some news faces, a notable position change and more.

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Quarterback-to-wideout conversion continues

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2024 AAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Preview

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The 2024 AAC Women’s Basketball Tournament is slated to tip off in Fort Worth, TX this week. Here’s a preview of the action.

The Favorite: Tulsa

Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford rank second and third in the AAC in scoring. No team in the league boasts a tandem as productive as this one has been for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa has the longest active winning streak in league play, five games, and head-to-head wins over No. 2 Seed North Texas and No. 3 Seed Temple (Tulsa split the season series with Temple 1-1).

The Contenders: North Texas, Temple

North Texas might be the most consistent team in the league. They shoot the ball well and play solid defense almost every game. In total, that’s driven the Mean Green to the top scoring margin in the AAC, outscoring opponents by 11.2 points, which is more than double every team in the league outside of Temple.

As for Temple, the Owls rank second in the AAC in defense, allowing 62.7 points per game. Opponents are shooting just 29 percent from three against the Owls and below 40 percent from the floor. There’s a reason the league standings ended in a three-way tie at the top with these three good teams.

The Dark Horse: South Florida

Once picked as the preseason No. 1 team, South Florida got off to a slow start in league play and fell toward the rest of the pack in the standings. The talent is still there, albeit with some inconsistency in performance from game to game. The Bulls lead the conference in assist/turnover ratio. If they can play clean basketball and keep up their solid defense they could make some noise.

The Wild Card: Memphis

The Tigers were left for dead in mid-February, bottom dwellers in the standings with a 4-11 record. Then something clicked. They ended the season on a 5-1 run, knocking off East Carolina, Rice, Tulane, UTSA and UAB before falling to North Texas. They get a rematch with ECU in Fort Worth. One upset against Tulsa in the next round and their Cinderella dreams might not sound that farfetched.

The Bracket

The opening day of games will take place on Saturday, March 9, with the majority of the teams in action on Sunday, March 10. Here are the first two days of action. The full schedule is available on the conference website. All early-round games can be streamed on ESPN+, with the championship on ESPNU.

First Round | Saturday, March 9

Game 1: No. 13 Wichita State vs. No. 12 Florida Atlantic – 4 p.m. CT
Game 2: No. 14 Tulane vs. No. 11 SMU – 6 p.m. CT

Second Round | Sunday, March 10

Game 3: No. 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Memphis – 12 p.m. CT
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 South Florida – 2 p.m. CT
Game 5: No. 10 Rice vs. No. 7 UAB – 6 p.m. CT
Game 6: Game 2 winner vs. No. 6 Charlotte – 8 p.m. CT

https://twitter.com/American_Conf/status/1765556810608431384

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Rice Basketball comes up short at Charlotte

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Rice basketball stayed within striking distance but was never able to land a finishing blow, dropping a hard-fought game to Charlotte.

It wouldn’t have been readily apparent to any onlookers Wednesday night that the on-court battle they were witnessing was between teams on opposite ends of the American Conference standings. Rice basketball took Charlotte to the wire, coming within a timely basket or two of upsetting one of the AAC’s best.

Rice was able to keep things close thanks to an inspired performance by their defense. Charlotte shot just 36 percent from the field and 6-of-27 (22 percent) from three, essentially relying on forward Igor Milicic (26 points, 10 rebounds) to carry the rest of the team.

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Charlotte led by seven at halftime and increased their edge to as many as 12 points. But each and every time the game got to the brink, Rice battled back. Midway through the second half, Travis Evee and Max Fiedler spurred an 11-2 run that brought the game within three points. Then the battle was on.

Both sides traded baskets as the clock wound down. Anthony Selden delivered a slashing layup to get the score within two with 26 seconds to play. Charlotte would hit their free throws and hold on, but not without some labored breathing down the stretch.

Final Box | Charlotte 69 – Rice 65

Key takeaway | Workable rotations

It’s taken most of the season to get to this point, but Rice basketball seems to have found itself the right balance of starters’ minutes, bench usage and rotations between the two units. Andrew Akuchie has been effective in his minutes, but so too has Anthony Selden off the bench and Keanu Dawes, albeit not as much against Charlotte.

This roster has talent, more so than it did at this point last season. Trusting that talent to come through in crucial situations should be the next step of a progressing program. It hasn’t resulted in victories as often as the Owls’ faithful would have hoped, but the pieces are there.

If Rice can add an effective three-point shot to a roster that is effective up close — Rice led Charlotte 40-26 in points in the paint — they could make some noise over the last few weeks of the season. The players are there.

Up Next: at North Texas (Wednesday, Mar. 9)

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