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Rice Women’s Basketball: Shooting woes spoil defensive effort vs Charlotte

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Frenetic defense gave Rice Women’s Basketball a chance on Thursday against Charlotte, but a lack of scoring resulted in the Owls’ first AAC loss.

Points were at a premium on Thursday night as two of the AAC’s top five defensive teams squared off in Houston. A 12-12 score at the end of the first quarter proved to be a harbinger of things to come as Rice women’s basketball ran out of time in a gritty slugfest of a game against Charlotte at Tudor Fieldhouse.

It was that defense that kept Rice afloat, particularly in the first half. Rice shot 31.6 percent from the floor in the first half and made two of their 13 attempts from three. Despite the aid of six offensive rebounds and 18 forced turnovers in the first half alone — the 49ers’ average 18 turnovers per game — the Owls were unable to build much of a lead, going into halftime with a 27-25 advantage.

Not much changed in the second half. Charlotte out-shot Rice from the field and from three, but the 49ers’ turnovers gave Rice a 73-to-47 advantage in total field goal attempts. On sheer volume, the Owls were able to hang around for quite a while, even though the shots weren’t falling. Eventually, though, the lack of precision proved fatal.

“We were flying around. We were playing hard. It wasn’t about energy. It wasn’t about effort. It was simply about putting the ball in the basket more,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said.

Following a 7-0 Charlotte run to start the fourth quarter, Rice battled back to get the game within two before ending the contest 1-for-9 down the stretch. With the loss, Rice falls to 2-1 in AAC play.

Final Box | Charlotte 61 – Rice 54

What They’re Saying

“I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated in conference, but I want us to protect home at all times. You go on the road and you hope you can steal a couple, but we are normally good enough at home to win games. One-and-one with SMU and Charlotte, am i happy with that? Yeah. But I would have loved to be 2-0.” – Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | The exception, not the rule

Rice women’s basketball has historically shot the ball very well under head coach Lindsay Edmonds, particularly from deep. The Owls came into this game as the third best three-point shooting team in the AAC, but went 2-for-19 from long range. And it wasn’t as if the Owls were heaving up separation shots.

“They were good looks,” Edmonds agreed. “If you would have told me Dom [Ennis] was going to go 0f-or-6, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. If you told me DJ was going to have a hard time finishing on some layups I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I thought we had some really good, quality looks.”

It wasn’t a shot selection or a personnel problem. The best shooters don’t make every wide-open shot, but for the Owls’ top three-point shooters to strike out so many times in a game that went down to the wire stings. Edmonds noted the team hadn’t played a game in Tudor Fieldhouse in nearly a month.

Perhaps a bit more court time will help return the Owls’ stroke to normal. The defense was fantastic on Thursday. If the offense bounces back, the Owls should be just fine.

Up Next: vs USF (Sunday, Jan. 14)

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Rice Women’s Basketball tops SMU on buzzer beater

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Rice Women’s Basketball topped SMU at the buzzer to improve to 2-0 in American Conference play this season.

Coaches like to say defense travels. That old adage was certainly true for Rice women’s basketball on Sunday. Playing their first road contest as AAC members, Rice relied on their defense to build an early lead against SMU and set the stage for a 2-0 start in league play.

Rice held SMU to 25 percent shooting in the first half, turning the Mustangs over seven times before the halftime buzzer. That allowed the visiting Owls to take a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter and an eight-point lead at halftime, spurred by a balanced scoring effort from Destiny Jackson, Dominque Ennis and Emily Klaczek.

SMU was able to whittle the halftime deficit away in the opening minutes of the second half, setting up an incredible boxing match down the stretch with the teams trading blows (and the lead) into the final minutes. After Rice led for the vast majority of three quarters, the lead changed five times in the final five minutes. Malia Fisher came through with several big plays in those key moments.

After missing the potential go-ahead shot with 30 seconds to play, Rice was able to force a turnover on an SMU travel and retain possession. That paved the way for Destiny Jackson to wind through the SMU defense and hit the game-winning layup at the buzzer. The victory evens the all-time series record between these two programs. In 72 meetings, each team has won 36 times.

Final Box | Rice 65 – SMU 63

Key takeaway | Measuring stick moments

Rice women’s basketball was picked to finish third in the AAC in the preseason coaches poll. SMU was picked to finish fourth. Those prognostications from early October don’t mean much anymore with actual game results in hand and the conference standings beginning to take shape. However, after both teams labored through nonconference play, Rice is starting to get into a rhythm. SMU remains unbalanced.

Rice joins Charlotte and East Carolina as the lone unbeaten in Conference play thus far and Rice hosts Charlotte next weekend. As the Owls work to find their footing in their new conference every win serves to further legitimize their aspirations of becoming the top team in this league. Beating SMU alone won’t make Rice the frontrunners, but it’s a good next step against a quality opponent on the road.

Up Next: vs Charlotte (Thursday, Jan. 11)

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Rice Basketball falls to UTSA in overtime

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Rice basketball was unable to hold onto a second half lead, falling in overtime to UTSA in their AAC “home” opener.

Away from home for the first time as “hosts” in an American Conference game, Rice basketball was out of sorts from the start against UTSA. The visiting Roadrunners showed no signs of confusion when it came to finding their shot at Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center, jumping out to a double-digit lead in the first 10 minutes of the opening half.

When the Owls needed a spark, Travis Evee took charge. He scored three straight layups to get Rice within four. Soon after his first three of the day got Rice within one score. Noah Shelby took the baton from there, knocking down a three-pointer to give Rice its first lead since the 16-minute mark to begin the game. Trailing by as many as 11 points, Rice had battled back and entered halftime with a three-point lead.

Rice was able to take that advantage and push it to double-digits early in the second half. For a moment, it looked as if the Owls had escaped disaster, but those hopes dissipated rapidly. UTSA immediately fired back and turned it into a back and forth game, which eventually found itself in overtime.

UTSA would go on to outscore Rice 12-5 in overtime, handing the Owls a crushing loss and pushing the Owls to the bottom of the AAC standings.

“We didn’t have the end of the game like we needed to handle it,” head coach Scott Pera said. “They made us pay. They got the shot. Those are hard lessons to learn.”

Final Box | UTSA 89 – Rice 82 (OT)

Key takeaway | Red Alert

UTSA entered this contest dead last in the American in KenPom, No. 290 in the country. How bad have the Roadrunners been this season? For comparison, they’re more than 60 spots behind the next closest AAC team in those rankings. Unfortunately, that next team is Rice. The Owls entered Saturday at No. 224 and they’re going to drop further after this.

If the result wasn’t scary enough, the company Rice has kept this season should raise concern. If Rice basketball can’t put away UTSA, why should they expect to be competitive in a conference that expects to send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament?

The Owls need to circle the wagons and find some answers. The offense, which was meant to be the strength of this team, has yet to click this season. The defense has had spurts of success but isn’t nearly consistent enough to make up for the Owls’ shooting struggles. With conference play looming, Rice is running out of time to make those adjustments. Until proven otherwise, it appears Rice basketball has a long season ahead of them.

Up Next: at USF (Friday, Jan. 12)

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Rice Basketball drops first-ever AAC tilt to Tulane

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The shooting woes continued for Rice basketball who dropped its American Conference opener on the road against Tulane on Wednesday night.

Playing in their first-ever AAC game, Rice basketball looked every bit the part in the opening minutes against the Tulane Green Wave. The Owls got to the line, made their free throw shots, knocked down a big three and otherwise went toe-to-toe with a Tulane squad that had won seven of eight on their home court so far this season. Then things went sideways.

The three ball faded away quickly. The foul trips stopped. But Tulane just kept scoring. A five-point game with a little under 13 minutes to play in the first half ballooned into a double-digit deficit in the blink of an eye. Then Rice was down by 14. Then 18. Rice was held to 25 percent shooting from the floor in the first half as the deficit continued to grow.

When Rice did manage to string a few baskets together, things got interesting, albeit in brief flashes. Rice got the game back within seven points early in the seven half. Tulane lengthened their advantage only for Rice to sneak back within nine points via a 7-0 run midway through the half. The Owls wouldn’t have much more of a resistance after that, though.

Following Rice’s last push to get within nine, Tulane outscored Rice 20-2 in the next six minutes of action. Down by 27 with zero points from Max Fiedler and only one Rice player above 12 points on the night, there wasn’t much more the Owls could do, falling on the road to begin AAC play 0-1.

Final Box | Tulane 84 – Rice 59

Key takeaway | Yellow Light U?

Green Light U has been the Owls’ tagline over the last several seasons, meant to reflect the “green light” head coach Scott Pera gives his shooters in what is meant to be a fast-paced, three-point-heavy offense. There’s just one problem so far this season: the shots aren’t falling. This was covered in further detail in our midseason Rice Basketball State of the Program and it doesn’t appear to have corrected itself in a significant way during the holiday break. Rice isn’t hitting threes.

Rice shot 25 percent from three against Tulane. Conservatively, that’s at least 10 percentage points behind what they’d call a mediocre day and 15 points behind a great day from deep. This team was built to have great days from long range. It can win with okay days. To continually fail to find any sort of production from three is going to render this offense sluggish, at best.

Travis Evee was 3-for-9 (33 percent) from three on Wednesday night. The rest of the team was 5-for-23 (22 percent). Simply put: the shooting wasn’t there and Rice basketball lost by double a landslide.

Up Next: vs UTSA (Saturday, Jan. 6)

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Rice Women’s Basketball tops Wichita State in AAC opener

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Forced to play away from home in their American Conference opener, Rice Women’s Basketball prevailed nonetheless, topping Wichita State at the Fertitta Center across town.

Rice women’s basketball did not open American Conference play under ideal circumstances. The Owls were forced to play their “home opener” just down the road at the Fertitta Center because of water damage to Tudor Fieldhouse over the holidays.

Makeshift visitors in their inaugural game in a new league, Rice took some time to get settled into their red-clad benches. The Owls and the true visitors, Wichita State, traded baskets and free throws throughout the first quarter. It wasn’t until the midpoint of the second frame that the Owls started to find their groove, opening an 11-point lead, only for the Shockers to whittle it back within one score at halftime.

Wichita State scored the first five points in the second half, but it was all Rice from that point onward. The Owls outscored the Shockers 20-8 through the rest of the third quarter, taking a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter. Dominque Ennis led the charge, scoring 11 of her 17 points after the break. She left the game with a minute remaining in regulation with an injury, souring an otherwise very encouraging night for the Owls.

Staked to a 10-point advantage entering the fourth, the margin waivered below 10 points on two brief occasions, but the Owls delivered clutch free throws and kept things from getting too interesting down the stretch. Despite some early jitters, Rice found a way to close out the “home” win away from Tudor Fieldhouse and move to 1-0 in AAC play.

Final Box | Rice 76 – Wichita State 64

Key takeaway | Making the right adjustments

Early on, Wichita State was able to hang around in this game because of their ability to capitalize on extra opportunities. They outrebounded Rice 24-20 and edged Rice 10-5 in second-chance points, netting 33 percent of their first half scoring after their first shot failed. That’s an exorbitant amount of extra chances and something the Owls simply could not let continue if they were going to win this game.

Not only did Rice do a better job on the boards in the second half, 17-14 in their favor, but they stonewalled Wichita State in those second half opportunities. The Shockers had zero second-chance points in the second half, allowing that double-digit point differential that was bypassed in the first half to flow in earnest after the halftime buzzer. Without the extra opportunities, the Shockers couldn’t keep pace with the Owls.

The teams that strive to compete well into March can make those sorts of adjustments. Wednesday’s win was another step in the right direction for a Rice women’s basketball team that hopes to do just that.

Up Next: at SMU (Sunday, Jan. 7)

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