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Rice Women’s Basketball speeds past Texas Southern, stays perfect

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Following a pair of close wins on the road, Rice women’s basketball put away Texas Southern with haste to remain undefeated on the season.

Katelyn Crosthwait made the first shot she took, a three-pointer to give Rice women’s basketball the early lead on the road against Texas Southern. The Tigers would manage one free throw in response before the visiting Owls scored six more points, pushing their lead to 9-1 in the first two minutes of action.

If there were ever a moment for Texas Southern to turn things around, it would have been at the beginning of the second quarter. Trailing by six, Texas Southern secured a rebound following a miss from Jazzy Owens-Barnett, but then they turned the ball back over to Rice. Ashlee Austin knocked down a layup and the route was on.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice went on to outscore the home team 20-6 in that second quarter, holding Texas Southern to 2-of-13 from the field in that frame while the Rice shot a blistering 50 percent from the field. That would have been impressive in itself had the Owls not followed it up with a blazing 9-of-12, 75 percent showing in the third quarter to extend their advantage even further.

At that point, both squads emptied their benches and played out the stretch. 12 different Owls appeared in the game, making room for freshmen like Owens-Barnett, Dominque Ennis and Shelby Hayes to each see 12+ minutes of action. After a series of close fourth quarters, it was nice for everyone to breath and let the young guns play. They’ll be needed as the season progresses.

Player Spotlight | Malia Fisher

For the third time in five games, Fisher recorded a double-double. That shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. The talented sophomore is averaging 15 points and 11.4 boards per game, both marks that lead the team.

On Wednesday, she sent the Owls into a short Thanksgiving break with relative ease, wrapping up the double-double before halftime. She would only be called upon to play 27 minutes given the Owls’ sizable lead, otherwise this grand day could have been even grander.

Final Box | Rice 76 – Texas Southern 49

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball wraps up a four-game road trip on Sunday when they head up to College Station to play Texas A&M. The Aggies are 4-1 and share one common open with the Owls, Texas Southern, who A&M beat 67-54. This Lone Star battle has the potential to get interesting.

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Rice Basketball rallies from 17 down, tops Houston Christian

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Rice basketball started slow, but caught fire late, securing a perfect 3-0 weekend at home with a Monday night win over Houston Christian.

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. At least that’s how the old adage is supposed to go. right? It was indeed a fitting description of how Rice basketball faired against Houston Christian in the final game of the Owl Invitational. Already 2-0 on the weekend, it took the full 40 minutes for the Owls to complete the weekend sweep on Monday Night.

Things couldn’t have started much worse. HCU knocked down four threes in the first five minutes of regulation, jumping out to an 11-point lead with Rice registering just three early points via a three from Quincy Olivari. HCU would lead by as many as 17 points in the first half, entering the break at exactly that margin.

At halftime, Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera told his team to break up the second half into four-minute chunks up to the media timeouts. “I had my grad assistant tell me the score of each four-minute segment,” Pera said. “And I remember the first one clearly being 12 to 2.”

More: Rice Basketball Season Preview

Respond they did. Rice didn’t slow down from the torrid pace with which they started the second half. They also had an 8-0 run a little bit later. Despite HCU knocking down 13 three-pointers and the Owls shooting a mediocre 25 percent from long-range themselves, the Owls battled back.

Finally, with 6:51 left on the clock, Rice basketball took its first lead of the night. Mekhi Mason did the honors, slashing through the lane for a basket and draining the subsequent free throw. Rice would surrender the lead briefly on the following possession but retake it immediately afterward, stretching it to double digits and holding on to remain undefeated at home.

Player Spotlight | Mekhi Mason

Welcome to South Main, Mekhi Mason. The highly-anticipated freshman scored 11 against Georgia Southern on Friday, the previous highwater mark of his young now six-game career. He’d made at least one three in every game to this point and he’d shot fairly well from the floor as a whole, but he hadn’t really had a breakthrough game, not yet.

That changed on Monday. With his team trailing in need of a spark, Mason took over. He led all scorers with 25 points, knocking down 4-of-7 from three with an additional three assists, to boot. He was lights out from the floor, missing just four of his 13 shots.

“He’s a talented, talented you man. I’m really happy for him,” Pera said. “He really picked us up.”

Final Box | Rice 76 – HCU 67

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball has one final game in the month of November before turning the page to the December slate. They’ll host Prairie View A&M on Wednesday, Nov. 20, giving the team an extended Thanksgiving Break.

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Rice Basketball closes strong, dispatches Western Michigan at home

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Rice basketball caught fire late, taking down Western Michigan to stay perfect at the Owl Invitational with one game still to play.

A day after a furious second half explosion to take down Georgia Southern, Rice basketball faced an early test against Western Michigan in their second game of the Owl Invitation at Tudor Fieldhouse. Travis Evee opened the scoring with a three-pointer, but Western Michigan would spend the majority of the first half in front, leading by as many as eight points.

The lead would never stretch farther than that. Cam Sheffield hit a couple of baskets to get Rice back into the game. The two sides traded blows for a few more minutes before Rice closed the half on an 8-0 run in the final 28 seconds, with Quincy Olivari leveling the score with a triple of his own at the buzzer.

More: Rice Basketball Season Preview

Rice would jump out in front by four on a three from Travis Evee shortly after the break, but the lead would be short-lived. Western Michigan rallied, this time stretching their advantage to nine points at the midpoint of the half. The Owls would lead again until the clock went under 3:00 and Olivari drained another three-ball to put the home team up by one.

From then, Travis Evee put on a clinic at the charity stripe, knocking down his free throws and sending Rice home with a win.

Player Spotlight | Travis Evee

Rice basketball had a few big performances that helped propel them to a win on Saturday, but it was the clutch shooting of Evee down the stretch that stole the show. He was 10-of-12 from the line on the afternoon, finishing a pristine 9-of-9 in the final three minutes, making it impossible for Western Michigan to mount a comeback. He just didn’t miss, including a three-pointer interspersed between the free throws to put the gam out of reach for good.

Final Box | Rice 96 – WMU 88

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball is two games into the Owl Invitational. They’ll finish on Monday against Houston Christian. After that, the Owls have another home game on deck, this time against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 30.

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Rice Basketball Roundup: MBB over GA Southern, WBB over Pacific

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

Rice Basketball

Rice basketball still has early season kinks to work through but got back in the win column on Friday with a hard-fought victory against Georgia Southern.

With defense still very much a work in progress, anything is possible. What might have been a comfortable home-court advantage for Rice basketball did not last on Friday night against Georgia Southern. The Owls watched an eight-point lead vanish in the moments before halftime, ceding a 9-0 run by the visitors to fall behind 48-47 at the break.

As the three-pointing shooting started to slow in the second half, Rice turned to Max Fiedler in the post. He was extremely effective, making his shots count and scoring all of his nine points in the second half. Rice retook the lead and stretched it to as many as 17 points, hanging on to win a wild one at home.

Final Box | Rice 88 – Georgia So. 71

Key takeaway | The shots will start falling

At some point, the shots were going to start falling. Off nights from the field are an unfortunate cost of doing business for a team that relies on the three-ball as much as Rice basketball does. That said, nights like Friday serve as a reminder that any night can be a good shooting night.

Rice hit seven of their first 10 three and 10-of-23 from distance for the evening. Their previous high in triples in a game this year had been 14 against St. Thomas. Their high for the entirety of last season was 15 against Houston Baptist. If that’s any indication, even better nights from distance are coming and a good (not quite great) night at the office was enough to get the win.

Up Next: vs Western Michigan – Saturday, Nov. 19 at 5:00 p.m.

Rice Women's Basketball

Rice women’s basketball kept their perfect start to the season rolling with another road win, this time over Pacific in a relatively comfortable fashion.

Not long after a double-digit road win over Saint Mary’s, Rice women’s basketball took to the court at Pacific a few days later and produced a similar result. The Owls jumped out to an early lead behind a strong defensive showing, holding Pacific to 25 percent shooting from the floor in the first quarter. That enabled Rice to amass a 10-point lead at the break.

It wouldn’t be easy, though. Rice held serve in the third quarter, but Pacific came alive in the final frame. They outscore the Owls 28-24 in the fourth, making 5-of-9 from deep, but it wouldn’t be enough. Rice would make the defensive stands they needed to and hit their free throws, moving to 4-0 on the season with the win.

Final Box | Rice 89 – Pacific 79

Key takeaway | The defense is coming

Following the Owls’ season-opening game against SFA, coach Edmonds mentioned she’d hoped for a better defensive showing, giving up 77 points was too much in her highest. The team responded by cutting their points against total to 69 (vs Abilene Christian), then to 64 (at St. Mary’s).

The Owls were trending that way after holding their foes to 34 points in the first half, but a second-half barrage pushed Pacific’s final total to 79 points, several points of which came in catch-up mode with the Owls shooting free throws.

That total was never going to continue to fall forever, but it’s pretty clear the message was received. The defense has been much better, particularly in key moments. And they’re probably not done improving that facet of their game just yet either.

Up Next: at Texas Southern – Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 2:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball soars past Saint Mary’s on the road

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It wasn’t quite wire-to-wire, but Rice women’s basketball started fast and maintained a comfortable lead in their road win over Saint Mary’s.

Despite the late tip-off, 10:oo p.m. Houston time, Rice women’s basketball showed up ready to play in Califonia against Saint Marys. The Gael’s won the 2022 WBI Tournament and were picked to finish fifth in the West Coast Conference this season. Rice was undeterred.

The Owls jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter, holding Saint Mary’s to 29.4 percent shooting from the field. Shelby Hayes created a mismatch in the interior, scoring eight points in the opening frame. When the defense collapsed to account for her, it opened up shooting lanes for Ashlee Austin and Kaitlyn Crostwait from deep.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

The lead quickly grew to double-digits, as Rice mixed in contributions from a host of different contributors. The Owls got points from nine different players in the first half alone, seeing their advantage grow to as many as 17 points.

The third quarter was more contentious. Saint Mary’s continued to chip away, taking the Rice lead down from double digits to as few as five points. Fortunately for the Owls, every time the Gaels went on a run, they had an answer. The five-point lead ballooned back to 15 early in the fourth quarter. Rice would knock down their free throws to ice the road win.

Player Spotlight | Kaitlyn Crosthwait

On a night when so many different players contributed in big moments, Crosthwait seemed to find herself involved in a good portion of them. She scored 11 points, knocking down three of the Owls’ five three-pointers. She also had six rebounds, playing a team-high 30 minutes.

Rice was able to get so many players into the game on Wednesday night, but that sort of widespread rotation is possible because the team has veteran players that can help direct traffic no matter who is on the court. Crosthwait’s play and direction made a difference in this one.

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball continues its four-game road trip in the coming days. They’ll take on Pacific on Friday before returning to Texas to play Texas Southern (Wed. Nov. 23) and Texas A&M (Sun. Nov. 27) before their next home game at the beginning of December against TCU.

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