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Rice Women’s Basketball surges past UAB at AAC Tournament

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Rice Women’s Basketball finished off an early lead with a dominant fourth quarter run to extend their season and defeat UAB in the American Conference Tournament.

UAB got out of the gates in a hurry in the first game of a full four-game Sunday slate at Dickies Arena, the hosting venue for the bulk of the 2025 American Conference Tournament. The eight-seed Blazers took a 10-3 over Rice Women’s Basketball as the Owls struggled to get their shots to fall in the opening minutes of the contest.

Rice would close the quarter on a 7-0 run to bring the score even at 15 apiece before building themselves a modest lead at halftime, furthered by a buzzer-beating three from Malia Fisher as the clock expired before the break. Fisher’s three put Rice up by eight and while UAB would inch closer in the third quarter, Rice was able to maintain a healthy lead and enter the final frame up by nine.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

UTSA scored the first four points in the fourth quarter to get back within five but that was the moment Rice women’s basketball seized control and never looked back. Rice scored 12 unanswered points, turning a close game into a relatively comfortable win to survive an advance to the next round of the American Conference Tournament.

Final Box | Rice 76, UAB 63

What They’re Saying

I’m just incredibly proud of our group. Grateful for the opportunity to compete in the Conference Tournament. Grateful to get the first win. I thought we had a very well balanced attack and it was everything that we needed to make sure that we get this first win. – Rice women’s Basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Finding that fourth quarter fight

Closing out games has been the Achilles heel for Rice women’s basketball this season. So many fourth quarter leads have evaporated in the matter of minutes dropping the Owls down the standings all the way to the No. 9 seed.

There was a moment on Sunday afternoon when it felt like that nagging pain would resurface for one final, fateful time. UAB opened the fourth quarter on a quick 4-0 run, cutting a nine-point deficit down to five to get back within striking distance with a full quarter remaining.

Rather than fold, Rice rallied. The Owls rattled off 12 unanswered points, catapulting themselves to a 17-point lead, their largest of the game. That furious rally is what this team has been missing all too often this season. If they can showcase that fight just a few more times they’ll have a real chance to keep their season alive a few more days and replicate last year’s historic run.

“We start the year saying that are season is three seasons, non-conference, conference and then the conference tournament is our third season. It was 0-0 before today, the wins and the losses didn’t matter. We wanted to come out and be the best team that we could be today and get the first win. We talked about last year. We talked about the run that we had,” Edmonds said.

“Last year was incredible and we want to feel that again, but nobody is going to hand it to us. We got to make sure that we go and take it every single day. We need to be hungry for the wins that we need here.”

The task doesn’t get any easier, though. Rice draws No. 1 Seed UTSA in their next game. The Roadrunners edged the Owls’ 57-55 a few weeks ago on Senior Day.

Up Next: AAC Tournament (vs 1-Seed UTSA | Monday, March 10 at 12:00 PM CT)

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2025 AAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Preview

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The 2025 AAC Women’s Basketball Tournament is slated to tip off in DFW this week. Here’s a preview of the action.

The Favorite: UTSA

Sitting at 26-3 overall and a staggering 17-1 in conference play, UTSA hasn’t lost a game since January and their only loss in the state of Texas, where the 2025 AAC Tournament will be played, came in their opening game at Texas A&M. With no guarantees the Roadrunners will receive an at-large bid, this team should be plenty motivated to finish what they started and a tournament championship to their regular season title.

The Contenders: North Texas, South Florida

South Florida has been to the NCAA Tournament three times in the last four years and was the only AAC squad to beat UTSA in the regular season. As for North Texas, the Mean Green tied their own program record this season with 23 victories. Either might be a front runner in a typical season and each is perfectly capable of taking home the title this year.

The Dark Horse: Tulsa

Winners of the regular season championship a year ago, Tulsa finished fifth in the standings this time around but is playing their best basketball right now. The Golden Hurricane have won their last five games, including a victory over South Florida at home. If there’s a good bet outside of the upper tier of the standings, Tulsa is the pick.

The Wild Card: Rice

It was only a season ago that 10-Seed Rice ripped off four straight victories in this tournament to punch a their ticket to the Big Dance. This year’s squad has faced similar regular season struggles, but retains the core pieces like Malia Fisher, Dominque Ennis and Sussy Ngulefac who made last season’s run possible. Can lightning strike twice?

The Bracket

The opening play-in game will take place on Saturday, March 8, with first full day of action set for Sunday, March 9. Here is the slate for the first two days. 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 8 (Super Pit in Denton, TX)

Game 1: No. 13 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 12 Charlotte – 12 p.m. CT

Second Round | Sunday, March 9 (Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX)

Game 2: No. 9 Rice vs. No. 8 UAB – 12 p.m. CT
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 Tulsa – 2 p.m. CT
Game 4: No. 10 Memphis vs. No. 7 East Carolina – 6 p.m. CT
Game 5: No. 11 Wichita State vs. No. 6 Tulane – 8 p.m. CT

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Rice Women’s Basketball drops home finale to North Texas

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Rice Women’s Basketball rallied from a large deficit in the first half but couldn’t replicate the feat in the second half, falling to North Texas at home.

Rice women’s basketball may not have had a worse first quarter against a conference opponent this season than they experienced on Tuesday night against North Texas. The Owls were outscored 14-0 before they got on the board, barely clawing back to a 10-point deficit before the end of the frame.

The second quarter was an entirely different story. Rice came out the aggressor, scoring 15 of the first 18 points to take a two-point lead over the Mean Green and make this game interesting once more. North Texas would counterpunch, ending the half on a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead into the break.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

North Texas would hold serve in the second half, keeping Rice women’s basketball at arm’s length and answering every volley with one of their own. Rice made consecutive field goals just once in the third quarter before unraveling in earnest in the fourth.

After a layup from Sussy Ngulefac opened the scoring, North Texas outscored Rice 10-2 in the next four minutes, turning a comfortable lead into a one-sided advantage with haste. Rice women’s basketball falls to 14-16 on the season and 7-11 in conference play.

Final Box | North Texas 68, Rice 56

Key takeaway | Can Lightning Strike Twice?

If things hold, Rice women’s basketball should be the No. 8 seed in the American Conference Tournament this weekend, a far cry from where this squad expected to be. However, this program proved a season ago that an up-and-down regular season could be pushed aside in March in favor of an electric run to a tournament championship.

Rice didn’t want to bank on another miracle to reach a second consecutive NCAA Tournament, but that’s what the Owls will need to reach those lofty goals. For better or worse, it’s a series of one-game seasons from this point onward with an eye on the horizon looking for another bolt of inspiration.

Up Next: AAC Tournament

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Rice Women’s Basketball overwhelmed in second half by Temple

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Rice Women’s Basketball led at halftime but couldn’t keep up the pace, falling by double-digits on the road at Temple on Friday.

Temple hit the first few shots, but it was Rice women’s basketball that set the tempo on Friday night in Philadelphia. After falling behind 5-0 in the first quarter, the Rice rallied to take the lead four minutes later and quickly surged ahead on the aggressive offensive play of Aniah Alexis, who paced both teams with a game-high 12 first quarter points.

Rice maintained a multiple-possession lead through the second quarter but never grew their advantage to double digits. Temple just wouldn’t go away, eventually pulling even again midway through the third quarter on a 9-2 run that brought the score to a deadlock at 42 points apiece. That’s when the momentum began to swing in favor of the hometown Owls in earnest.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

After leading for the better portion of two quarters, Rice found itself trailing at the onset of the fourth quarter, falling even further behind when Temple opened the period with six straight points to go in front by 10, the largest lead be either side at that point in the contest. The onslaught wouldn’t stop there.

Interrupted by one layup from Trinity Gooden, Temple went on a fresh 9-0 run, ballooning the lead to 17 points and putting the game on ice before stretching their advantage to as many as 22 points. After controlling much of the early moments of this game, Rice would be outscored 50-25 in the second half, falling to 7-10 in AAC play and 14-15 overall.

Final Box | Temple 83, Rice 63

Key takeaway | Battle on the boards

One statistic doesn’t often tell the full story, but the Owls’ second half slump coincided quite clearly with a shift in their success rebounding, or lack thereof. For all their struggles this season, Rice had out-rebounded their opponents in 14 of their 16 conference games to date. That level of consistency appeared to be on track after the first half with Rice winning the rebounding battle 25 to 19 at halftime.

The second half was an entirely different story, though. Temple outrebounded Rice 17-11 in the second half and instead of losing this fight rather handily as the first half had suggested, actually matched Rice on the boards, 36 to 36. That changed the entire complexion of the game, disrupting the Owls’ offensive flow and thwarting any chance of a second half comeback.

Rice women’s’ basketball is 3-6 this season when losing the rebounding battle.

Up Next: vs North Texas (Tues, 3/4)

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Rice Women’s Basketball blazes past UAB

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Rice Women’s Basketball caught fire in the second quarter and ran away with a dominant home victory over the UAB Blazers.

Had it not been for a handful of pesky three-pointers from UAB, Rice women’s basketball might have run away with things in the opening quarter on Tuesday night. The Owls were held to a modest two-point advantage after one, a lead that grew quickly when the long range shot died up for the Blazers in the ensuing quarter.

Rice outscored UAB by an astounding margin of 22-5 in the next 10 minutes, taking a 19-point edge into halftime, firmly in control of the contest. Led by a game-high nine points from Victoria Flores, the Owls would only need to hold the line after the break if they wanted to secure a much-needed conference win.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

UAB refused to make it easy. The Blazers opened the second half on an 11-2 run, cutting the Owls’ lead to 10 points but the sprint would stop there. Rice responded with a 13-2 run of their own, capped by a pair of threes from Flores to catapult the Owls to a 20-point lead, their largest of the game to that point.

“Everybody was locked in,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said, praising her team’s defensive effort to hold UAB to just four threes as well as a commanding 62-27 margin on the boards.

The big lead would prove enough wiggle room to afford Rice women’s basketball a chance to exhale and play loose in the final quarter. They’d go ahead by as many as 30 before closing out a comfortable home win, their second home conference victory by 20+ points in the past three games.

Final Box | Rice 73, UAB 48

Key takeaway | Vic-torious

Few athletes on South Main had bigger shoes to fill than Victoria Flores this season. Taking over the point guard start from Destiny Jackson was a huge responsibility for a younger player who didn’t have the same on-court success as a fixture within the program like Jackson.

Even still, the growth Flores demonstrated as the season progressed was unmistakable and the link between her progress and the Owls’ success was crystal clear. Flores scored 23 points against UAB, her 11th game this season reaching double-digits. Rice women’s basketball is 10-1 when she scores at least 10.

To put that in perspective, Rice is 7-11 when Dominique Ennis scores at least 10 and 5-7 when Malia Fisher reaches double-digits. Both of those players are crucial pieces to framework of this team, but Flores’ opens up the offense and changes the complexion of this squad when she’s at her best.

Rice will need all of its stars if it wants to replicate its late-season tournament run of a year ago. Flores has done enough to warrant inclusion in that company.

Up Next: at Temple (Fri, 2/28)

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