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Rice Women’s Basketball holds on against LA Tech for first C-USA win

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Rice women’s basketball dug deep and found a way to win at home, holding on down the stretch to top Louisiana Tech for the Owls’ first C-USA win.

Seeking their first Conference USA win of head coach Lindsay Edmon’s tenure, Rice women’s basketball showed no signs of weariness following last week’s four-overtime loss at Charlotte. Even with their short bench, the time off looked to give the Owls enough time to capture their collective breath, rest and attack their next opponent with intensity, giving Louisiana Tech all they could handle for 40 minutes and walking away victorious.

“I’m just so happy for this team,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “We went through a lot. We’ve had adversity with injuries, with COVID, with low numbers. And with the four-overtime game this past weekend we could have easily came in here feeling ‘Woe is me, we’re 0-5’ and just not performed the way that we did. I am just so proud of their effort. I am so proud of them coming in tonight and competing the way they did and being rewarded for their efforts.”

As they’ve proven accustomed to in recent weeks, Rice started fast, making three of their first five shots on their way to an 11-4 lead. Louisiana Tech would battle back, tying the game up at 16 apiece by the time the first quarter ended. Things stayed close for the early portions of the second period until the Owls ripped off a 16-4 run. They’d double up the Lady Techster’s in the second quarter 24-12 on their way to a 12-point halftime advantage.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball comes up short in 4OT battle at Charlotte

Staked to a double-digit lead, Rice women’s basketball was now tasked with doing something they’d yet to do this year: close out a conference win. Both teams traded buckets in the third quarter, splitting points 18-18. Neither team hit more than two shots from the floor before the other answered. That brought both teams to the fourth quarter and Rice 10 minutes away from an important milestone.

Edmonds relayed this message to the team in those final minutes: “Basketball is a game of runs. There’s always going to be runs. You’re hoping that your the team that makes the most runs. I think LA Tech made a little bit of a run there and we needed to get stops,” she said. “That was basically what my message was: get stops.”

Things would get higher than Rice would have hoped for, but for every run, the Owls had a stop and an answer.  Louisiana Tech was able to get the game within four points before Malia Fisher hit a layup and Ashlee Austin drained a pair of free throws and a jumper to quell the rally. Louisiana Tech would get back within five in the final minute but Rice hit was sturdy enough from the charity stripe and was able to seal the win.

The milestone did not go noticed. “This team has been through a lot. We’ve faced a lot of adversity,” guard Ashlee Austin said after the game. “We really bounced back. Today we played as a team.”

Player Spotlight | Ashlee Austin

Austin led all players in scoring despite playing just 27 minutes, the fewest of any of the Owls’ five starters. Although she admitted to feeling the effects of the extended outing against Charlotte, she showed no signs of wear against Louisiana Tech. When the team needed to dig deep, she was there. She scored 27 points, added five rebounds had one assist and four blocks.

Stat Corner | Get to the stripe

Rice women’s basketball was far from perfect from the free throw line on Thursday night, but their aggressive to get themselves the extra shots paid off in a big way. Rice attempted 30 free throws to Louisiana Tech’s 16. The Owls would make 22 of those, providing them just enough of a cushion down the stretch to secure their first C-USA win of the season.

Final Box | Rice 72 – LA Tech 64

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball has one more home game left on the schedule this weekend before making their first three-game road trip of the season next week. They’ll start at UTSA on Thursday before venturing to UTEP for a Saturday contest. The Owls close the trip out with a game at North Texas the following Thursday.

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Rice Women’s Basketball comes up just short in 4OT game at Charlotte

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Rice women’s basketball came harrowingly close to their first C-USA victory season on Saturday, falling in quadruple overtime on the road at Charlotte.

From the moment the ball was tipped, Rice women’s basketball traded blows with Charlotte from Saturday afternoon into the early evening. The 49ers took an early advantage, leading 16-10 at the end of the first quarter. The shots didn’t seem to be falling for Rice at the start of the contest, but the team stayed composed, leaning on a strong defensive performance to erase the early deficit and go into halftime tied.

Charlotte shot 43.8 percent from the field in the first quarter. In the second Rice held the home team to just two field goals and six total points. Rice trailed for the majority of that time, leading by one point for 12 seconds before Charlotte knocked down a free throw in the final seconds before the halftime break.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball fizzles late, falls to Old Dominion

It was all Charlotte at the onset of the third quarter. The 49ers came out firing, jumping out to an 11-point lead thanks to a 16-6 run to start the second half. Rather than fold, the Owls dug deep and went on a 12-5 run of their own to put themselves in striking distance entering the fourth. From there, Rice closed the gap and Haylee Swayze gave Rice their first lead of the game on a jumper with 3:42 to go in the fourth quarter.

Charlotte would tie it up and send the game to overtime. Rice took the lead, then Charlotte hit a runner at the buzzer to force double overtime. Rice took the lead, then Charlotte hit a triple in the final seconds to force a third extra period. The Owls missed what would have been the game-winner at the close of the third overtime before Charlotte was able to wrestle the game away in the fourth and final overtime period.

Player Spotlight | Ashlee Austin

Ashlee Austin was one of the most productive scorers in Conference USA before the Owls almost month-long hiatus in late December. Before that break, Austin was averaging 18.1 points per game. In the four games following, she averaged 7.3 points per game. That’s part of what made her 30 point outburst on Saturday so impactful.

Austin was 10-0f-19 from the field, tallying 17 of those 30 points in regulation before a series of key buckets in overtime. In double overtime, it was Austin who put Rice ahead with less than two minutes to play. She added a pair of shots in the third overtime as the Owls traded blows with the 49ers. Finally, she rounded out her final box score with seven rebounds and two assists.

Stat Corner | Five

Five different Owls played more than 40 minutes to earn the win against Charlotte, that includes Destiny Jackson who fouled out of the game. Short benches mean more minutes for everyone, including a brief appearance from Savannah May, a student manager who was added to the roster on Friday the day before the game.

Stretching players that thin can’t be the recipe every outing, but with a five-day break looming and a real chance to earn the team’s first conference win of the year, everything was on the table. If recent weeks are any indication, the starting five are going to have to carry a heavy load the rest of the way.

Final Box | Charlotte 88 – Rice 83 (4 OT)

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball wrapped up their road trip on Saturday and will head home for a two-game stint next weekend. They’ll host Louisiana Tech on Thursday before playing Southern Miss on Saturday.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls fizzle in the fourth, fall to ODU

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Rice women’s basketball entered the fourth quarter in a tied game with Old Dominion, but the Owls couldn’t finish things off, falling to 0-4 in conference play.

It wasn’t quite deja-vu, but there was a familiar feel from the opening moments to the final whistle of the road tilt between Rice women’s basketball and Old Dominion on Thursday afternoon. Just as they had done in prior outings, Rice raced out to an early lead, reaching an eight-point advantage in the first three minutes and change of the first quarter.

And just has been the case in those previous games. the Owls watched their opponents claw back into the game. Old Dominion would cut their deficit to two points in the first quarter and get within one point in the final minute before halftime. In the third quarter, the Monarchs would take the lead for the very first time as both teams struggled from the field.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball ‘s early lead slips away vs Marshall

The tempo started to pick up at the back end of the third quarter. There were no lead changes in the first 25 minutes of regulation. There were three in the final five minutes of the third quarter with India Bellamy delivering the equalizing layup in the final seconds.

Turnovers proved to be the difference in the final quarter. Rice turned the ball over seven times to ODU’s three with both teams shooting 60 percent or better from the floor. Old Dominion edged Rice on the boards and got off a few more shots and that proved to be the difference. Rice falls to 0-4 in conference play with the loss.

Player Spotlight | India Bellamy

Bellamy scored a career-high 12 points against Old Dominion, adding four rebounds, three assists and three steals to her ledger along the way. She played 26-minutes, also a career-high, but one that could prove to be more sticky moving forward. Rice has relied much more on its thin bench in recent weeks and will have to continue doing so if they have any chance of being fresh in the fourth quarter. That means trusting players like Bellamy when they’re shooting the ball well and spreading the ball around to lighten the load.

Stat Corner | Figuring out the Fourth

At the beginning of the season, winning the third quarter was a major point of emphasis for the Owls. Head coach Lindsay Edmonds opened multiple postgame media sessions with a desire to improve as a team right out of the halftime break. For the most part, Rice has answered that call, particularly since their return from their long COVID-19 induced hiatus. Now it’s time for this team to take the next step.

“We’ve preached being better in the third [quarter] and I think that’s happened,” Edmonds said earlier in the week. “Now we’ve got to figure out how to be better sometimes in the second or the fourth.” Rice was outscored 29-19 in the fourth quarter on Thursday, losing the game by that same 10-point margin.

Final Box | ODU 69 – Rice 59

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball has one more game on their current road trip before they make the trek back to Houston. They play at Charlotte on Saturday. Once they make it back to Texas, they’ll host Louisiana Tech on Thursday and Southern Miss on Saturday.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Early lead slips away as Owls fall to Marshall

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Once again, Rice women’s basketball came out strong but couldn’t stay in step through four quarters, falling to Marshall at home.

Rice women’s basketball couldn’t have asked for a much better start at home against Marshall. The Owls hit five of their first six shots to take an 11-0 lead over the visiting Thundering Herd. The offense would cool off, but not by much. Rice shot 60.9 percent in the first half, weathering Marshall runs with more buckets of their own.

Once Marshall regained their footing toward the end of the second quarter the two teams traded small leads throughout the next frame. Destiny Jackson and India Bellamy delivered crucial baskets in the third quarter to keep Rice in the mix heading into the fourth.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball falls short at home vs WKU

The tight battle tilted away from Rice when the fourth quarter began. Marshall went on a 15-0 run to start the period. Rice made just one field goal in the 10-minute span, faltering down the stretch as the short bench and the second game in two days seemed to prove too much to overcome.

Player Spotlight |  Destiny Jackson

Jackson came up one rebound shy of what would have been her first career double-double. On a day when most Owls struggled from the field, Jackson connected on four of her five shots, adding two points from five free throws. She finished with a +9 plus/minus, the only player on the team to finish in the positive differential.

Stat Corner | Not locked in at the line

There are a myriad of external factors that have not fallen in the Owls’ favor this season. But the reality is those challenges — both expected and unforeseen — happen to some degree to every team in every season. That makes it all the more imperative for this team to control what they can control, and that starts with free throws.

Rice women’s basketball went 8-of-18 from the line against Marshall, leaving 10 points on the board. Five of those misses came in the second quarter when the Owls could have kept a double-digit lead but allowed the gap to close. Free throws won’t fix everything, but it’s a good place to start.

Final Box | Marshall 66 – Rice 53

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball goes back on the road after their brief two-game homestand. Next week they’ll play a set of games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls fall to WKU at home

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Playing in their first home game in almost a month, Rice women’s basketball fell at Tudor Fieldhouse to Western Kentucky.

For the second time since mid-December, Rice women’s basketball took the court in a regulation game. The Owls played one game last weekend — and even that contest was delayed — by a snowstorm, rather than COVID-19, at least. Back on their home court, the Owls squared off with Western Kentucky, one of two teams in Conference USA still unbeaten in conference play.

Like they did against Middle Tennessee last Friday, Rice came out firing in the first quarter. Rice jumped out to an 8-2 lead, with all the Owls points coming from the arms of Haylee Swayzee. From then on, both teams seemed to settle in.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball midseason State of the Program

A 15-15 first quarter gridlock turned into a 21-21 tie midway through the second quarter then a 29-29 stalemate in the final 90 seconds before the halftime buzzer. Things would turn south for the Owls shortly thereafter.

WKU came out of the break firing, outscoring Rice 7-1 to start the third quarter as they opened up an 11 point lead. Rice struggled from the field and committed six turnovers in the first six minutes of the quarter. “I think we did some good things and made some great runs,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said in the aftermath, “but then we did some a couple of silly things, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot and negate the run we just went on.”

The Owls would draw close on a few occasions in the fourth quarter, but wouldn’t tie it up again. Western Kentucky ran away with things late, turning what was a relatively close game into a one-sided affair in the final minutes.

Player Spotlight | Haylee Swayzee

It’s hard to believe, but the calendar is turning to mid-January and Haylee Swayzee, a team captain and one of the core pieces of this young team, played in her fourth game on Thursday against Western Kentucky.

“It’s great having her leadership out there, her ability to pull the team in in the huddle and remind them what we’re trying to do. I’m grateful to have her back,” Edmonds said.

Swayzee started strong but wasn’t able to add much to her point total down the stretch as her shots missed the mark. Still, she managed to tie for the team-leading in scoring with 14 points, adding four rebounds and two steals.

Stat Corner | Not all threes are created equal

Western Kentucky dominated Rice women’s basketball in transition from start to finish. Not only was their spacing on point, but they found the right shots to take. Western Kentucky shot 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from three, but not all of their threes looked the same.

On at least four occasions Westen Kentucky thundered down the court and found a three-point shooter unguarded by several paces who drained the wide-open shot. It’s a lot hard to make those kinds of shots with a hand in your face. In Edmonds’ own words, “Giving up wide open threes is not who we are or what we’re about.”

Final Box | WKU 78 – Rice 61

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball will have the quickest turnaround they’ve seen in some time ahead of them. The Owls are scheduled to be back on the court on Saturday against Marshall. They’ll hit the road next week for games against Old Dominion and Charlotte.

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