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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls’ stocked with young talent

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Rice women’s basketball has a core of young players ready to make another run at a Conference USA title. The Owls’ five freshmen are the foundation for the Owls’ future.

It’s going to be surreal watching Rice Women’s Basketball take the court in the fall without Erica Ogwumike. The Owls’ leader on and off the court saw her college career come to a premature end before becoming a WNBA draft selection this spring. Rice will be tasked with fielding a starting five without her in the lineup.

As impossible as Ogwumike will be to replace, it won’t be an unprecedented task. She missed two conference games this past spring with injuries. Rice won both games, defeating Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss at home, each by double digits. Haylee Swayze got the start in the first game in place of Ogwumike. Destiny Jackson started the second.

If the average fan lost track of who was subbing in and out from the bench in the middle of conference play, head coach Tina Langley was well aware.

Jackson was one of five freshmen on the Rice roster. She and Lauren Schwartz were the only two to start at least one game. Schwartz was one of three players to start every game, averaging 9.6 points per game, third best on the team. All five — including India Bellamy, Ashlee Austin and Katelyn Crosthwait — played in more than half of the Owls’ games. Simply put, the Rice freshman made their mark.

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Bellamy led the team with a 45.5 percent success rate from three (5 of 11) and made all five of her free throws she attempted. Austin averaged one rebound every 4.5 minutes on the court, second only to Ogwumike. Crosthwait came up huge with a career-best 11 points in the regular-season finale, helping Rice clinch the conference title with a win over Old Dominion.

“I think where I’m proud of them is that all five of them contributed significantly,” Langley said, “It’s amazing to have such incredible young people coming into our program.”

Building that depth and giving them experience en route to back-to-back conference championships was, in many ways, the perfect scenario. Langley can trust each of them to step into bigger roles next season without missing a beat. And that’s what makes the outlook of this team so bright despite the loss of Ogwumike. Rice women’s basketball has so many players ready and able to contribute now.

“If you looked at our starting lineup from last season, we looked a little strange positionally at times,” Langley admitted,
“But we put a great group out there that could do a lot of different things well.” That’s the recipe for another run at a conference title in the fall. And as young as the Owls’ are, they might not be slowing down any time soon.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Tina Langley’s program continues to climb

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Rice women’s basketball has soared to new heights under head coach Tina Langley. With her at the helm, the future remains bright for the Owls’ program

Tina Langley brought a championship-caliber resume with her when she was hired to be the next head coach for Rice Women’s Basketball. She had a Final Four appearance as an assistant at Maryland under her belt and a vision of what she wanted Rice to become. Five years later, the Owls are right on course.

The Owls’ haven’t made it to the Final Four yet, but each successive season has brought with it validation that Langley knows the way. After one year to get her feet under her, Rice won the WBI Championship in her second season. That was the first postseason title in program history. Rice made the WNIT in Year 3 and the NCAA Tournament in Year 4. The Owls’ were on track to repeat with another ticket to the Big Dance when the season was canceled.

Even without a clear resolution, the results of Langley’s teams speak for themselves. In the past two seasons, Rice is 49-12, a .803 winning percentage). They’ve won 32 of 34 conference games, including a Conference USA record 30 consecutive conference victories.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Getting to this point wouldn’t have been possible without establishing a strong culture. “One of the neat things about this team is how selfless they all are,” Langley said, “I think that’s what will continue to push us forward.”

Those players responded well when lineups shifted from night to night with injuries. All five Rice freshman played meaningful minutes. They responded well to their first conference loss in more than a year, rallying to win the conference title on their home court. From top to bottom, everyone seemed to understand the expectations and they knew how to carry them out.

“That’s what sets the standard for a great program. We have to be ready to answer the call,” Langely said, in a simple, yet knowing way. Success isn’t so easy. But Langley has found a way to unify her program in such a way that the wins seem to fall into place.

Langely signed a new five-year extension following the 2019-2020 season, keeping her at South Main through 2024. At this point, Langley has done enough to stay at Rice for as long as she would like.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls are still built to win now

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Rice Women’s basketball is coming off a string of successful seasons, but the Owls have no intention of slowing down now. The future remains bright on South Main.

Winners of back-to-back Conference USA titles, Rice Women’s Basketball has no plans to slow down any time soon. Head coach Tina Langley has turned Rice into a power within its conference with eyes on bigger and better things. Even without star guard Erica Ogwumike, head coach Tina Langley can list endless reasons she believes in the returning roster.

From the top, there’s Nancy Mulkey, described by Langley herself as “one of the best centers in the country.” Jasmine Smith has been a starter since she arrived on campus. Langely called Synde Wiggins a “lethal shooter”, deservedly so after the junior finished Top-5 in Conference USA with her .358 three-point percentage. And then there’s a host of talented depth pieces and the surging freshman class.

On paper, this is going to be a very good basketball team. In practice, Langley has proven she can press the right buttons when the games matter most. Rice Women’s basketball has lost one game in the month of March in the past two seasons. That came in heartbreaking fashion in the NCAA Tournament. When that’s the only blemish on your March resume, things are trending in the right direction.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Beyond the hedges, the Owls’ chief competitor has challenges of their own. Old Dominion knocked off the Owls in Virginia last season, snapping their 30-game conference winning streak. Following the season the Monarchs lost head coach Nikki McCray to Mississippi State. They’ll be breaking in new head coach next season. Western Kentucky, who tied for second with Old Dominion last season, will replace several upperclassmen starters.

Nothing will be handed to Rice next season. If the past two years are any indication, there could be some growing pains as the Owls work out the kinks before conference play begins. But when it comes to matching the coaching and the talent Rice possesses, it’s hard to make a case the Owls won’t be in the mix for another conference title next spring.

Coming soon...
For a limited time only, we will be giving away a copy of the 2020 Rice Football season preview FOR FREE to all Patreon subscribers who join our Starting Lineup tier or higher. The Preview will be released to the general public on July 7.  Patrons get access on July 1.
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Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Lauren Schwartz shines in debut season

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Lauren Schwartz left her mark during her freshman season with Rice Women’s Basketball. Her career at South Main is only getting started.

The departure of senior Nicole Iademarco following the 2018-2019 season left an opening in the Rice Women’s Basketball starting lineup. The Owls were returning several role players who would be candidates to fill the final spot, but head coach Tina Langely opted for a new face over a familiar one.

Lauren Schwartz, a freshman from Union, Kentucky started the Owls’ opening game against Nicholls St. She earned a second start that same week against Arkansas-Little Rock. From that point onward, the job was hers. She became one of three players on the roster to start every game for Rice this past season.

Langley noticed Schwartz had the potential to be special from the start. “She has the little characteristics that can help someone be great,” she said. “The grit that you need and just the relentlessness that she shows on the court.”

Schwartz was third on the team in scoring (9.6 points per game) and third in rebounds (116). Eventual WNBA Draft selection Erica Ogwumike and center Nancy Mulkey were the only players who topped Schwartz in either statistic. For a freshman playing among some of the best to ever wear Rice uniforms, the game never looked too big.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

There was a learning curve as she adjusted to the college game, but she navigated those challenges well. She became more consistent as the year progress. Schwartz finished with double-digit points in six of her final seven games after tallying nine double-digit outings in her first 22 games. Even on nights when she struggled to find her shot, she found ways to make an impact.

“She’s driven in a way that you don’t teach, she has that internally,” Langely declared. “I think that’s going to help her continue to grow at a really fast rate and have a lot of success.”

Translation: For Lauren Schwartz, the best is yet to come.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: ’19-’20 season a reminder there are no sure things

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Rice women’s basketball head coach Tina Langley has come to terms with the team’s truncated season. For here, there’s more to success than wins alone.

Fans were disappointed when the final buzzer sounded in Reed Arena and Rice women’s basketball was eliminated from the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Erica Ogwumike, Nancy Mulkey and a core group of young players had fallen just short of upsetting Marquette in College Station.

The Owls had come close to keeping their tremendous season alive, but all was not lost. Rice would return almost the entire unit next year. Surely, Rice would get another chance at an NCAA Tournament win. It just wouldn’t come as soon as many had hoped.

Months later, Ogwumike and Co. walked onto the court in Frisco, TX to play their first game of the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls were favorites to win the game and the tournament. That would secure another trip to the Big Dance. But minutes before tip the game was called off and the tournament was canceled. With 48 hours the NCAA Tournament had been canceled too and any that second chance at an NCAA win with this group went up in smoke.

In the weeks and months that followed the NCAA would opt not to grant additional eligibility to basketball students who’s seasoned’ were shortened. Ogwumike would hear her name called in the WNBA draft. Life would move on.

In the aftermath, Rice women’s basketball head coach Tina Langley found comfort in another kind of success, one that she said carries just as much weight as championships.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

“We’ve never been a program that really evaluated ourselves based on winning and losing or whether we won a championship or not. It’s just did we become the best team that we could possibly become?” she asked before going on to answer her own question. “I’m just really proud of who we became.”

And perhaps that is the best way to evaluate a season without a true ending. Rice started slow, and saw a 30-game conference winning streak snapped midseason. They rebounded, winning their final five games. Although they didn’t know it at the time, the season would end with a home win over Old Dominion. That victory — weeks after the Monarchs had snapped the Owls streal — solidified the Owls as back-to-back outright champions. Like every coach hopes, they were playing their best basketball at the end of the season.

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