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Rice Women’s Basketball posts strong win over South Alabama

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Rice Women’s Basketball snagged the lead early and never let up, controlling their win over South Alabama from start to finish on Monday night.

South Alabama led for the briefest of moments at Tudor Fieldhouse on Monday night, edging in front of Rice women’s basketball in the early moments by a 7-6 score that wouldn’t last for much longer. Hailey Adams gave Rice the lead soon afterward on a layup and the Owls’ advantage would only grow from there.

Rice got the lead up to eight points at the end of the first quarter on a three from Aniah Alexis. Then in grew to 13 points on a free from Jazzy Owens-Barnett to close out the second frame. Staked to a double-digit lead, Rice doubled down, growing their advantage to as many as 19 points in the third quarter on a five-point spurt from Aniah Alexis.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

South Alabama’s late rally proved not enough. The Jaguars hit a pair of threes early in the fourth quarter to get the margin back to 10, but Rice had an immediate answer of their own. Victoria Flores hit a three then scored on a fastbreak layup on the next possession to restore a healthy margin. Flores, Adams and Shelby Hayes combined to score all 21 of the Owls’ points in the final period, slamming the door on South Alabama to secure a second consecutive Rice women’s basketball win.

What They’re Saying

“It’s great to stack back-to-back wins. I’m really proud of our team’s effort. I always think we are at our best when we have multiple in double figures. Tonight, we were able to get five in double figures. I feel like [Klaczek] really ignited us tonight and gave us that spark that we needed and that spark that she can provide and spark that she’s done for this team so many times. She started it, and everyone kind of followed suit. I was also very pleased with our defensive willpower. We put our foot down and forced 21 turnovers and had 11 steals, so that was very good for us. Overall, really happy with the win, stacking back-to-back wins, and ready for more.” – Rice Women’s Basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Final Box | Rice 76, South Alabama 58

Key takeaway | No Fuss

Building leads is nothing new for Rice women’s basketball. Under head coach Lindsay Edmonds te Owls have always been able to throw the first punch. It’s sustaining that advantage through four quarters that has been the next step this squad needs to take to go from good to great and achieve the lofty aspirations they’ve set on themselves for this season. Monday’s victory over South Alabama showcased just that.

It wasn’t a perfect finish — South Alabama did cut the lead in half — but when you’ve grown the margin to 19, there’s some room to absorb imperfections and still win comfortably. By the midpoint of the fourth quarter, this one was never in doubt and that’s exactly what Rice needed to get from this opening homestand, a comfortable win.

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Rice Women’s Basketball rallies late to top North Carolina A&T

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Rice Women’s Basketball rallied from a fourth quarter deficit to beat North Carolina A&T and secure the Owls’ first win of the 2024-2025 season.

Playing another game against a challenging non-conference opponent days removed from a one-score defeat, Rice women’s basketball was pushed to the wire once again. The Owls fell behind to North Carolina A&T early, struggling to score the ball effectively and losing the rebounding battle against the Aggies in the opening quarters of the game.

Rice never led in the first quarter and took their first edge early in the second frame on a three-pointer from freshman Aniah Alexis, who scored nine of her 12 points in that quarter. Her push kept the Owls in the game giving them a chance to work through some of their early season rust in real time,

“Aniah’s special. I’m so thankful she’s in a Rice jersey. The kid scored a thousand points in her senior year of high school. She knows how to score the ball. She’s not afraid of the moment,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said, “For a freshman only in the second game of her career to say she knows multiple positions and the willingness to play wherever I need her, that’s really special. Aniah’s going to do a lot of tremendous things here at her career at Rice. This is just the beginning.”

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

Unfortunately for the Owls, Alexis’ beginning would come to a premature end. She folded out in the fourth quarter on the tail end of what was a furious comeback from the home team. Rice trailed by eight but quickly cut the lead down to one score thanks in large part to a dominant showing by Sussy Ngulefac, who led the Owls with 19 points and 10 rebounds, including the winning layup in the final minute.

It was far from a perfect performance, but as Edmonds reminded after the game, “winning is hard.” The Owls will take every victory they can get.

Final Box | Rice 61, North Carolina A&T 60

What They’re Saying

“It feels good to get in the win column. In the Monday night game we played really good in the first three quarters and not our greatest in the fourth. Tonight, unfortunately, felt a little flipped. We didn’t play our greatest in the first three then we played really well in the fourth. We were able to make a run in the fourth and win the game. There’s definitely things that we can still clean up, but they showed some fight tonight, the unwillingness to let the game slip away from us. Proud of them for that.” – Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway |  Downtown doubts

Alexis was the only Owl to knock down multiple three-pointers on Thursday night, going 2-for-7 from deep. Rice women’s basketball attempted 21 threes and made just four, with one apiece from Dominique Ennis and Emily Klaczek. Obviously, the perimeter shooting won’t struggle to this extent every night, but it’s something that should be better than 19 percent given the presence the Owls expect on the interior with Ngulefac and Shelby Hayes.

Rice was one of the better three-point shooting teams in the conference last season and has several of its better shooters back on the roster. It will get better than this, but it’s somewhat surprising to see the bottom of the range be this tenuous given the advantageous positions they should be able to create with this offense.

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Rice Women’s Basketball drops opener to South Dakota State

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Rice Women’s Basketball built an early lead but couldn’t close things out, falling to South Dakota State in their home opener.

The depth of the 2024-2025 Rice women’s basketball roster has been a talking point for months. Even without graduated point guard Destiny Jackson, who was in attendance Monday to participate in the pre-game ring ceremony and AAC Championship banner unveiling, and Malia Fisher, who was held out for health reasons, the Owls seemed unflappable in the early goings.

Dominique Ennis paced the team in scoring, delivering a pair of early three-pointers as Rice fought for an early lead. The first test would come when Sussy Ngulefac picked up an early foul, leaving the game a few minutes later and kicking off that ballyhooed deep rotation.

With Ngulefac on the bench, Victoria Flores and Aniah Alexis made their Rice debuts. Shelby Hayes came through with six first half boards, leading all players. When Ngulefac returned the Owls’ lead had grown to seven.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball 2024-2025 Season Preview

Ngulefac made her presence felt in earnest at the start of the third quarter, scoring five of the Owls’ first seven points to give Rice its first double-digit lead. A dominant edge on the boards at that point put the home team in position for a resume-boosting win, but when the fourth quarter arrived, so too did a boisterous South Dakota State comeback.

After being held to no more than 15 points in each of the first three frames the Jackrabbits exploded for 26 points in the fourth, erasing a 13-point Rice advantage. South Dakota State took its first lead since the opening quarter with less than two to go in regulation. A hurried last-second shot was off the mark as the Owls saw their first game slip away.

“We didn’t hit shots early on in the fourth quarter and it snowballed into our defensive intensity,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “When we’re hitting shots, we defend really, really, really well. And when we’re not hitting shots, we’re thinking about the shots that we didn’t hit.”

Those shots they didn’t hit cost the Owls a big non-conference win. Shorthanded or not, this a problem Rice women’s basketball has to figure out if they’re going to have the sort of season they’re expecting on South Main.

Final Box | South Dakota State 65 – Rice 63

What They’re Saying

Key takeaway | One-two punch

As successful as last season was for Rice Women’s Basketball, it was far from a smooth ride. The Owls had to make their run through the AAC Tournament as a double-digit seed, partly because they were seemingly hardly ever at full strength. Ngulefac missed the early portions of the season with injuries, coming into her own down the stretch when the team needed her most.

Ngulefac’s emergence was essential because it coincided with Hayes’ injury, which ended her season prematurely. Ngulefac played 19 of the Owls’ 34 games. Hayes played 18. Getting both on the court in the same game was a rarity. Those in attendance at Tudor Fieldhouse on Monday night saw how impactful that tandem can be when operating at their respective peaks.

“I feel like Sussy and Shelby showed up in a big way tonight and won that battle,” Edmonds said. “One came in and did their job and the next one came in and did their job. They did a really good job together being a one-two punch. That was good to see.”

Hayes and Ngulefac each reached double figures, combining for 23 points and 12 rebounds.

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2024-2025 Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

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Expectations are high for the 2024-2025 Rice women’s basketball season following an NCAA Tournament appearance under now fourth-year head coach Lindsay Edmonds.

Rice women’s basketball has hit its stride under Lindsay Edmonds, raising the bar in each successive season with her at the helm of the program, culminating in an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. That taste has everyone on the roster — which returns the vast majority of its key players, sans one — eager for an encore this coming season.

“This is the most veteran, the most mature team that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Edmonds said. With that experience comes a different level of urgency and an even greater sense of purpose. “We’re going faster and the expectations are just higher,” Edmonds declared.

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Rice Basketball Preseason Conference Polls Released

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Preseason polls for both the Rice Basketball men’s and women’s teams were released on Friday with very different projections for the Owls’ two squads.

Rice Men’s Basketball was picked to finish 13th in the AAC in their first year under head coach Rob Lanier. Rice women’s basketball were tabbed to finish second in a tie with North Texas following a Conference Championship Title and NCAA appearance by head coach Lindsay Edmonds. Senior forward Malia Fisher was named a first-team all conference selection.

Both polls and all-conference selections are as follows:

2024-25 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll and Honors

1. South Florida (8) 135
2. North Texas (3) 124
Rice (2) 124
4. Tulsa 98
5. UTSA 96
6. East Carolina 91
7. Memphis 84
8. Temple 78
9. UAB 55
10. Tulane 40
11. Charlotte 38
12. Wichita State 32
13. Florida Atlantic 19

Preseason Players of the Year

Tommisha Lampkin, Gr., F, North Texas

Romi Levy, R-Sr., F, South Florida

Preseason All-Conference First Team

Tommisha Lampkin, Gr., F, North Texas

Malia Fisher, Sr., F, Rice

Romi Levy, R-Sr., F, South Florida

Jordyn Jenkins, R-Sr., F, UTSA

Delanie Crawford, Sr., G, Tulsa

Preseason All-Conference Second Team

Amiya Joyner, Jr., F, East Carolina

Vittoria Blasigh, So., G, South Florida

Mama Dembele, Gr., G, South Florida

Tiarra East, Sr., G, Temple

Kyren Whittington, R-Sr., G, Tulane

2024-25 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll and Honors

1. UAB (9) 141
2. Memphis (4) 136
3. South Florida 108
4. Wichita State 102
5. Florida Atlantic 97
6. Temple 86
7. North Texas 83
8. Charlotte 65
9. East Carolina 63
10. Tulsa 44
11. UTSA 35
Tulane 35
13. Rice 18

Preseason Player of the Year

Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB

Preseason Freshman of the Year

Jared Harris, G, Memphis

Preseason All-Conference First Team

Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB*

RJ Felton, Sr., G, East Carolina

PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis

Tyrese Hunter, Sr., G, Memphis

Jamal Mashburn Jr., Gr., G, Temple

Preseason All-Conference Second Team

Efrem ‘Butta’ Johnson, Jr., G, UAB

Alejandro Vasquez, Sr., G, UAB

KyKy Tandy, Gr., G, Florida Atlantic

Colby Rogers, R-Sr., G, Memphis

Jayden Reid, So., G, South Florida

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