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Malia Fisher’s big day propels Rice Women’s Basketball past Marshall

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Rice Women’s Basketball won its first Conference USA Tournament game on Wednesday, soaring past Marshall thanks to Malia Fisher’s big day.

Earlier this season, Rice women’s basketball head coach Lindsay Edmonds had talked about the importance of winning the third quarter. That need had progressed to winning the fourth quarter as the Owls struggled to close games out at the start of conference play.

On Wednesday morning in their opening game of the Conference USA Tournament, Rice won the second quarter, and they did so with such an emphatic blow it set the tone for the remainder of the contest, one in which they would go on to score 80 points, a Rice women’s Basketball Conference USA Tournament record.

The Owls took a three-point lead out of the first quarter and opened with an 8-0 run to kick off the second period. It was the Owls’ defense though, combined with a voracious desire to attack the basket, that left the most resounding mark. Marshall would make just two field goals in the second quarter, shooting a meager 11.1 percent from the field. Conversely, Rice went to the line 12 times in the frame and knocked down all 12 shots.

Last Time Out: Rice Women’s Basketball rains down threes, beats UTSA

Leading 38 to 25 at halftime, all Rice had to do was buckle down and hold the line. That’s exactly what they did. Marshall would get their deficit back within single digits on a few occasions early in the third quarter, but from the moment Maya Bokenewicz drained her second three-pointer of the day with 6:17 to play in the third, it was a runaway win for the Owls.

“We’re definitely playing our best basketball,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds remarked. “The proof is in our record. We’re clicking.”

Rice would extend their lead to as many as 18, maintaining at least a 14 point advantage for the duration of the fourth quarter. Marshall never got within striking distance and the Owls were able to coast down the stretch to their first win of the tournament.

Player Spotlight | Malia Fisher

With Ashlee Austin sidelined with foul trouble, Rice women’s basketball was going to need someone to help shoulder the load. Malia Fisher answered the call with one of the most spectacular outings of her young career. Days removed from being named to the All-Conference team, Malia Fisher put on a rebounding clinic in Frisco, TX.

Fisher ended the game with 16 rebounds, nearly tying her career-best 18-rebound game against FIU just a few short weeks ago. She also added 17 points.

“I wasn’t aware of [having a double-double] until I came out in the last couple minutes until I came out,” Fisher said. “You just go out there and play. I’m not really worried about the numbers. A win is a win.”

Coach Edmonds was elated to see Fisher’s success but stressed this was just the beginning of the freshmen’s abilities. “Her ceiling is extremely high. We’re tapping into that, but we’re not even close. The future is very, very bright for Malia,” Edmonds said. “She’s an unbelievable young lade. I’m glad she’s wearing that uniform.”

Stat Corner | Free throws and free points

Rice did a lot of things well against Marshall, but their dominance at the free throw line might have been the most impactful differentiator. The Owls hit 25-of-27 free throws (92.6 percent). Marshall attempted just 15, but made a woeful eight of those attempts (53.3 percent).

While the Herd handed away points at the stripe, Rice stockpiled them. It would have been enough to give Rice the win in a close game. As well as they played on Wednesday, it was enough to comfortably send them to the second round.

Final Box | Rice 80 – Marshall 62

Up Next | Full Schedule

With the win, Rice women’s basketball advances to the third round of the Conference USA Tournament where they’ll face Charlotte, the No. 1 seed in the East. The Owls and 49ers played a 4 OT thriller in the regular season with the 49ers coming out on top in that contest.

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Rice Baseball drops first Silver Glove matchup vs Houston

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Shaky defense soured a productive evening for the Rice baseball offense as the Owls fell to Houston in Game 1 of the Silver Glove Series.

The recent string of strange, painful games accumulated by Rice baseball this season continued on Tuesday night. Amidst a backdrop of errors and missed opportunities, Parker Smith delivered a strong performance, eventually be saddled with five runs, although only three were earned.

The drama began on what should have been a routine fly-ball hit to left fielder Jack Ben-Shoshan in the first inning. Instead of out number two, the ball bounced off his glove and put two runners in scoring position. Both would come in to score, spotting the visiting Cougars to a 2-0 lead.

Last Time Out : Takeaways from Rice Baseball 3-1 series loss to Harvard

Rice would leave the bases loaded in the second before loading them once more in the third inning, despite not tallying any hits. Aaron Smigelski would take care of that evasive base knock, delivering a two-run double to spot Rice to a 3-2 lead. That advantage would last mere minutes before Houston found the equalizer in the fourth when a would-be base stealer would score from second on a pair of errors.

Soon after, Rice found themselves trailing 5-3 and began to chip away. Rice scored would engineer runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, tying things up with Houston 6-6 after the Owls allowed another unearned run following another outfield mishap.

On the mound, Garrett Zaskoda was extremely effective after taking the reigns from Cooper Chandler in his first relief appearance of the season. Zaskoda tied a career-high with four strikeouts, giving the team a fighting chance in the middle innings which they’d hold until an RBI double scored the winning runs against Zaskoda’s replacement, Brandon Deskins, in the eighth.

What they’re saying | Fix the fielding

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. was quick to praise the strong outings on the mound, giving nods to several individuals including Chandler, who essentially threw his midweek bullpen session in the game. The critical comments came when addressing the fielding woes. “I don’t know how you can possibly have five errors and win a game,” he said. “That’s just something that we’re going to have to fix. The amount of errors we’ve had in so many games is just unacceptable.”

Cruz Jr. went as far as to say he’d consider moving players to the bench if they couldn’t hold on to the baseball. At this point, everything is on the table as he and the rest of the coaching staff work to assemble the best starting lineup to win games.

“We had three errors in the outfield today and that’s crazy town. I mean, that doesn’t happen,” Cruz Jr. said. Indeed, it hasn’t happened for Rice baseball since an eight error game against Arizona in 2019, spread across a host of different position players.

What it means | Offense waking up?

Seven runs against anyone is a particularly important milestone for a team that’s struggled at the plate early this season. Tuesday was proof the Owls can get the bats going. Now they just need to do it consistently.

They might start working on a bust of Aaron Smigeliski to keep in the Rice baseball dugout. After pinch hits in his first two appearances of the season, Smigelski earned his spot in the regular lineup where he stayed until being hit by a pitch in the Sunday finale against Lamar. That injury kept him out of the lineup against Baylor and through the weekend series against Harvard.

He made his return to the order on Tuesday, walking in his first plate appearance to earn an eight-game on-base streak. He one-upped that accolade in his second plate appearance, blasting a double to the alley in right-center, turning a 2-1 Rice deficit into a 3-2 Rice lead. It was the Owls’ only hit of the first three innings, but it was the biggest. He also added a productive out to advance a runner in the seventh.

At a time when the bats around him were struggling, Smigelski made every trip to the plate count, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. In all seriousness, it’ll take more than a good couple of weeks to earn some tangible hardware. But in a season filled with lows for Rice baseball, Smigelski has been a bright light.

Jack Riedel also earned a mention. Despite not starting the game and coming in as a defensive replacement in the fourth inning he finished a triple short of the cycle, mashing his first career home run along the way.

ON DECK | Texas Tech

The extended Rice baseball homestand marches on this coming weekend with a three-game set against Texas Tech. First pitch for Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. The series will be the Owls’ final non-conference weekend slate before opening up conference play the following weekend against UAB.

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Rice Football to hire CJ Anderson as running backs coach

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All signs point to Rice football naming former Super Bowl 50 champion and All-Pro rusher CJ Anderson as its next running backs coach.

Just days away from the start of spring practice, Rice football will have a new face to introduce among its coaching ranks. Former NFL running back CJ Anderson has announced he will be joining the Owls’ staff as the running backs coach.

Anderson spent last season as the head coach at Monte Vista High School in California where his team went 7-3. MVHS won its first seven games of the season after gaining winless during the previous spring season.

A Pro Bowl selection in 2014 and Super Bowl 50 champion, Anderson brings a weighty resume to the running backs room at South Main. He rushed for 1,007 yards in 2017 and also helped lead the Los Angeles rams to the NFC Championship game in 2018.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren has always preached having an NFL Curriculum. Bringing a player like Anderson who has done it at the highest level fits that bill.

More: Rice football adds 2023 game with UConn

Anderson will fill the final coaching spot vacated earlier this offseason by Robbie Picazo, who had served as the Owls’ running back coach for the past two seasons.

Picazo accepted a role as an offensive assistant with the Houston Texans under their new head coach Lovie Smith. Up until this point, he had been one of the longest-tenured Rice assistants, originally coming with Bloomgren from Stanford.

Rice begins spring practice on March 8.

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Rice Baseball: Struggles continue as Owls drop series to Harvard, 3-1

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Rice Baseball averted the sweep, but still turned in a rather poor outing against Harvard in the Owls’ second home series loss of the season.

THREE FOR THE ROAD | Rice baseball drops series 3-1

Perhaps someone just needs to whisper “It’s Sunday” into the Rice baseball dugout every day. Two of the Owls’ three wins this year have come in the final game of their weekend series with the other coming in a midweek tilt at Houston Baptist. Rice picked up its third win of the year this weekend, but it came with a tangible cost — three more painful losses. What did we learn from the 1-3 weekend and what’s next for Rice baseball?

1. Mayday, offense

It wasn’t until the shadows started to creep across the diamond at Reckling Park late Saturday afternoon that the Rice offense even began to consider showing up for the week. Rice was blanked 9-0 by Baylor on Wednesday. On Friday night, Harvard skunked the Owls 3-0. Then Rice failed to scratch across even a singular run through five innings on the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Even when accounting for the nine-run outburst on Sunday afternoon, Rice accumulated 12 runs in fives games this week dating back to the Baylor disaster. That’s an average of 2.4 runs per game. While there are days when a team can get away with that low of a run total, more often than not, you’re going to need more oomph to win college baseball game these days, you just are.

Last Time Out: Baylor blanks Owls in midweek tilt

Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. did what he could on Sunday to spark the sluggish unit. He flipped up the batting order and shuffled names around. That did help, but the bulk of the production still came from the core of Guy Garibay, Austin Bulman, Connor Walsh and Nathan Becker, four guys who were likely to be in the lineup in some capacity anyway.

Whether it’s improved approaches, better plate discipline or all of the above, the task in the batter’s box has reached critical levels of importance.

2. Starting pitching might be coming around

For the first weekend this year, Rice baseball had more decent outings from the bulk of their starting rotation. Cooper Chandler went 5.0 innings and allowed two earned runs with six strikeouts, by far his best outing of the season. On Saturday, Roel Garcia went four scoreless frames. More length would have been a bonus for both of them, but leaving the game midway through without putting the team in a large hole is a win for now.

Thomas Burbank was really the only starter who had a “bad” outing. His 3.0 inning, three-run performance will be colored by the double he surrendered on his final pitch which allowed two to score and staked Harvard to an early 3-0 lead. At that point in the series, Rice simply had to try someone else to attempt to salvage a split.

Lastly, Alex DeLeon earned the win on Sunday with four innings of two-run ball. He only struck out one batter but competed well, giving up one home run in an otherwise quality outing. That quartet was far from perfect, but none of them singlehandedly lost Rice games. That hasn’t been the case in previous weekends to date.

3. It’s going to be a long season

Rice baseball is 3-9 through their first 12 games. It’s true, starting off with No. 1 ranked Texas in Austin was a brutal welcoming to a new era at South Main, but the Owls have played the next nine games at Reckling Park. And if the likes of Lamar and Harvard can reprise the fabled murder’s row of the Yankee greats, how will this team respond to above-average teams. Like, Baylor, perhaps?

This isn’t a call for anyone to throw in the towels, heaven’s no. But it is a sobering reminder that this young team is going to need to develop from the ground up. There’s a ton of talent standing on the grass at Reckling right now. Every piece just isn’t fully in sync with each other.

To his credit, Cruz Jr. didn’t place the bar as high as those outside the program might have initially demanded it. “I’m not going to promise the moon right now,” he said during the lead up to the season. “I will say we will be better than we were the last couple years.”

Rice was 2-14 in 2020 and 23-29-1 last season. This iteration of Rice baseball is already above the 2020 club. They’ve got a ways to go until they’re anywhere in the ballpark of .500. That’s probably okay, but it’s going to have to take some getting used to as they grow and develop in real time.

THE PLAY BY PLAY

FRIDAY | Harvard 3 – Rice 0

Harvard struck first with a leadoff double to set the table in the second inning. They followed it up with a manufactured run via a couple of singles in these second. Despite cobbling together just one hit through three innings, Rice still had an opportunity to answer with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third with no outs. Austin Bulman struck out and Guy Garibay lined out to right field to end the threat.

Neither team would score for the next six innings. Harvard pushed across an insurance run in the ninth courtesy of a Rice error. The Owls went quietly. Rice had three times as many strikeouts (15) as hits (5) for the day. Had it not been for quality outings on the mound from Chandler, Garret Zaskoda, David Shaw and DeLeon, there wouldn’t have been anything positive to take away from this game.

SATURDAY (AM) | Harvard 2 – Rice 1

The offense was equally disappointing in the first end of Saturday’s double header. The Owls sent the minimum to the plate five times in the seven-inning game and scored just one run. That came in the bottom half of the sixth inning which had just seen the Rice defense commit two errors, contributing to Harvard’s only two runs of the game.

Once more, the Rice pitching staff was fine. Garcia had a strong performance. Even though Brandon Deskins was charged with the games’ only two runs, neither was earned and he pitched relatively well. The defense just did not help him out.

SATURDAY (PM) | Harvard 6 – Rice 3

The back end of the doubleheader featured some of the Owls’ more disappointing outings on the mound from the weekend. Burbank was hit hard, giving up three extra-base hits in three innings. Mark Perkins recorded just as many outs as he handed out walks (two apiece) and Dalton Wood’s struggles with the strikeout continued. His three runs allowed in the fifth inning sunk any chance Rice had of mounting a comeback.

Rice got two runs back in the fifth via a fielder’s choice followed by a well-placed double by Bulman. A sac fly from Garibay would make it 6-3 in the seventh, but the hole was just too big to overcome.

SUNDAY | Rice 9 – Harvard 6

Three games’ worth (or more) of frustration boiled over on Sunday as Rice delivered a three-spot in the first inning, two more runs in the second and another in the third. Harvard would score twice against DeLeon, but the Rice bats did not slow down. Rice scored at least one run in five of the first six innings, staking the bullpen to a 9-2 lead and asking them for nine outs.

For the most part, Tom Vincent and Reed Gallant threw strikes. Each walked just one batter in more than one inning of work (2.0 for Vincent, 1.1 for Gallant). While each was credited with two runs, the cushion they were pitching with was sufficient to net Rice the win.

ON DECK | Rice baseball vs Houston (Tues)

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Rice Basketball fades down the stretch, falls to UTSA

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Rice Basketball had their chances to come back against UTSA but the Owls weren’t able to hold onto the ball and fell on the road in their season finale.

The three point shot has been the bread and butter of Rice basketball for as long as Scott Pera has been the Owls’ head coach. It’s only fitting then that Rice wrapped up its regular season with a particularly effective outing from long range.

UTSA came out firing on cylinders, scoring 18 points in the first six minutes of play. Trailing 18-6, Rice was in dire straights early but then Riley Abercrombie and Carl Pierre drained back-to-back triples and cut the deficit in half. All of a sudden the score was 18-12 and Rice was very much back in the mix.

Last Time Out: Rice Basketball record-setting night not enough vs UTEP

That’s how much of the game would progress. UTSA would stretch out its lead to within the vicinity of double digits only for Rice to get a chunk or two back with their trademark three ball. Although the Owls trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half on multiple occasions, Rice took a six-point deficit into the break.

Things would stay close through the early portions of the second half. Rice would cut the UTSA lead down to one, but it was UTSA who would begin to heat up from distance and pull away. Rice would get within five points with just under three minutes to play before UTSA would put things out of reach with an 8-2 run to put it away.

Player Spotlight | Carl Pierre

In his final regular season game with Rice basketball, Pierre put together yet another pristine performance. He was 3-of-6 from three and scored 16 points. He also contributed three rebounds, one assist and one steal. The timing of his baskets was crucial, frequently giving the Owls hope. Rice could have used a few more down the stretch, but things wouldn’t have been nearly as close without Pierre on the court.

Stat Corner | Too many turnovers

When Rice basketball plays disciplined, they’ve proven their ability to stand toe-to-toe with even the best teams in Conference USA. That wasn’t the case on Saturday. The Owls turned the ball over 20 times, providing their opponents with an excess of opportunities. USTA made them pay.

Final Box | UTSA 82 – Rice 71

Up Next | Full Schedule

The regular season has come to a close for Rice basketball. Win or lose on Saturday, they had already secured a first-round bye and were locked into the fifth seed in the West. They’ll meet the fourth seed in the East. That game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9.

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