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Rice Baseball Tops Sam Houston in Home Opener

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Rice baseball won its home opener at Reckling Park for the first time in seven seasons, cruising past Sam Houston on a frigid Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn’t just the temperature at first pitch that was decidedly different for Rice baseball upon returning home from Puerto Rico. An undaunted group refused to let those losses linger, setting the tone with a rare four-strikeout first inning courtesy of freshman opener Blaine Brown and building from there.

Before Brown was able to hand the ball to Tucker Alch — who took over for the next seven scoreless innings — the bats had already joined in on the fun. Rice struck for three in the bottom of the first, taking full advantage of an error that kept the inning alive.

Last Time Out: Rice Baseball goes winless at Puerto Rico Challenge

Landon West blasted his first career home run in the third inning and Brown delivered an RBI double at the plate to complement his strong showing on the mound. Cole Green’s first career hit in the eighth, a double ripped down the left field line, scored Treyton Rank to put the Owls ahead 6-0.

A leadoff walk issued by Garrett Stratton to open the ninth would result in the only Sam Houston run, but by then it was far too little, too late. Rice held on to win, the first victory for the Owls in a home opener at Reckling Park since 2018.

“Winning the first one at home is always important,” Alch said. “And to do it like that where we were really in control the whole game felt really good.”

What They’re Saying

What it means | Resilient

A season ago, Rice baseball took months to get on track. They began the year in a 9-24 hole that they were never able to fully escape. Better baseball down the stretch was rendered moot by a terrible beginning. The 2025 team desperately wants to avoid repeating history, which makes games like this one so crucial.

“I told this team last week, I believe in this team from the bottom of my heart, that we’re really good and we’re going to win a lot of ball games,” West said. “I’ve seen the work that we put in and I know the ball is going to flip our way more often than not.”

More: 2025 Rice Baseball Season Preview

Baseball is a large sample sport. One win gains significance in aggregate when it’s added to over time. But this win opens the door to start stacking, something the Owls hope to do when USC comes to town this weekend, winners of four straight to open the year.

ON DECK | vs USC (Fri-Sun)

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Rice Women’s Basketball dominates FAU in get-right win

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Rice Women’s Basketball bounced back with a dominant defensive performance, holding FAU to a program conference-best 18.2 percent shooting from the floor.

It seemed as if neither side could find the hoop in the opening minutes of FAU’s visit to play Rice women’s basketball on Tuesday night. FAU opened 2-for-11 from the floor. Rice was worse, hitting just one of its first 11 shots. While FAU continued to see intermittent success at best from the floor, Rice used that lull as a launching point.

“We needed that one. We needed that in one in that fashion,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “We challenged them in the first media [timeout] and they responded and after that, we just kind of took off.”

Trailing 8-2 at that point, Rice would hit seven consecutive shots, turning a six point deficit into a six point advantage in the span of five minutes of court time spanning the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. Rice would go into break up by 14, what felt like a commanding advantage considering FAU’s paltry 16 total points across 20 minutes of action.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

The third quarter brought more of the same, Rice defensive dominance and a steady trickle of made shots from the home team. If there was any doubt remaining in the outcome of this contest it was put to rest with a backbreaking three pointer by Dominique Ennis that put Rice in front by 19, a 44-21 margin, with 4:25 remaining in the third quarter.

That massive advantage made the fourth quarter a breeze. The Owls held serve in the final 10 minutes, limiting FAU to a meager 39 total points to secure a much-needed victory. The win brings Rice to 13-13 overall and 6-8 in AAC play.

Final Box | Rice 72, FAU 39

Key takeaway | Defensive intensity

The offense has been an odyssey for Rice women’s basketball all season long. With the regular season being measured in days rather than months, it’s hard to see those issues correcting themselves to a significant degree. So while the offense has it’s spurts and starts, the burden has fallen to the defense to set the tone.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Edmonds said of the Owls’ dominant defensive showing. “That’s what we have the capabilities of doing and now that we’ve shown it we’ve got to bring it a little bit more. That’s exactly how I know that we can defend. That’s how I expect us to defend.”

To put into context just how atypical the Owls’ defensive dominance was in this game one has to dive nearly exhaust the record books. Only once in the past 20 seasons — that’s as far back game-by-game shooting data data was available at this time — has Rice held and opponent below 20 percent shooting from the field.

Rice held UTEP to 18.9 percent from the field on Feb. 1, 2007. On Tuesday night they limited FAU to 18.2 percent from the floor. That’s a mark that goes back hundreds of games, a slew of coaching staffs and beyond the renovations made to Tudor Fieldhouse in 2008. It’s the best defensive field goal percentage Rice has allowed in program history against a conference opponent.”

“I kept saying we were going to right the ship and I feel this is the first part of that, right? We want to make sure that we are going into March being as confident as we can,” Edmonds said. “We’ve got four games that are coming up that are going to be big for us and we’ve got to take them one at a time, but we took care of the first one and that was tonight.”

Up Next: vs UTSA (Sat, 2/22)

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Rice Women’s Basketball stumbles at Wichita State

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Rice Women’s Basketball came out strong but faltered late in another disappointing road loss to a team at the bottom of the AAC standings.

A pair of threes from Dominique Ennis and a stout presence inside from Sussy Ngulefac got Rice women’s basketball out to a strong start on the road against Wichita State on Saturday afternoon. The visiting Owls seemed to be in control of the contest before the offense evaporated in the second quarter.

Rice had been leading by six to that point but Wichita State would open the frame on a dominant 17-4 run, seizing the advantage and putting the Owls on notice that the hosting Shockers wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

The teams traded jabs in the third quarter and the early portions of the fourth before finding themselves all tied up at 50 points apiece with 2:07 to go. Wichita State would seize the moment, scoring twice in a row to put Rice on their heels.

The Owls would manage to cut the deficit to one on a three from Dominque Ennis with five seconds to play but went to the rim with one second left, running out of time and dropping their fourth game in a row.

Final Box | Wichita State 60, Rice 57

Key takeaway | Avoiding a repeat spring swoon

The enduring memory from the 2023-2024 Rice women’s basketball season will forever be a dominant run through the AAC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament berth that run subsequently earned. But that great March masked a terrible ending to the regular season with five consecutive conference losses that saw the Owls plummet in the standings.

One year late, Rice finds itself on a four-game losing streak, including defeats against Florida Atlantic and Wichita State, the current bottom dwellers in the league’s standings. The 2025 Owls have five more games, which—optimistically—could suggest a chance to right the ship. However, the current iteration of this team finds itself in a rut with not clear answers.

Wins are the most surefire cure. Starting that next Tuesday when they return to Tudor Fieldhouse for a three-game homestand is an absolute must if they want any chance of avoiding a repeat fall down the conference ranks.

Up Next: vs Florida Atlantic (Tues, 2/18)

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Buzzer beater dooms Rice basketball at Tulane

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Rice Basketball suffered another last-minute loss in conference play, this time falling to Tulane on a buzzer-beating three.

An early onslaught of three-pointers from Jacob Dar announced Rice basketball’s arrival in New Orleans for a Saturday afternoon battle. Dar’s three consecutive triples gave Rice a seven-point edge and kept the visiting Owls in the driver’s seat of this game until the Green Wave finally got going with an 11-0 run to close the half and take their first lead of the contest.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Offense

Following a Rice-dominated start, Tulane the next chunk of game time but just like the Owls before them, struggled to build meaningful separation between the two teams. Rice would finally break through with six minutes to go on an 8-0 run driven almost entirely by Dar and Caden Powell.

After one lead change in the first 34 minutes, the leading team swapped six times down the stretch. Tied at 78, Rice looked to have the final shot only to have it knocked away with less than three seconds to play. Tulane collected the ball, rifled it up the court and hit a long three at the buzzer to snatch the win, handing the Owls a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds.

Final Box | Tulane 81, Rice 78

Key takeaway | The emergence of Jacob Dar

The continued emergence of Jacob Dar as Rice basketball progresses through conference play has been a sight to behold. The transfer forward registered his first double-digit game in January against North Texas. He’s scored in double-digits seven times in his next 10 games, including a season-best 21 points against Tulane which led all Owls in scoring.

Along the way, Dar tallied a career-best six three-pointers (on 6-for-7 shooting) and six blocks. He’s made eight straight starts and has become more integral to the Owls’ identity on both sides of the court with each passing game. Rice basketball needs gamebreakers to get over the hump and turn some of these close losses into big wins. Dar has that potential.

Up Next: vs UAB (Wed, Feb. 19)

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Rice Women’s Basketball falls to USF in 3OT

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Rice Women’s Basketball led for more than 40 minutes but couldn’t close out the game, eventually falling to South Florida on the road.

Aniah Alexis didn’t play the first time Rice women’s basketball met USF on the hardwood this season. The freshman guard has become a fixture in the Owls’ rotation in the games since, starting the last five games and setting the tone for the Owls on the road against the Bulls on Wednesday.

Alexis scored 10 of the Owls’ first 11 points firing at a perfect 5-for-5 mark from the field in the first half as she paced the team to a halftime advantage against one of the top teams in the AAC. She kept those efforts rolling into the third quarter, helping Rice build a double-digit lead on the road.

More: Rice Football: 2025 Recruiting Class Analysis — Defense

South Florida would fire back slowly working their deficit to three points then one point with two minutes to play in regulation. The game appeared won when Rice stymied South Florida on a final possession but a failed inbounds pass with 2.4 seconds to go resulted in a turnover. South Florida would hit a three at the buzzer to force overtime.

Each side had their chance to steal the win in extra. South Florida settled for a long three to end the first overtime which was off the mark. Rice drew up a better luck for Sussy Ngulefac who couldn’t get it to roll in at the buzzer. Finally, South Florida drained a long three in triple overtime that Rice couldn’t answer. Rice falls to 12-12 on the season with the loss.

Final Box | USF 82, Rice 77 (3OT)

Key takeaway | A third option emerges

For much of this season the offense has lived and died on the efforts of Malia Fisher and Dominique Ennis. On nights when that tandem was firing on all cylinders the Owls were hard to beat. When either had a mortal evening, the offense started to crumble.

Sussy Ngulefac and Shelby Hayes have flashed at times, Victoria Flores has had some exception outings, but Rice women’s basketball hasn’t truly found someone who can be that dominant third scorer. Could Alexis be the one they’ve been waiting for all this time?

In addition to Wednesday’s banner night — Alexis finished with 20 points, 6 boards — the freshman had already spiked with a 12-point game against North Carolina A&T and 13 points against East Carolina. She’s shown the ability to score in bunches previously. Can she become a more consistent scoring option as she continues to develop in her first year on campus?

If she can, there might be hope for this offense to take another step down the stretch. The Owls certainly need someone to step up and Alexis made a very loud case to be that person with this kind of performance at USF.

Up Next: vs Wichita State (Sat, 2/15)

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