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Rice Women’s Basketball runs away from FAU late

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Rice women’s basketball took care of business at home, downing FAU in runaway fashion at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Just past the midpoint of conference play, Rice women’s basketball needed to find a way to take care of home court against a 5-8 FAU squad on Thursday night. It was the road Owls who delivered the first blow, though, jumping out to an 8-0 run before Rice was able to find the scoreboard.

Rice battled back quickly, finishing the first quarter on a 22-6 run and held serve in the second frame, taking a two-point lead into the half. It was the third quarter when Rice made its’ move, slowly building up from a 36-36 tie to an 11-point lead as the fourth quarter began. Then the hometown team really started to pour it on.

The Owls emptied the benches, turning a modest double-digit lead into a 20-plus-point shellacking. 12 different Rice players saw action, including minutes for Haylee Swayzee, Ashlyn Zhang and Fatou Samb, the three of which had combined to play 88 total minutes this season. It was officially cleanup time in the most dominant conference win for Rice women’s basketball this season

“It was amazing, it was fun. It makes basketball fun when you get to see the people you’re with 24/7 go in the games and play,” forward India Bellamy said. “It was also relaxing not to be stressed out.”

Final Box | Rice 85 – FAU 64

Key takeaway | Starting lineup shakeup

Rice women’s basketball has largely maintained the same starting five throughout the season. Once Maya Bokunewicz went down in the second game of the season it’s been Ashlee Austin, Katelyn Crosthwait, Malia Fisher, Destiny Jackson and Trinity Gooden taking the court as the first five night in and night out. That’s not how the Owls lined up on Thursday night.

Crosthwait wasn’t in the starting lineup and entered the game in the second quarter. Austin did not play at all. When asked for clarification on those decisions, head coach Lindsay Edmonds called it a “family matter” that she wanted to keep inside the locker room.

“I said it was going to be about what people showed me in practice. That was where the mixups kinda came from,” Edmonds said, referring to a challenge she gave the team last week. She added Austin is not injured and her availability going forward would depend on “what’s shown on the court.”

Being without their leading scorer didn’t seem to phase the Owls on the court, though. Rice scored 85 points, their highest against a conference opponent this season, getting big contributions off the bench from India Belammay and Jazzy Owens-Barnett.

Up Next: vs FIU – Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball runs out of time against against FAU

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Rice basketball hangs around but can’t do more than that, falling to league-leading FAU on the road, their fourth straight defeat.

Another slow start accompanied Rice basketball to the Sunshine State on Thursday night. Rice fell behind against FAU 16-8, opening the game shooting a miserable 23 percent from the floor. They would eventually get the shots to start falling, but not before FAU ripped off a 15-3 run to push their advantage to 13 points midway through the first half.

Down by double-digits against the best team in the conference, Rice began its comeback. Quincy Olivari delivered back-to-back threes to get things going. Mekhi Mason closed the half with his first triple of the contest, shrinking the FAU lead to six.

Rice would get within five a few times in the second half but never got closer. The FAU lead would ping-pong back and forth between five and 10, but Rice couldn’t hit that next shot and make it a one-possession game. Far too often those missed threes turned into fast break points for the other side before Rice, eventually, ran out of time.

Final Box | FAU 91 – Rice 80

Key takeaway | Making the grade

After a tough stretch that featured three consecutive losses, Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera made it clear his team needed to play what he termed their “A-game” if they were going to win games in a challenging conference. It was going to take that good of a game and then some if the Owls were going to walk into Boca Raton and upset the conference frontrunners.

Rice did not pull off the upset, but they carried themselves much more like a team that belonged on the same court as the other Owls than they had in the past few games. Pera’s squad heard the message. While it might not have been an A-game, it was at least a B-minus.

There are no more victories. Rice basketball is running out of time. But if they’re going to win a few more down the stretch, playing at this level (41 percent from three, 85 percent from the line) is a prerequisite. Limiting the offensive boards and playing stronger in the paint will go a long way toward that achieving those ends.

Up Next: at FIU – Saturday, Feb. 11 at 6:00 p.m.

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Free throw woes doom Rice Basketball vs North Texas

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Rice basketball started strong but was unable to rally from a first-half deficit, falling to North Texas at Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Saturday night’s rematch between Rice basketball and North Texas had all the makings of a thrilling affair right up until Max Fiedler temporarily halted the contest with a dunk that turned off the shot clock. After some deliberation, the opposite shot clock was turned off and the game resumed, complete with a 10-second countdown from the PA announcer to simulate the clock that was no longer illuminated.

North Texas was unphased. Rice looked flustered. Rice led by two when the clock turned off. North Texas responded with a 16-2 run, ultimately outscoring Rice 21-8 in the remainder of the half.

“I think that we kinda stopped communicating a little bit and lapsed on defense for a few minutes,” guard Travis Evee said of the technical interruption caused by the clock, which was restored to order before the start of the second half.

With the clock restored, Rice opened the half on a 13-6 run, cutting the North Texas lead to three. That was as close as they were able to get. Rice managed to shoot reasonably well (48.1 percent in the second half, 47.1 percent for the game) but was unable to retake the lead. “They had to deal with it too,” head coach Scott Pera said. “They dealt with it better than us.”

Rice entered Saturday as one of the best free throw shooting teams in the conference but would miss five in a row in the second half including the front end of a double-double twice in that span. They shot 55.6 percent on the night, nearly 20 points worse than their season average.

“To win these games, you’ve got to play your A-game. In this league, if you don’t play your A-game you’re not going to win, especially against North Texas,” Pera said. “We played about our C-plus team, and that’s not enough.”

Final Box | North Texas 74 – Rice 64

Key takeaway | Eliminating the lulls

Aside from a blowout loss to UAB, Rice basketball has been in a close ball game late in the second half just about every time they’ve taken the court. It’s impossible for each of the games to break the right way, but it certainly feels like the bounces haven’t favored the Owls this weekend.

On Thursday, Rice trailed by 24 against Louisiana Tech before falling to take the lead late, before losing by eight. The deficit didn’t get quite that big on Saturday against North Texas, but Rice had their chances to turn a 13-point deficit into a single-shot affair, they were unable to do so, primarily because of an ice-cold 0-for-5 streak at the free throw line in the middle of the second half.

If Rice can find a way to avoid falling behind by double-digits with regularity, some of these nailbiters might just turn into less stressful wins. Perfection isn’t a realistic expectation, but finding a way to maintain 40 minutes of competitive play has to be a focal point because the tough stretches have made even the competitive games feel like they require Herculean efforts to win, resulting in losses like this.

Up Next: at Florida Atlantic – Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball falters late, falls to North Texas

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Rice women’s basketball hung around until the final minutes but was unable to get the shots to fall in Saturday’s road loss to North Texas.

Saturday’s back-and-forth slugfest between North Texas and Rice women’s basketball did not disappoint. The Mean Green were the aggressors early on, taking a seven-point lead midway through the first quarter before Rice was able to punch back, courtesy of some clutch three-point shooting from Ashlee Austin and Trinity Gooden.

The second quarter was more of the same; North Texas grabbed an eight-point lead and Rice thundered back via the three-ball, this time courtesy of Dominque Ennis and Malia Fisher. It wasn’t until the third quarter when Rice was able to get in front for a meaningful amount of time — and even then, the Owls led by just one point entering the fourth quarter.

The largest lead by either side in the final 10 minutes would be four points with the game hanging in the balance as the clock ticked below two minutes. Only one field goal was made from either side at that point, a North Texas three, which would break a deadlock and put the Mean Green ahead for good.

Final Box | North Texas 69 – Rice 66

Key takeaway | The shots won’t fall every night

Rice didn’t shoot particularly well at any point of the game against North Texas, but the fourth quarter was one of their least effective stretches and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Those perfectly timed three-pointers that helped Rice stay close throughout the afternoon disappeared late. Dominque Ennis was the only Owl to attempt a three in the fourth quarter and went 1-for-5.

Then there was Malia Fisher’s tough stretch at the free throw line. On Thursday night against Louisiana Tech, Fisher was unbelievably good. In the fourth quarter on Saturday, she wasn’t at her best, but she continued to get the call in part because of the trust she’s earned to this point. She was 3-for-7 from the line in the fourth quarter, effectively giving up four points in a game the Owls lost by three.

By no means does Fisher bear all the culpability for this defeat, but her final frame does serve as a reminder that the shots won’t fall every night. That’s basketball. Fisher is shooting 75.6 percent from the line this season, even with the rough game. She’ll be fine and Rice will be fine. The Owls have won six of eight and they probably won’t leak free throws on a regular basis going forward.

Up Next: vs Florida Atlantic – Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball: Owls rally falls short at Louisiana Tech

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Rice basketball fell behind big early and clawed back to take the lead before running out of gas on the road against Louisiana Tech.

After going back and forth in their last meeting, Thursday’s matchup between Rice basketball and Louisiana Tech had the makings of another tight-nit contest. Another overtime-forcing buzzer-beater seemed impossible when the Owls fell behind by 24 points, unable to answer a barrage of first-half three-pointers from the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, the Owls are no strangers to slow starts. They fell behind big early against UAB in their last outing a few days prior but were unable to battle back. On Thursday, though, Rice was able to find that extra gear.

Rice went on an 8-0 run to close the first half down 16 rather than 24. They kept that momentum rolling through intermission into the second half, outscoring Louisiana Tech 27-10 to start the frame, eradicating their deficit and taking a one-point lead.

The two sides would trade minor leads for a few more minutes, but it was Louisiana Tech that was able to dig deep and close things out. They finished the game on an 8-0 run with the final four points courtesy of a double-technical foul and subsequent ejection of Rice head coach Scott Pera as the clock was expiring. Rice did themselves no favors, failing to record a field goal of their own in the final five and a half minutes.

Final Box | LA Tech 80 – Rice 72

Key takeaway | Bad one to lose

There’s never a good time to lose, but letting a late lead slip through the Owls’ clutches on Thursday was particularly inopportune. Rice entered the day third in the Conference USA standings with a half game lead on the group just behind them. That is gone now, and waiting on the Owls’ schedule in the coming days are games against FAU (No. 1 in C-USA) and North Texas (No. 2).

Rice did beat North Texas head-to-head a few games back, a monumental victory for Pera and the program. Winning back-to-back games against the Mean Green in a single season would make the first time the Owls have ever done that. It’s possible… but on paper much harder to do than holding onto a late lead against the .500-ish Lousiana Tech Bulldogs.

If Rice hopes to achieve a first-round bye in the conference tournament they’re either going to have to pull off a few more upsets or hold serve against the more winnable games on their schedule. Losing Thursday makes that road all the more challenging.

Up Next: vs North Texas – Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m.

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