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Rice Basketball rally falls short, drops game to underdog UTSA

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Rice basketball picked a bad day to have a bad day, falling to the last team in the conference standings in front of the Owls’ home crowd on Thursday night.

UTSA has clung to the bottom of the Conference USA standings for the entirety of the season, but they’ve managed to give Rice basketball fits when the two have met on the court. Thursday night in Houston proved no expectation. UTSA shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half to a meager 27 percent for the Owls, who went into the break trailing by four to a team with one conference win.

The shooting slump lingered through the early portions of the second half. Rice was able to climb back within one point in the first five minutes but a later 10-2 UTSA run would put the road team up by 13 points with the clock ticking under 10 minutes to go. In need of a spark, Alem Huseinovic and Quincy Olivari strung together some three-pointers, bringing the game back within range in the final minutes.

That late run proved to be false hope. UTSA responded with a 10-2 run of their own, pushing the lead back to double digits and holding on for the upset. As hard as they tried, Rice just couldn’t break through.

Final Box | UTSA 84 – Rice 79

Key takeaway | Bad day to have a bad day

UTSA entered Thursday’s contest on an 11-game losing streak, the longest in school history. With postseason seeding on the line against a struggling squad, the worst team in Conference USA, Rice basketball couldn’t afford to come out flat. Yet that’s exactly what happened. The Owls were able to keep things close for a while, but once UTSA got hot late, the ruse was up.

This was supposed to be the easy game. Head coach Scott Pera was quick to acknowledge the Roadrunners. He said all the right things. But if Rice basketball really wanted to contend for a first round bye in the Conference USA Tournament, this seemed like a much more winnable game on paper.

“We gotta play better. We have to be better defensively. We have to be more ready to play in a better mind space. We can’t worry about all the other stuff,” Pera said, alluding to the standings. “You just got to play better to give ourselves a chance to win. If we don’t play. we’re not going to win and none of that will matter.”

Games aren’t played on paper. Rice basketball is acutely aware of that right now.

Up Next: vs WKU – Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7:00 p.m.

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Rice Women’s Basketball handed tough loss against UTSA

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Rice women’s basketball wasn’t ready to go away from home, falling to UTSA in one of their final road games of the regular season.

It would have been hard to draw up a more crushing start for Rice women’s basketball than the first half they played against UTSA on Thursday night. The Owls fell behind 18-1, then 29-9, shooting worse than 10 percent from the floor through much of the first quarter and only truly finding their stroke midway through the second stanza.

A 10-2 Rice run to end the half averted total disaster and gave the Owls a chance to regroup and try again. UTSA would keep things within that range for most of the third quarter before Rice gave one final push in the fourth and final frame.

Rice would get within five on a jumper from Destiny Jackson, but that was the point when they ran out of game. The Owls made two shots from the field in the final seven minutes, falling to UTSA by a final score of 66 to 53.

Final Box | UTSA 66 – Rice 53

Key takeaway | Austin essential in reemergence

Prior to Thursday night, Ashlee Austin hadn’t played in a basketball game since February 4. She’d been relegated to watching the past two contests by a coach’s decision. Rice won both games without her on the court, but it seemed improbable the Owls would rattle off an extended winning streak without the help of their leading scorer.

Austin came off the bench and led all Rice players in scoring with 14 points. She led all Rice players in rebounds with five and assists with three. Malia Fisher, a rock for this team since her arrival on campus, was limited to just five minutes. Someone else needed to step up. Austin did. It wasn’t enough tonight, but they’re going to need her down the stretch.

Up Next: at WKU – Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m.

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Rice Basketball hangs on late to beat FIU

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Rice basketball hung around against FIU through the first half but caught fire late to claim an important road victory.

For nearly 30 minutes of action, there was hardly any separation on the court between Rice basketball and their Saturday night host, FIU. Even after Rice opened the game on an 8-0 run, FIU quickly gained its footing and brought the game back near level. From that point, the Owls and Panthers were locked in a close game, waiting for someone on either side to pull their team away.

The first crack appeared when Quincy Olivari and Cameron Sheffield made three-pointers on consecutive trips down the court to push the Rice lead to eight points. From there, Rice would slowly pull away, stretching their lead to double-digits. FIU would get back within one score late, but Rice made their free throws and got a clutch steal from Sheffield to seal the game.

Rice knocked down 14 threes in drove on their way to the big road win, but they also took advantage of a notable edge on the boards, outrebounding FIU 37-26 with 11 offensive rebounds in the process.

Final Box | Rice 85 – FIU 78

Key takeaway |  Gritting out a road win

Rice basketball has six games left in the regular season. Four of those are scheduled to be played at Tudor Fieldhouse. Playing at home doesn’t lessen the strength of a tough opponent, but it undeniably matters in college basketball. The Owls are 10-4 at home this season and 6-5 on the road. It’s also significant considering where Rice is in the standings.

By virtue of their victory over FIU, Rice is fifth in Conference USA. That’s right on the line where the Owls need to be if they’re going to secure a bye in the first round of the conference tournament. Holding steady right where they are right now might be good enough, even if they don’t get any herculean efforts down the stretch.

Rice is a half-game behind Middle Tennesee, who currently sits one spot ahead of Rice in the standings. The Blue Raiders hold the tiebreaker, but a strong push down the stretch might still hold some upward mobility for the Owls. Regardless of what happens in the next three weeks, beating FIU on Saturday enables these hypotheticals to continue.

Up Next: vs UTSA – Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

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Bellamy, Fisher lead Rice Women’s Basketball past FIU at home

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Rice women’s basketball completed a weekend sweep of Florida schools, besting FIU at home on Saturday.

Still without leading scorer Ashlee Austin on the court, Rice women’s basketball didn’t have much trouble notching their second straight home victory. After a low-scoring opening quarter, Rice heated up quickly with a 24-outburst in the second frame, taking an eight-point lead into halftime.

India Bellamy and Malia Fisher were instrumental in helping Rice build their initial lead and then extending it to as many as 15 points in the second half. FIU would cut the margin back down to five points at the midpoint of the fourth quarter, but a layup from Bellamy and a three from Fisher pushed the Rice advantage quickly back to double-digits and helped secure the victory.

Rice has now won back-to-back games and sits at fourth in the conference standings with six games remaining in the regular season.

Final Box | Rice 67 – FIU 58

Key takeaway | Bellamy block party

Bellamy finished one point shy of tying a career-high in points, but it was her defense that was perhaps even more significant on Saturday afternoon. She led the team in defensive rebounds (five) and finished with four blocked shots, that’s a lot. For reference, Rice has only exceeded that total as a team on three occasions this year (they had five total against Sam Houston, WKU and their prior game against FIU).

“I’m really proud of India, her efforts are through the roof, the way that she has just been grinding, and even in those four-point games and five-point games, she was still impacting our team,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “But obviously the offensive side of the ball, we really need it right now and she’s doing a great job at stepping up where the team needs her the most.”

Up Next: at UTSA – Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:00 p.m.

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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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