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Rice Women’s Basketball knocks off Texas A&M, stays perfect

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Rice Women’s Basketball remains unbeaten, upsetting Texas A&M to move to 6-0. It’s the Owls’ first win over the Aggies since 2006.

On the final leg of a four-game road trip, Rice women’s basketball faced perhaps its toughest test yet. Texas A&M was unbeaten on their home court this season and the Owls had just three victories over the Aggies in College Station in program history.

If there were a game to experience some nerves, this might have been it. But head coach Lindsay Edmonds and her team never blinked. Rice opened the game with a quick 10-4 run, putting the Aggies on notice from the jump: this was going to be a close one.

Texas A&M battled back to tie the game at 25-25 at the break, then they went on the offensive. The Aggies scored the first eight points after halftime, pushing the Owls to the brink before India Bellamy and Malia Fisher trimmed the deficit back down to four points. Then the game was on.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice tied the game gain in the final minute of the third quarter, entering the final period ahead by one thanks to a layup from Destiny Jackson. The fourth quarter belonged to the Owls. Katelyn Crosthwait knocked down two threes while Shelby Hayes made a shot and a free throw of her own to eventually push the Rice advantage to nine points. It proved to be enough and Rice hung on for the big win.

“This is a group that played a lot of minutes last year, so I think they had that confidence and they knew they’d won in close games before,” “I felt like they weren’t worried about was across the chest of the opponents. They were just playing basketball”

Player Spotlight | India Bellamy

On an afternoon where so many did their part, Bellamy’s contributions stood out. In just her second appearance of the season, she was third among all scorers with 11 points, knocking down 5-of-10 shots from the field and adding one free throw.

Final Box | Rice 66 – Texas A&M 58

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball finally gets to return home this coming week where they’ll host a string of Texas teams. On Friday, TCU comes to town for a 7:00 p.m. game (streamed on ESPN+) and Houston follows on Saturday, Dec. 10.

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Rice Football falters late, falls to North Texas

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Rice Football took a fourth quarter lead, but was unable to secure their sixth win, falling to 5-7 on a dreary day in Denton against North Texas.

On the arm of a scout team quarterback, Rice football stood toe to toe with the Conference USA Title Game-bound North Texas Mean Green for nearly four quarters. But in the end, the home team was able to punch in the final score in the fourth quarter, sending Rice home with a crushing defeat. The Owls will await their bowl fate as results start to come in. For now, here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

Show up ready to play: Check

Rice football knew their season was potentially on the line when they arrived at Apogee Stadium on Saturday morning. This was it. And to their credit, the team that took the field a few hours later looked much more poise than they had in either of their prior two games.

Special teams blocked a field goal on the opening drive. The defense got a stop on the second drive. And while the offense had one short-yardage fumble and a punt in their first two possessions, both were extended drives in which freshman quarterback AJ Padgett, making his first career start, acquitted himself well. The moment was clearly not too big for him.

The Roost Podcast: Stay tuned for the game recap this week – Rice Football vs North Texas

North Texas was able to move the ball, but the Owls did a good job limiting the conference’s most explosive offense from doing much damage through the first 15 minutes. The only blemish was a costly one, though, a busted-coverage touchdown to spot North Texas with an early 7-0 lead. The defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession to prove that was a mistake and not the norm.

This team has seen plenty of bad games go down downhill quickly. On Saturday, when it was do or die, they fought. At the halftime whistle, the two-touchdown underdogs were tied. This team had to get off the mat if they were going to have any chance to win this one. They came out swinging.

Young talent shows up

Starting a scout team quarterback in a must-win game is never Plan A. But those are the cards Rice football was dealt and they played them extremely well, exploiting Padgett’s running ability while simultaneously taking advantage of a North Texas defense that left plenty of receivers in open space for the young signal caller.

In addition to the quarterback conundrum, Rice football was also without starting slot receiver Luke McCaffery and his backup Kobie Campbell on Saturday. That forced true freshman Braylen Walker into a more prominent role and he did more than grab his cup of coffee on his way back to the bench.

His first grab went for 17 yards and a first down. His second reception, also on third down, went for 15 yards and move the chains. Somehow career reception number three was even more impactful:

Walker hadn’t played a single down of college football before Saturday. Beyond that, he missed the entirety of his senior season of high school. His last touchdown came on November 14, 2020, more than two years ago. And in his first true action on anything more than scout team, he torched the North Texas defense when his team needed him most.

In his first career start, Padgett completed 13-of-22 passes for 229 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran for 40 yards, excluding sacks. If players like this are the future of Rice football, the Owls look to be in good hands.

Coming up short

A painful theme of the season reverberated around Apogee stadium in the final minutes. With the ball at the 34 yard-line, Padgett took a sack on a well covered first down play. Cam Montgomery was stopped for a short gain on second down. Then came a pivotal, and diasterous, third down play. Padgett mishandled the snap and bent down to pick up the ball. Officials ruled him down, a loss of eight yards.

As the play was explained to the Rice sideline, Padgett was ruled to have used the ball to pick himself up and called down. That set up a fourth and a mile from which Rice football would be unable to recover. Despite leading in the fourth quarter, Rice was unable to finish, falling to 5-7 on the season as they drop their third game in a row.

Emotions were raw in the aftermath, and head coach Mike Bloomgren answered the questions. “My message to the team was there’s nothing I can do to take the pain away. There’s a lot of people that poured a lot into this program over the years and this is not the result any of us wanted, this is not the goal we set,” he said.

And now, we wait

Taking care of business on Saturday was the easiest way to secure a trip to a bowl game for the first time since 2014. Rice football was unable to do that, but their postseason hopes aren’t dead just yet. As mentioned in our Q&A post this past week, there is a variable path to a bowl game for a five-win Rice squad.

Missouri upset Arkansas on Black Friday to secure a spot. That left six bowl berths outstanding at the time Rice football kicked off against North Texas on Saturday afternoon. Should the pool of six-win teams not be sufficient to meet the demand for bowl teams, Rice would be next on the list.

How things go this afternoon and into the evening will certainly be something we’ll be following at The Roost as the day progresses. Stay tuned here for updates.

What’s next?

When asked for his thoughts on the future, Bloomgren stood tall. “Those things are for people above my pay grade. Those are always questions when you coach. Progress is clear. It’s defined, but is it enough? Those are for other people to make those decisions. I know what we’re done. I know what this coaching staff is done and I would challenge anybody to do better then what this group has done, and that’s on the field and off,” he said.

“We’re winning more games every year. And maybe the wins are not as fast as anybody wants including me and the staff, but progress, what these guys are building, and the recruits? Yeah, absolutely. I don’t think anybody could do better than this staff.”

As erratic as the journey has been from week to week, Rice football closes the 2022 regular season with a distinct near-term history under head coach Mike Bloomgren. Excluding the COVID year, in which Rice played five games (and finished 2-3), the Owls have increased their win total in each season of Bloomgren’s tenure.

Rice won two in 2018, three in 2019, four in 2021 and five this season, with the potential for a sixth win still to come if things work out for the best.

On paper, Rice has been better each season under Bloomgren. The real question for athletic director Joe Karlgaard (and new president Reginald DesRoches) is whether or not that incremental growth has come quickly enough and, more importantly, whether or not the belief remains that those steady building blocks laid in the past five years suggest the elusive breakthrough year will come in the Owls’ first season in the American Athletic Conference.

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Rice Women’s Basketball speeds past Texas Southern, stays perfect

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Following a pair of close wins on the road, Rice women’s basketball put away Texas Southern with haste to remain undefeated on the season.

Katelyn Crosthwait made the first shot she took, a three-pointer to give Rice women’s basketball the early lead on the road against Texas Southern. The Tigers would manage one free throw in response before the visiting Owls scored six more points, pushing their lead to 9-1 in the first two minutes of action.

If there were ever a moment for Texas Southern to turn things around, it would have been at the beginning of the second quarter. Trailing by six, Texas Southern secured a rebound following a miss from Jazzy Owens-Barnett, but then they turned the ball back over to Rice. Ashlee Austin knocked down a layup and the route was on.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice went on to outscore the home team 20-6 in that second quarter, holding Texas Southern to 2-of-13 from the field in that frame while the Rice shot a blistering 50 percent from the field. That would have been impressive in itself had the Owls not followed it up with a blazing 9-of-12, 75 percent showing in the third quarter to extend their advantage even further.

At that point, both squads emptied their benches and played out the stretch. 12 different Owls appeared in the game, making room for freshmen like Owens-Barnett, Dominque Ennis and Shelby Hayes to each see 12+ minutes of action. After a series of close fourth quarters, it was nice for everyone to breath and let the young guns play. They’ll be needed as the season progresses.

Player Spotlight | Malia Fisher

For the third time in five games, Fisher recorded a double-double. That shouldn’t come as a surprise at this point. The talented sophomore is averaging 15 points and 11.4 boards per game, both marks that lead the team.

On Wednesday, she sent the Owls into a short Thanksgiving break with relative ease, wrapping up the double-double before halftime. She would only be called upon to play 27 minutes given the Owls’ sizable lead, otherwise this grand day could have been even grander.

Final Box | Rice 76 – Texas Southern 49

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball wraps up a four-game road trip on Sunday when they head up to College Station to play Texas A&M. The Aggies are 4-1 and share one common open with the Owls, Texas Southern, who A&M beat 67-54. This Lone Star battle has the potential to get interesting.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 134 Rice Football vs UTSA Recap

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Rice football would soon forget a soggy, sad loss to UTSA, but rain or shy, The Roost Podcast is here to break down the entire affair.

For the third time this season, Rice football had its starting quarterback knocked out of a game in the first half. For the third time this season, Rice lost that game. Wiley Green has the misfortune of fulfilling that statistic twice, then time on Senior Day against Conference USA juggernaut UTSA. The Owls lost and have one game remaining in the regular season. What do we make about the program right now?

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 134.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

  • Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. Every little bit helps.
  • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes practice updates, analysis and more. Your support matters and makes The Roost better.
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Rice Football vs UTSA game recap

  • Another scout team quarterback makes his Rice football debut
  • Making sense of the offense, regardless of who is under center
  • Owls post an unbelievably bad rushing performance
  • Defense holds off Harris through the air, but how much is true progress?
  • How much fault can be assigned to injuries? How much to coaching?
  • What does Rice football need to do to reach a bowl game?

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

Subscribe on Patreon for exclusive Rice football recruiting updates, practice notes and more.

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Rice Basketball rallies from 17 down, tops Houston Christian

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Rice basketball started slow, but caught fire late, securing a perfect 3-0 weekend at home with a Monday night win over Houston Christian.

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. At least that’s how the old adage is supposed to go. right? It was indeed a fitting description of how Rice basketball faired against Houston Christian in the final game of the Owl Invitational. Already 2-0 on the weekend, it took the full 40 minutes for the Owls to complete the weekend sweep on Monday Night.

Things couldn’t have started much worse. HCU knocked down four threes in the first five minutes of regulation, jumping out to an 11-point lead with Rice registering just three early points via a three from Quincy Olivari. HCU would lead by as many as 17 points in the first half, entering the break at exactly that margin.

At halftime, Rice basketball head coach Scott Pera told his team to break up the second half into four-minute chunks up to the media timeouts. “I had my grad assistant tell me the score of each four-minute segment,” Pera said. “And I remember the first one clearly being 12 to 2.”

More: Rice Basketball Season Preview

Respond they did. Rice didn’t slow down from the torrid pace with which they started the second half. They also had an 8-0 run a little bit later. Despite HCU knocking down 13 three-pointers and the Owls shooting a mediocre 25 percent from long-range themselves, the Owls battled back.

Finally, with 6:51 left on the clock, Rice basketball took its first lead of the night. Mekhi Mason did the honors, slashing through the lane for a basket and draining the subsequent free throw. Rice would surrender the lead briefly on the following possession but retake it immediately afterward, stretching it to double digits and holding on to remain undefeated at home.

Player Spotlight | Mekhi Mason

Welcome to South Main, Mekhi Mason. The highly-anticipated freshman scored 11 against Georgia Southern on Friday, the previous highwater mark of his young now six-game career. He’d made at least one three in every game to this point and he’d shot fairly well from the floor as a whole, but he hadn’t really had a breakthrough game, not yet.

That changed on Monday. With his team trailing in need of a spark, Mason took over. He led all scorers with 25 points, knocking down 4-of-7 from three with an additional three assists, to boot. He was lights out from the floor, missing just four of his 13 shots.

“He’s a talented, talented you man. I’m really happy for him,” Pera said. “He really picked us up.”

Final Box | Rice 76 – HCU 67

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice basketball has one final game in the month of November before turning the page to the December slate. They’ll host Prairie View A&M on Wednesday, Nov. 20, giving the team an extended Thanksgiving Break.

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