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Rice Women’s Basketball soars past Saint Mary’s on the road

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It wasn’t quite wire-to-wire, but Rice women’s basketball started fast and maintained a comfortable lead in their road win over Saint Mary’s.

Despite the late tip-off, 10:oo p.m. Houston time, Rice women’s basketball showed up ready to play in Califonia against Saint Marys. The Gael’s won the 2022 WBI Tournament and were picked to finish fifth in the West Coast Conference this season. Rice was undeterred.

The Owls jumped out to a nine-point lead in the first quarter, holding Saint Mary’s to 29.4 percent shooting from the field. Shelby Hayes created a mismatch in the interior, scoring eight points in the opening frame. When the defense collapsed to account for her, it opened up shooting lanes for Ashlee Austin and Kaitlyn Crostwait from deep.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

The lead quickly grew to double-digits, as Rice mixed in contributions from a host of different contributors. The Owls got points from nine different players in the first half alone, seeing their advantage grow to as many as 17 points.

The third quarter was more contentious. Saint Mary’s continued to chip away, taking the Rice lead down from double digits to as few as five points. Fortunately for the Owls, every time the Gaels went on a run, they had an answer. The five-point lead ballooned back to 15 early in the fourth quarter. Rice would knock down their free throws to ice the road win.

Player Spotlight | Kaitlyn Crosthwait

On a night when so many different players contributed in big moments, Crosthwait seemed to find herself involved in a good portion of them. She scored 11 points, knocking down three of the Owls’ five three-pointers. She also had six rebounds, playing a team-high 30 minutes.

Rice was able to get so many players into the game on Wednesday night, but that sort of widespread rotation is possible because the team has veteran players that can help direct traffic no matter who is on the court. Crosthwait’s play and direction made a difference in this one.

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball continues its four-game road trip in the coming days. They’ll take on Pacific on Friday before returning to Texas to play Texas Southern (Wed. Nov. 23) and Texas A&M (Sun. Nov. 27) before their next home game at the beginning of December against TCU.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 133 Rice Football vs WKU Recap

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Rice football fumbled away too many opportunities in a crushing road loss to Western Kentucky. It’s time to unpack the defeat and search for answers.

Six turnovers and very few third down stops is a recipe for disaster and unfortunately for Rice football, their main course served extra cold on Saturday against Western Kentucky. To further dour the mood, quarterback TJ McMahon left the game in the second quarter and was unable to return. What should we make of the rough loss? We unpack the defeat on this week’s show.

You can find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 133.

Episode Notes

Housekeeping

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Rice Football vs WKU game recap

  • Will the turnovers ever stop, or at the very least, slow down?
  • What’s the latest on the quarterback situation?
  • Weekly reminder: Juma Otoviano is really good at football
  • What’s the deal with the third down defense?
  • How much of the issues from this week are terminal and which ones can be fixed?
  • How does all of this impact the next two weeks and the Owls’ quest for bowl eligibility?

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.

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Rice Women’s Basketball rallies past ACU at home

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Rice women’s basketball rallies in the second half to take down Abilene Christian, opening the season 2-0 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Maya Bokunewicz got the scoring going with a jumper, but that proved to be just the first points in another back-and-forth affair at Tudor Fieldhouse. There were five ties in the first quarter and three more in the third, with the vast majority of the first half being played within a four-point margin to either side.

Jazzy Owens-Barnett gave Rice a six-point lead on the final shot of the first quarter, but that advantage was quickly erased in the first minute or so of the second frame. ACU then closed that quarter out on a run of their own, taking a seven-point advantage into halftime courtesy of back-to-back threes.

Down at halftime, the Owls resolved to keep fighting. “We challenged them and I thought they stepped up and showed who they can really be in that third quarter,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

Rice went on the offensive in the third quarter, quickly erasing the halftime deficit and creating a new lead of their own. The Owls outscored ACU 24-11 in the third with Ashlee Austin leading the way. Up by six entering the final quarter, Rice was able to withstand ACU’s final push and secure their second-straight win to open the season.

“I thought we showed up a little unfocused and not ready and our defense showed that,” Edmonds said after the final buzzer. “And then I think the second half I think we showed up and showed how we can be the defensive team that we can be. We rebounded the basketball and because of our defense and our rebounding we were able to create easier offensive opportunities for us.”

Five Owls reached double-digits, Austin’s 10 points coming entirely in the second half. The team shot 50 percent from the floor after halftime, turning a seven-point deficit into a 16 point victory.

Player Spotlight | Ashlee Austin

This season Rice women’s basketball boasts one of the deepest rosters it has had in some time. Given that influx of young talent, coach Edmonds has been able to spread the ball around, getting contributions from several different players early in the season.

On Sunday though, trailing by seven at half to ACU, Rice needed someone to take charge and seize control. As she’s done time and time again, Ashlee Austin rose to the occasion.

“Our main message coming out of halftime was just to be us,” Austin said. “Especially as a senior, I personally felt a need to be as perfect as possible and try and do everything I can.”

Austin finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, a modest line by her standards, but it was when that production came that mattered most. Austin tallied eight of those points and four of those rebounds in the third quarter, leading the comeback charge and putting the Owls ahead for good.

Final Box | Rice 85 – ACU 69

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball won’t be back in Tudor Fieldhouse until early December, playing their next four games away from home. That road trip begins on Wednesday at Saint Mary’s — a late tip scheduled for 10:00 p.m. CT — then at Pacific on Friday. Both games will be streamed on WCC Sports.

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Rice Football cedes too many turnovers into road loss at WKU

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Too many turnovers turned an otherwise promising Rice Football start into another Owls’ loss, this time on the road against Western Kentucky.

Turnovers, injuries and a porous defense produced a gut-punch on the road as Rice football fell in what ended up becoming a lopsided affair, despite the many early opportunities. Western Kentucky clinched a bowl berth. Rice didn’t.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren summed it up in a blunt, but honest postgame comment. “We picked a bad day to have a bad day,” he said. “You just can’t win football games [when you play] like that.”

Here are a few immediate reactions from the game:

The offense *almost* goes according to plan

The formula for Rice football to beat Western Kentucky wasn’t complicated. In fact, it was a script the Owls had leaned on before, often to much success. Rice wanted to control the football, keeping Austin Reed and the Hilltoppers’ offense off the field as much as possible.

When it came time to execute, Rice worked the plan nearly to perfection. The Owls’ first offensive drives were almost pristine. On 10 plays, Rice went 55 yards in 5:08. Then on the ensuing possession, Rice went 50 yards on 12 plays, taking 7:34 off the clock. The problem? Both of those drives ended in redzone interceptions by TJ McMahon.

The third possession was a disaster — McMahon was sacked on third down and injured — as WKU scored a defensive touchdown. The fourth possession was perfect. 13 plays, 75 yards and a one-yard touchdown run to finally get Rice on the board.

If Rice simply did not turn the ball over (yes, a feeble dream at this point), the Owls could have entered halftime tied or even leading. Instead, they faced a 24-7 deficit which spiraled further after the break. Rice moved the football really well on Saturday. They just convulsed at the wrong moments, and when they did, disaster ensued.

Houston, you’ve got a turnover problem

If there were still any doubts, Rice football has clearly moved from unlucky to clearly deficient when it comes to turnovers. The Owls did have another tipped pass interception in this game for good measure, at least the seventh time that’s happened this season, but the overwhelming inability to protect the football was frankly exhausting.

Rice turned the ball over on their first three possessions, spoiling what should have been a very competitive game and forcing the team into comeback mode as a double-digit favorite on the road with backup quarterback Shawqi Itraish at the helm. If you were to write a horror story for any college football staff, that’s how it would start.

What makes this problem particularly frustrating is the lack of one person to point to as the root cause. On some days, it’s McMahon. On others, it’s the return game. Yet others still, it’s the running backs that put it on the ground.“It’s not one person,” Bloomgren said. And therein lies the problem. One person you can bench. A whole team? Some other solution has to emerge.

“I think you talk about it. I think you coach it the right way. I don’t know really what else to do,” Bloomgren admitted.

Rice turned the ball over a staggering six times against WKU. If they can’t fix that, they’re not going to find a way to win most of their games, regardless of how well they play in literally every other aspect of the game.

Third down defensive nightmares continue

Getting off the field on third down was a talking point for the Owls all week long. They knew it was something they had to do better if they were going to win. On Saturday against Western Kentucky, they might have actually gotten worse.

As the Rice offense milked the clock but failed to score, the defense forced Western Kentucky into six third down tries in the opening half. They converted five of them, including a deflating 62-yard touchdown pass on third and long in the second quarter.

Western Kentucky finished the game  8-of-11 on third down. Rice was nearly as good (7-of-11), but there was no keeping up with the Hilltoppers’ offense, especially with turnovers aplenty.

The extra plays led to extra big plays. Not only did Western Kentucky move the ball well, they got yards in chunks. Austin Reed clinically picked apart the Rice secondary. Five different receivers had a reception of at least 19 yards. Two caught touchdowns, with Reed running one in from the one-yard line himself. WKU punter John Haggerty never stepped on the field.

The Owls can run the dang ball?

It might have taken a quarterback to force the Owls’ hand, but when push came to shove, Rice ran the ball as well as they have in any game this season against Western Kentucky. Juma Otoviano led the way with 14 carries for 96 yards, averaging 6.9 yards per tote. Cam Montgomery and Dean Connors were both north of 4.8 yards per carry, too.

The running game was absolutely superb, perhaps even more so given the situation into which they were asked to run into. Western Kentucky knew what was coming and still couldn’t stop them. Had it not been for a holding penalty that negated a touchdown run, the numbers might have looked even more impressive.

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

The unfortunate part, in this instance, was the disastrous way Rice started this game. Had they not handed over two red zone possession with interceptions, the running attack would have been able to do its job. Instead, Rice was forced to juggle a successful rushing attack against an ever-ticking clock. The result wasn’t what the Owls had been hoping for.

The bright spot — if there is any — was a resurgent performance by the offensive line and a strong rushing attack. If McMahon does miss further time, they’re going to need both aspects to succeed to scratch out another win. And even if McMahon does return, a balanced offensive attack is clearly the answer right now.

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Rice Women’s Basketball outlasts SFA to win season opener

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It took all four quarters, but Rice women’s basketball was able to outlast SFA in their season opener with superior depth and Malia Fisher’s big game.

On Monday night, Rice women’s basketball was waiting for their season to begin. Meanwhile SFA, the Owls’ first opponent, was notching a season-opening victory over fellow C-USA member UTSA. That was notice enough for the Owls to be ready to battle with the Lady Lumberjacks from tip, and that’s exactly how things transpired at Tudor Fieldhouse on Thursday.

Rice came out ready, scoring eight quick points before SFA was able to battle back and get on the board. From there the game was tied at 10, tied at 12 and tied at 20, all before the first quarter was through. The SFA press made Rice work for every possession.

Malia Fisher hit a floater at the buzzer to close out the first quarter to give Rice some breathing room. The Owls followed with a composed second quarter, slightly lengthening that one-possession lead to a six-point halftime advantage.

More: Rice Women’s Basketball Season Preview

The Owls knocked down several foul shots in the process. The lead might have been longer had they been more effective from the charity stripe, converting just 10-of-18 (56 percent) from the line in the first half and 25-of-35 (71 percent) free throws in the game, thanks to a perfect 11-of-11 day at the line from Destiny Jackson.

It was the freshmen who provided the second-half spark. Already buoyed by a strong shooting performance from distance by Dominque Ennis, the Owls got big baskets from Shelby Hayes and Jazzy Owens-Barnett, extending their third-quarter lead to as many as 10 before SFA cut it down to two to start the fourth.

Every time SFA would go on a run, Rice had an answer. And it was usually a different face making the next shot. After working most of last season with eight healthy players, Rice played 10 different players against SFA, eventually outlasting the Lumberjacks thanks to that depth, outscoring SFA 34-19 in bench points.

“That’s a really good basketball team that we just played and they’re gonna win a lot of basketball games,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said in the aftermath. “But I think it just goes to show how talented we are, how deep we are and how good I think we can be this season.”

Player Spotlight | Malia Fisher

It took less than two quarters for Malia Fisher to notch her first double-double of the season and the ninth of her young career. Fisher led Rice and all Conference USA freshmen in double-doubles last season and is already on pace to do so again.

That wasn’t the only milestone Fisher reached on Thursday night. She became the sixth Owl to reach 20 rebounds in a single game, a number she wasn’t even aware she’d reached until after the game.

“I’ll take that every single night,” Edmonds said in jest as a smile beamed across her face, a fitting end to a hard-fought night that ended just like it was supposed to: with a Rice win.

Final Box | Rice 89 – SFA 77

Up Next | Full Schedule

Rice women’s basketball has one more game at Tudor Fieldhouse before they hit the road for the first time this season. On Sunday, the Owls will host Abilene Christian. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. That game will be streamed on CUSAtv.

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