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Rice Women’s Basketball tops Temple, advances to AAC Title Game

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Rice Women’s Basketball got pivotal plays from its leaders in crunch time to knock off Temple and advance to the AAC Championship Game.

Two of the better defensive teams in the American Conference slugged it out in the semi-finals on Tuesday night as Rice Women’s basketball took on Temple with a trip to the conference championship game on the line. The all-Owl affair featured lots of physicality and intensity with points at a premium.

The squads combined for 18 fouls in the first half, with two starters apiece charged with multiple fouls before halftime. Even with the interruptions, the teams shot the ball fairly well. Malia Fisher and Sussy Ngulefac took charge for Rice, scoring 20 of the team’s 33 first-half points as Rice sought to pound the interior and force Temple into defensive mismatches.

More: Takeaways from first week Rice Football spring practice 

A modest four-point halftime lead ballooned to as many as 13 in the third quarter as Ngulefac, Destiny Jackson and Emily Klaczek sparked an 11-0 run to take command of the game, but the edge would be fleeting.

Temple battled back, whittling the lead down to single digits before taking the lead with 3:29 remaining in regulation. It was then, with the season hanging in the balance, that Rice got three near-perfect performances from three of its most important leaders.

Klaczek followed a Fisher layup with a massive corner three to put Rice back in front by three. Destiny Jackson won on an iso play the following possession, keeping the lead at four. Then, with Temple inbounding as Rice nursed a two-point lead, Fisher stepped in front of the pass and effectively ended the game.

“I’m long and lanky,” Fisher said of that pivotal play, a play that effectively sent Rice to the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.

“That’s why they’re in the game, late game. I trust them. I count on them. They know what it’s like. I said it yesterday,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “They’re tough. They’re competitors. I trust them. When the game is on the line, I know they’re going to do what it takes to make sure Rice comes out on top.”

Final Box | Rice 61 – North Texas 59

What They’re Saying

“We’ve been on a little bit of a revenge tour here, since we’ve been here. UAB got us at their place. We lost at home to North Texas and Temple. So we had a little bit more fuel to our fire behind all of the games that we were facing to make sure that we came out on top and we came out on top at the right time.

Toughness has really prevailed. Our togetherness has really shown. We have hung our hats on defense. I’m just really, really proud of the efforts. We could hung her heads a couple of times tonight but we found a way to get one more, to get one more rebound, to come out on the winning end. Really, really proud of the group.” – Head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Don’t Settle

During Rice women’s basketball’s five-game losing streak to end the regular season, the Owls shot 20.2 percent from three including a 3-for-30 outing against North Texas. Head coach Lindsay Edmonds saw those results and made a change, keeping Sussy Ngulefac in the starting lineup for each game of the conference tournament and making a concerted effort to attack the rim.

“We were just talking about not settling for threes and talking about being aggressive, putting pressure on them, putting pressure on the paint, putting pressure on officials to make calls for us,” Edmonds said. “I really liked how they executed to start the game.”

Ngulefac, whose only start before this week came in the regular season finale against UTSA, was named player of the game for her efforts, finishing with 11 points and five rebounds with two blocks.

The Owls’ focus on going inside would eventually open up opportunities to make an extra pass and set up open looks from three. Klaczek’s huge triple in the final minute was made possible because of pressure inside that opened up the shot.

Rice women’s basketball has found a recipe that works. If they want to win one more game and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, they need to stay aggressive, attack the basket and keep winning on defense. If they can, they’re going dancing.

Up Next: vs ECU on Wednesday in the AAC Title Game, March 13 at 6:00 pm

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Rice Women’s Basketball edges North Texas to reach AAC Tourney Semi-Finals

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It took a full 40 minutes, but Rice Women’s Basketball came out on top, holding on to a one-point lead in the final minute to take down North Texas.

The intensity was palpable on the floor of Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas on Monday night as 10-Seed Rice Women’s Basketball battled with 2-Seed North Texas with a trip to the American Athletic Conference Semi-Finals on the line. Emotions were high as the ball raced up and down the court with the Owls dictating the game in the early goings, albeit barely.

Rice led after the first quarter. They led at halftime. They led after three. None of those leads were by more than three points. In fact, through three quarters, there were just 30 seconds of the game to that point in which either team had led by more than two scores. When it comes to close games, it’s hard to envision much tighter than this.

Emily Klaczek, whose 13 points were second on the Owls’ in scoring to only Destiny Jackson, delivered a trio of big three-point shots in clutch moments, helping Rice keep pace in the second half.

“You never want it to be as close as it was, but to some degree, it’s kind of fun sometimes when it’s down to the wire,” Klaczek said. “I really got a lot of belief in our team and when it’s a close game like that, I would take us any day.”

More: Takeaways from first week Rice Football spring practice 

That unity was put on display in the final three minutes. Rice would make one field goal during that stretch as North Texas turned a six-point Rice lead into a one-point Mean Green advantage. Rice players were tired, admitting as much after the game, but they resolved to keep pushing and find a way to win.

“I was also impressed by our team too, lifting them up, giving them energy,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “When they were coming to the bench there was like so much energy fed into them. Timeouts were really locked in, really focused. I think that also helped them, being able to push through, because they knew their teammates 100 percent had their backs.”

Destiny Jackson hit the eventual game-winner with 41 seconds to play, but it would take several more stops amidst turnovers and miscues before Rice women’s basketball was able to exhale. And even then, North Texas’ last shot, a long three, dipped halfway into the cylinder before rattling out. Rice needed that one last stop. They got it.

“I think the last two years with us, we’ve always kind of hung our hats on offense,” Edmonds said. “But this year, when we’ve been really good, it’s been us hanging our hats on defense.” On Monday night, that defense held the highest-scoring team in the AAC, North Texas, to just 59 points, almost 16 points below their average night. As a result, Rice is moving on.

Final Box | Rice 61 – North Texas 59

What They’re Saying

“I think we have the want to. We talked about it yesterday, putting our foot down and getting one more stop. Putting our foot down and getting one more rebound and one more rebound and not letting anything affect us or anything stop us for being able to do that.

Mindset. Mentality. Focus. I think we’ve had it for 40 minutes for the last two games. Really, really proud of their grittiness down the stretch to be able to get those stops.” – Head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Battle Tested

In a game in which Rice women’s basketball led for 31 minutes, there wasn’t ever really a moment where the Owls could exhale. No lead was safe enough, no possession long enough, to afford either side to come up for air. The in-game win probabilities oscillated wildly back and forth as neither side ever took a commanding lead.

Rice has been in several close games in the past month, but it’s been a while since they’ve endured a 40-minute slug fest like this and come out on top. When it comes to finding ways to win in March, experiences like this matter. The Owls have been through this fire. Their reward? At least one more chance.

“We’ve talked a lot about adversities that we’ve faced this season and how it was going to bring us March blessings,” Edmonds said. Here we are. We got to keep doing it. Tomorrow’s the next day and we’ve got to keep fighting.”

Up Next: vs Temple/Tulane on Tuesday, March 12 at 8:00 pm

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Rice Women’s Basketball bests UAB, moves on in AAC Tourney

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Rice Women’s Basketball bounced back from a regular season loss at UAB, getting the better of the Blazers in the AAC Tournament to survive and advance.

Defense set the tone for Rice women’s basketball in their opening game of the American Athletic Conference Tournament against UAB. They gave up 87 points to the Blazers in Birmingham in February, the start of an extended losing streak that dropped the Owls to the No. 10 seed in this year’s field.

“We started out fast,” Destiny Jackson said after the win. “Just having that mentality that mindset, the want-to the hunger to want to win and not like play to not lose, but to play to win.”

Rice held UAB to 29 first-half points on 31 percent shooting, locking down the perimeter and controlling the boards as they set the tone for what was to come. Rice took charge in earnest midway through the second quarter. After a 6-0 run to start the frame, UAB would convert just two field goals through the rest of the period as Rice outscored them 18-5 to take a nine-point advantage into the break.

More: Takeaways from first week Rice Football spring practice 

Rice leaned on the combination of Malia Fisher and Sussy Ngulefac to lengthen their lead in the third, firmly putting the game into the Owls’ control, a stark difference from how things went the first time against UAB.

“I really think the difference between this past game and the one before is that all 15 of us had the mentality that we had the capabilities to beat anybody if we set our mind to it,” Fisher said. “Everybody came out and executed to the best of their abilities, and everybody did what they were supposed to do.”

That duo of Fisher and Ngulefac accounted for 16 of the Owls’ 20 points, getting ahead by as many as 19 points and giving the Owls line of sight to the next round of the tournament. Following an uneventful fourth quarter, Rice solidified those aspirations, punching their ticket to the next round and a rematch against North Texas.

Final Box | Rice 71 – UAB 56

What They’re Saying

“We’re on a mission. It doesn’t matter who we play and what happened in the previous games because everybody is win or go home, but we got a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth from the last time we played North Texas so that should fuel us. We did a lot of good things in that game. We forced a lot of turnovers. We had a lot of steals. We had a lot of offensive rebounds. We held them to a low scoring night, but that doesn’t mean anything. We got to come out and do it again and we got to do more than what we did the last time.

Whoever we’re playing we’re going to be ready to face, regardless of what the outcome was the last time, because we have a mission that we’re trying to accomplish.” – Head coach Lindsay Edmonds

Key takeaway | Starters strong

Rice women’s basketball leaned heavily on its bench this season, more so than any other team in the AAC. With the season on the line, they flipped the script, riding their starters to a dominant win to keep their season alive. The Owls averaged 25.2 bench points per game entering this contest.

When the fourth quarter began, the Rice bench had totaled five points, picking up the bulk of their 12 total bench points in the game after the team had established a sizable lead.

Our team is deep. I’ve said it all year long. When we show up, we can go deep into our bench and not have a huge drop off, but also, when our starters get us off to a good start, there’s where we’re at our best. ”

Fisher had a team-high 20 points. Jackson was right behind with 14. Ngulefac has 12. No bench player had more than five. That isn’t necessarily prescriptive of how this team has to play moving forward, but what Edmonds said is certainly true. When the Rice starters play well, this team’s ceiling is tremendous.

Up Next: vs North Texas on Monday, March 11 at 6:00 pm

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Rice Women’s Basketball falls to UTSA, skids into AAC Tournament

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Rice Women’s Basketball dropped its fifth consecutive contest, falling on the road to UTSA in the final game of the regular season.

Malia Fisher went supernova, delivering a Herculean performance in the final Rice women’s basketball game of the regular season. She scored the first points for the Owls. She scored the last points. Altogether she tallied 30 points — more than the next two closest players on the court combined — and 12 boards. It wasn’t enough, though.

Despite Fisher’s efforts, Rice women’s basketball was unable to overcome a poor shooting night as a whole. The 30 percent shooting performance was most noticeable in the second quarter when UTSA opened up a close game and earned its first double-digit advantage. Then came the third period in which Rice made just two shots (both from Fisher) and saw their deficit grow to as many as 19 points.

More: Roost Podcast — Spring Roundup

The team never gave up, fighting and clawing from that seemingly insurmountable hole to get the game back within reach. Fisher’s trio of successive baskets in the final minutes got Rice within three. The comeback would stop there, however, as UTSA knocked down a layup and a few ensuing foul shots to secure the win and hand loss its fifth consecutive loss in conference play.

Final Box | UTSA 60 – Rice 52

Key takeaway | Coming in cold

You want to be playing your best ball in March. It has to be the most overused cliche in college basketball. The Owls had better hope it’s a cliche and nothing more. Of the 14 teams in the American Conference, only one has been worse over the last three weeks of the regular season than Rice. Tulane (3-15 in the AACP) has lost eight consecutive games.

The standings are so tight. One more win and the Owls probably could have snuck into the final double-bye, earning the No. 4 Seed instead of the No. 10 seed. Instead, the low mark in the standings serves as a gut punch for a team that was picked to finish third in the preseason polls and swept East Carolina and USF, the preseason frontrunners.

That sets up a very intriguing week ahead. At their best, this team took down Tulsa, the AAC’s regular season champ. Rice is going to need to recapture that magic if they want to reshape the narrative on a season that has not gone according to plan.

Up Next: AAC Tournament

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Rice Women’s Basketball runs out of gas vs North Texas

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Rice Women’s Basketball played North Texas tight for 38 minutes before the Owls shooting struggles finally came home to roost.

For 38 minutes, Rice women’s basketball and North Texas were locked in the makings of a class game between these two Texas-based powers. Through 38 minutes, neither team led by more than six points. There were 10 ties and seven lead changes. The back-and-forth was constant and neither team ever felt in control.

Malia Fisher and Emily Klaczek were productive from the field with Sussy Ngulefac coming off the bench with a team-high 13 points as well as four boards. Everything seemed to be going well for the home team until all of a sudden the shots stopped falling at the most inopportune time.

More: Roost Podcast — Spring Roundup

The Owls missed eight consecutive shots in the final 2:05 before a last-second layup that proved irrelevant to the final result. The run of misses inflated a woeful day from deep in which Rice converted a dismal 3-of-30 attempts from three-point range, further depressing a disappointing 31 percent shooting performance from the field.

Final Box | North Texas 63 – Rice 54

Key takeaway | Slipping away

There’s never a good time to lose four in a row, but the last weeks of the regular season are a particularly painful time to do so. Two weeks ago the double-bye in the conference tournament looked exceedingly likely. Today, not so much.

Rice is currently tied in the win column with Charlotte,  UAB, Memphis and UTSA. They don’t hold the tiebreaker with any of those four, with the Roadrunners still on the schedule in the final game of the regular season. That lack of a tiebreaker is what makes the double-bye seem so out of reach right now.

If Charlotte beats FAU on Sunday or ECU on Tuesday, they’ll be guaranteed the spot ahead of Rice in the standings. The same goes for UAB if they’re able to beat Wichita State on Tuesday.

The Owls’ only chance right now would require Charlotte to lose both games, UAB to lose to Wichita State, Memphis to lose to North Texas AND Rice to beat UTSA. If that exact scenario happened, Rice would finish 10-8, a game ahead of that entire grouping.

Up Next: at UTSA (Tuesday, Mar. 5)

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