Patience pays off for women’s basketball with win over Tulsa
With the prospect of a lost season slowly turning into a reality, the women’s basketball team may have just caught its footing. Playing in a nip-tuck game against the University of Tulsa, Rice went on an 11-0 run over the final five-plus minutes in the second half to beat the Golden Hurricane 69-59 and secure its first home conference win of the year.
The Owls (9-15, 2-8 Conference USA), may be just one game out of the cellar in the C-USA standings, but the team’s fortunes could change dramatically over the final three weeks of the season. Yesterday, Rice faced Tulane University (13-10, 3-7 C-USA) in New Orleans, La., to start a crucial four-game road stretch. Tomorrow, the Owls take on probably their toughest opponent of the season, the 24th-ranked University of Texas-El Paso (19-2, 10-0 C-USA).
While it is unlikely to expect the Owls to defeat both, or even one, of these teams — Rice lost by 23 to each team in their previous meetings this season — if they were to come away with victories, the Owls would be in good position to move up in the conference standings and gain a higher seed heading into the conference tournament next month.
Head coach Greg Williams (Hanszen ‘70), however, is not looking too far ahead in the schedule. He said that, while the Owls’ upcoming opponents pose plenty of challenges, the team’s recent finishes have created a newfound sense of poise.
“We have four tough road games — it does not get any easier,” Williams said. “But certainly our kids can gain a lot of confidence from the Tulsa win.”
That confidence did not come about easily. Friday, Rice suffered a potentially devastating 70-68 loss to Southern Methodist University (17-6, 7-3 C-USA) in overtime. After rallying from an early 19-9 deficit, the Owls went into halftime trailing 31-25.
The second half was much the same story — Rice found itself down or tied most of the way. The Owls struggled from the field, at one point going five minutes without a basket. But the shooting of sophomore guard Tara Watts, who had 14 of her career-high 19 points in the half, kept the Owls afloat. Her three-pointer with 3:50 remaining tied the game at 53, but SMU regained control with a quick scoring burst that put them up five with three minutes left.
Luckily for the Owls, the seniors, who had lain dormant for much of the game, finally stepped up. Point guard Kadie Riverin and center Valeriya Berezhynska combined for the next six points to give the Owls a 59-58 advantage. A free throw by SMU’s Delisha Willis then knotted the score at 59 with a minute left, but neither team found the bottom of the net after that and the game went to overtime.
In the extra stanza, the Owls actually held the Mustangs to a paltry 1-5 shooting. However, it did not matter, as SMU went 9-10 from the free throw line in overtime to cap a 24-29 night from the charity stripe. With the Owls down by two and Berezhynska fouled out late in the game, Williams was forced to look for Watts or Mayse for the potential tying or go-ahead basket. Coming off a screen with the clock winding down, Watts was tied up by Brittany Gilliam, who forced a turnover with 1.4 seconds left to seal the Owls’ fate.
“Berezhynska was out of the game, and we were trying to go to our trying to go to our two best offensive players, and that’s Morgan and Tara,” Williams said. “We had many golden opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of.”
The Owls did not seem fazed the next day, though they soon found themselves in another back-and-forth game. Rice once again struggled from the field in the first half, shooting only 32 percent. With Berezhynska limited to five minutes in the half due to foul trouble, Chanel Johnson dominated the post for the Golden Hurricane, putting in 17 points and seven rebounds. However, Rice built a slight 32-29 lead as the teams headed into halftime.
A Johnson layup gave Tulsa a 56-53 lead with 6:30 in the second half, but a jumper by junior forward Emery Carter and a Riverin three-pointer gave the Owls the lead. After a three-pointer by Tulsa center Kara Vaughan with 5:11 left, Rice pulled away with a dominating 11-0 run to finally take control of the game.
Mayse and Carter made up for Berezhynska’s absence in the post and effectively took Johnson out of the game in the second half — the Tulsa center was limited to four points down the stretch. Mayse finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Carter had eight points and 10 rebounds. And, though struggling from the field, Watts dished out a career-high eight assists and had five steals to lead the Owls’ defense.
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