After trailing by 12 in the 3rd, women rally to win 66-61.

Yessss!

(02-16-2017 09:58 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  After trailing by 12 in the 3rd, women rally to win 66-61.

Excellent. I had checked when it was about 2 minutes into the 4th while at the MBB game but didn't see the final. Sort of a make up for the UNT late loss. Well done ladies and staff.

Great win and the team is stepping up with Goodwine out. We already beat our conference win record already from last year (4 wins last year).

(02-16-2017 09:58 PM)Frizzy Owl Wrote:  After trailing by 12 in the 3rd, women rally to win 66-61.

I went to this game. Actually, it was a 14-point deficit after UTSA scored the first four points of the second half to open up a 32-18 lead. The Owls outscored them 48-29 the rest of the way. Rice didn't do a bad job defensively in the first half, but they missed a bunch of makeable shots and committed several unforced turnovers on sloppy ball-handling and a couple of possessions where no one seemed to want to shoot that resulted in shot-clock violations. Nevertheless, the game remained close until the last 2:30 of the second quarter when the Roadrunners scored 10 of the last 11 points to go up by 10 at the half. The 18 points the Owls scored was the lowest halftime total of the season. The Owls kept playing good defense, allowing the Roadrunners only 6 points in the last 6:53 of the game, and the shots started falling. Nicole Iademarco was 0 for 4 from the field in the first half but caught on fire in the second half, making 5 of 8 shots, including 3 of 5 from three-point range. Rice finally took the lead with 47 seconds left when Shani Rainey was fouled while making a layup and converted the free throw to put the Owls up 62-61. UTSA missed a shot, and then a huge sequence of events sealed the win for Rice. With 21 seconds left, Maya Hawkins found Kendall Ellig alone in the paint, and UTSA's Tesha Smith hooked her arm around Ellig to keep her from driving to the basket for a layup. The officials called a flagrant foul on Smith and gave Ellig two free throws, who made one, plus possession to Rice. The Owls got the ball in to Iademarco, who was quickly fouled, and who quickly made two free throws to put Rice up by 4 with 19 seconds left. The Roadrunners pushed the ball upcourt quickly, apparently to try a 2-for-1 situation, but Rainey stepped in the way of the UTSA shooter and took the charge with 11 seconds left. Iademarco made one of two free throws to account for the final score. It was definitely one of the most impressive comebacks I've ever seen from a Rice basketball team.

(02-16-2017 11:43 PM)OldOwl Wrote:  Great win and the team is stepping up with Goodwine out. We already beat our conference win record already from last year (4 wins last year).

Having Goodwine would have been helpful; Smith was UTSA's high scorer and was effective in the paint. Coach Langley had Ellig in there in the final few minutes, and she did a decent job of slowing Smith down, which was crucial to the outcome.

Rice beats UTEP, 80-76.

Great news! I haven't followed the women closely, but I think Langley really has things going in the right direction.