OWLS HOST GEORGE WASHINGTON

HOUSTON, TEXAS (January 4, 2009) Rice women's basketball team (4-8) hosts George Washington (7-6) on Monday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. in Tudor Fieldhouse on the Rice campus.

The Owls are 1-1 all-time in the series vs. the Colonials. Rice won the last meeting 67-54 in Houston. GW will seek its first road victory of the season against Rice after losing at #3 Texas A&M on Saturday 78-59. Rice freshman D'Frantz Smart leads Rice in scoring (13.6 ppg), assists (59) and steals (31). Sophomore forward Morgan Mayse and senior guard Maudess Fulton average 10.1 and 9.5 ppg respectively. Mayse leads the Owls in rebounding (6.1 rpg).

Previous Game
San Antonio, Texas -- Melissa Wittmayer posted a career-high double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, but Rice could not overcome a 28-point first half deficit and fell to Texas-San Antonio by the score of 81-50 Saturday after at the Convocation Center on the UTSA campus. The double-double was the first of Wittmayer's Rice career. The center from Longview, Texas, also added a pair of blocked shots and an assist in a season-high 18 minutes of work.

Like the Owls' most-recent game at Mississippi last week, a first half deficit on the road proved to be too much to overcome. Rice hit only three of their first 12 shots and UTSA was able to built an 18-7 advantage in the first eight minutes of action. The Roadrunners extended the margin to 20 late in the first half and finished the period holding a 47-19 lead on the strength of a 27-6 run. The Owls had their lowest first half point of the season on 21.2 percent shooting (7-of-33) and gave up 14 points off turnovers.

The Blue & Gray settled down to play better in the second half with 31 points on 41 percent shooting (14-of-34) but the team still could not whittle-down the lead any further. UTSA maintained its steady scoring and four Roadrunners reached double-digit points on the day. UTSA was led by Guard Monica Gibbs' 17 points and 11 rebounds. Forward Onika Anderson's added a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Guard Whitney York chipped in 13 points with seven assists.

Rice senior forward Emery Carter tied a season-high with 12 rebounds and scored eight points in the second half. For the game UTSA held a 55-45 advantage on the glass, including a 37-12 margin on the Owls' offensive side.

Fox Force Five
The Rice Owls have started the same lineup in each of the first 12 games this season. D'Frantz Smart (g), Maudess Fulton (g), Tara Watts (g), Morgan Mayse (c), and Emery Carter (f) have started all 12 games for Greg Williams' Owls.

Get Smart
D'Frantz Smart scored a team season-high 26 points vs. UT-Arlington and she also notched 20 points vs. UCLA. Smart dished out a Rice season-high 9 assists vs. UTA and she had 7 at Lafayette.

On-Campus Wins
In the Greg Williams era, Rice has racked up a 25-9 home record when playing on-campus. The Hanzen College product strung together back-to-back 11-3 marks in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Rice returned on-campus for the first time in 20 months and recorded a 76-55 win over Cal State Northridge to open Tudor Fieldhouse.

Streak Snapped
Prior to the Baylor contest, Rice had won seven consecutive non-conference home games dating back to the 2006-07 season. The Owls won all three of its non-conference games a year ago against Arkansas-Little Rock (49-39), TCU (82-74) and Rider (66-65).

Carter Country
Emery Carter is building on momentum gained towards the end of last season after sitting out the last 19 games of 2006-07 and first eight games of 2007-08. She starts the 2008-09 campaign without a knee brace. The Arkansas native scored a season-high 12 points vs. UT-Martin and had a season-high 12 boards vs. UTSA.

Fulton Scores Season-High
Maudess Fulton scored a season-high 20 points in the Owls' win over Tenn.-Martin at the Ole Miss Holiday Classic. She also tallied 11 vs. Ole Miss in being named to the all-tournament team. Fulton has now scored in double-digits five times this season. She scored a career-best 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting at UCLA last year.

Watts Happening
Tara Watts has been in double-digit scoring three times this season. She poured in a season-high 20 points at Lafayette, while also scoring 13 vs. CS-Northridge and 10 at Hofstra. Watts is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.9 ppg and second with 16 three-pointers made.

Double Time
Melissa Wittmayer, sophomore, posted her first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds at UTSA. She leads Rice with 10 blocks this season.

Scoring over 70
Rice has put together an impressive 29-7 mark in the Greg Williams era when scoring over 70 points.

The Owls surpassed the 70-point plateau five times last season, including wins over Cal State Northridge, TCU, and Tulane.

Rice tallied 76 points in its season opener against Cal State Northridge. The Owls scored 72 in the loss against UT-Arlington and also scored 76 in the overtime loss at Lafayette.

Keeping Them Under 60
Over the last three seasons under head coach Greg Williams, Rice has notched a 35-5 record when holding its opponents to under 60 points. The Owls were 8-1 last season after winning 13 of their 14 decisions in 2006-07. Rice has started 2008-09 strong on the defensive end as the Owls sport C-USA third-best defense limiting opponents to 60.2 points per game and 38.8 shooting (112-of-289) from the floor.

Easy as A-B-C-D
This year's edition of Rice freshmen class is as easy to remember as A-B-C-D. Amenemope McKinney tallied a balanced 9.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game during her senior season at Bowie High School in Arlington.

McKinney scored a career-high 12 points at Hofstra. Much heralded as the Texas 4-A Player of the Year, Brianna Hypolite eclipsed over 2,100 points, 1,500 rebounds, 300 assists and 300 steals over her career at Dickinson High School. Hypolite scored a career-high 17 vs. Furman (Nov. 25).

Candace Ashford is Rice's newest edition to the post notching 9.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks at Plano West High School.

Ashford tallied six points and six rebounds over 26 minutes against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 19). She also knocked down a pair of critical free throws with the Owls down by 3 with 1:52 remaining.

D'Frantz Smart was runner-up Miss Illinois basketball after helping Chicago's Whitney Young High School to the state championship. She averaged 13.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.

Year Three in Conference USA
Since Rice joined Conference USA for the 2005-06 season, the Owls are the only program in the league to record multiple postseason bids under the current realignment.