EL PASO, TEXAS Janaury 9, 2009) In its first Conference USA game of the season, the Rice Owls lost to UTEP 76-60 at the Don Haskins Center. It was the Miners (8-7, 1-1) fourth win in a row against the Owls (5-9, 0-1).
The Owls led at the break 31-28 as they committed a season-low six turnovers, while scoring 9 points off of eight UTEP miscues. It was the seventh game of the year in which Rice has led at the half.
But, it was a different story after half-time, one that ended in UTEP's favor.
The Miners found another gear in the second-half and outscored Rice by 19 (48 to 29). The Owls did not value possession of the basketball, as UTEP poured in 24 points off of 14 Rice turnovers. UTEP had tallied 0 points off of turnovers in the first-half and it also scored 28 points in the paint in the second-half after only scoring 8 in the first-half.
Doing most of the damage for UTEP were Jareica Hughes with a game-high 21 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals and Timika Williams who followed with 19 points and 9 boards. The Miners shot 43 percent from the field and narrowly out-rebounded Rice 42 to 38.
The Owls were led by Maudess Fulton's 13 points, 9 of which came by way of free throws, and 7 rebounds, while D'Frantz Smart scored 12 points and had a season-high 5 steals. Rice shot 33 percent from the field and made 15 of 16 free throws.
Rice now plays at Tulane on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Fogelman Arena on the Tulane campus.
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