HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 9, 2009) The Rice women's basketball team (5-18, 0-10) has four straight home games in Tudor Fieldhouse beginning with UTEP on on Thurs., Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Rice then plays Tulane on Sat., Feb. 14 at 2 p.m.
The Owls are 21-7 in the series vs. UTEP, but the Miners captured the season's first game 76-60 in El Paso, Texas. Tulane also won the first meeting this year 91-63 and now leads the series 10-9.
Quick Look at the Owls
Rice freshman D'Frantz Smart leads Rice in scoring (12.2 ppg), assists (86) and steals (50). Senior guard Maudess Fulton averages 10.3 ppg, while sophomore forward Morgan Mayse averages 8.5 ppg and 5.3 rebounds. Emery Carter leads Rice in rebounding at 6.0 rpg.
Previous Game
Cobilyn Hill scored a career-high 26 points in leading Houston past Rice 70-50 in a Conference USA game played at Hofheinz Pavilion on the U of H campus. Houston's Courtney Taylor posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Britney Scott scored 12 points and dished out 7 assists. Hill also pulled down 9 rebounds. The Owls were led in scoring by Morgan Mayse who scored 11 points off the bench in shooting 50 percent from the field. The Cougars began the contest by scoring the game's first 12 points and never looked back. Houston made 5-5 from the field in the first five minutes, conversely, the Owls went 0-6 to begin the game. Rice head coach Greg Williams switched to a trapping half-court zone mixed in with some full-court pressure to cut into the lead. The Owls were down 25-11, but the defensive pressure applied forced Houston into committing several miscues as Rice went on a 11-4 run. The score at the half was 33-23 in favor of the Cougars. It was 33-23 at the half. Houston started the second-half by outscoring Rice 15 to 8 pushing its lead to 15 (48 to 33). A bucket by Rice's Melissa Wittmayer brought the Owls to within 10 at 50-40, but the Cougars responded by outscoring the Owls 11 to 5 to put the game out of reach. For the game, Rice shot 31.7 percent from the field and totaled 31 rebounds. Houston shot 43.9 percent from the field and grabbed 49 rebounds, 12 of which were offensive.
Get Smart
D'Frantz Smart leads the Owls in scoring at 12.2 ppg (12th in C-USA) and she is the highest-scoring freshman in the league. Smart has led the Owls in scoring 8 times this season. She is sixth in C-USA in assists (4.53) and first in steals (2.63). She has scored 20 or more points in three games this year. She scored a team season-high 26 points vs. UT-Arlington, 22 vs. George Washington and 20 vs. UCLA. Smart dished out a Rice season-high 9 assists vs. UTA and she had 7 at Lafayette. She also leads the Owls in three-pointers made (32).
Carter Country
Emery Carter, hampered by injuries in each of the last two seasons, has started all 22 games this year. Carter leads Rice in rebounding at 6.1 rpg. The Arkansas native scored a season-high 12 points vs. Tenn.-Martin and had a season-high 12 boards vs. UTSA.
Elliott Starts
Freshman Megan Elliott, in her first career-start after scoring a career-high 17 points vs. Memphis, responded with 15 points and a career-high 8 rebounds vs. UAB. Elliott missed the first six games after winter break. She grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds at Tulsa.
Fulton 20-20
Maudess Fulton scored a season-high 20 points in wins over Tenn.-Martin and George Washington. Fulton is second on the team with a 10.3 scoring average. Fulton has now scored in double-digits 12 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 five times this year. She poured in a season-high 20 points at Lafayette, while scoring 14 vs. George Washington, 13 vs. CS-Northridge, 10 at Hofstra, and 15 vs. Houston. She is second on the team with 27 made three-pointers.
McKinney First Career-Start
Amenemope McKinney made her first career-start in the game vs. UAB. McKinney posted 8 assists with only 1 turnover in 35 minutes of action. She scored a career-high 13 points vs. Memphis. The freshman made 3 of 5 field goals and 7 out of 8 at the free throw line.
This is 40
Megan Elliott and Shyrelle Horne played in all 40 minutes of action in the contest vs. Southern Miss.
Be Hyp
Brianna Hypolite, a freshman, scored a career-high 20 points at Tulsa. She made 6-11 field goals (3-6 3FGs) and 5-6 FTs in 25 minutes of action. She has been in double-digits four times this year.
Mayse de Ville
Morgan Mayse had 18 points and 7 rebounds to lead Rice at SMU and she scored a career-high 19 points vs. UCLA. She has been in double-digit scoring eight times this season.
Double Time
Melissa Wittmayer, sophomore, posted her first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds at UTSA. She leads Rice with 29 blocks this season after blocking a career-high 5 shots at Tulsa. She played a career-high 20 minutes vs. Southern Miss and at Tulsa.
Ashford Career-Highs
Freshman post player Candace Ashford played a career-high 27 minutes vs. Houston. She responded with career-highs in points (9) and blocks (5).
Scoring over 70
Rice has put together an impressive 30-7 mark in the Greg Williams era when scoring over 70 points. Rice scored a season-high 78 points in the recent win over George Washington. The Owls also tallied 76 points in the season-opener against CS Northridge, 72 in the loss against UT-Arlington, and 76 in the overtime loss at Lafayette. The Owls surpassed the 70-point plateau five times last season.
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 14 decisions in 2006-07.
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 and she tallied 15 at Tulane. 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.
On-Campus Wins
In the Greg Williams era, Rice has racked up a 26-9 home record when playing on-campus. The Owls posted back-to-back 11-3 marks in 2006 and 2007. The 2008 campaign saw Rice play its "home" games on the campus of Houston Baptist due to renovations. The Owls returned on-campus for the first time in 20 months and recorded a 76-55 win over Cal State Northridge to open Tudor Fieldhouse.
Year Four 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.
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