Women's Basketball: Rice at UNC-Greensboro Tournament
11/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
- Game Notes in PDF format
Quick Facts
Rice at UNC-G Tournament
Friday-Sunday, Nov. 24-25, 2000, vs. Richmond at 4 pm (CST) on Friday, vs. UNC-Greensboro or Manhattan at 12 noon/2 pm (CST) on Saturday, Fleming Gym (2,320), Greensboro, N.C. Non-conference games.
Radio/Internet
Broadcast via KTRU 91.7 FM and available on the internet (www.ktru.org) with Mike Ped (play-by-play).
Television
None.
Series
The UNC-Greensboro tournament marks the first meeting for Rice with Richmond, Manhattan and UNC-G.
On The Web
Rice: www.RiceOwls.com
UNCG: www.uncgspartans.com
WAC: www.wacsports.com
Probable Starting Lineup (2000-01 scoring, rebounding averages)RICE LADY OWLSF 5 Jennifer Rigg 7.0, 2.7rF 44 Aarika Florus 10.7p, 3.7rC 22 Kenya Tuttle 5.3p, 5.7rG 21 Kim Lawson 5.0p, 2.7rG 24 Kara Liggett 5.3p, 1.7rTip Off
This weekend's tournament marks the third and fourth consecutive road games for the Lady Owls. After opening at home on Nov. 10, they have played at Louisiana Tech (Nov. 12) and Texas-Pan American (Nov. 17) Rice has never faced Richmond (2-0), UNC-Greensboro (2-0) or Manhattan (2-0) in women's basketball action.
Meet the Coaches
Rice: Cristy McKinney (North Carolina State, 1979) is in her eighth season as the head coach of the Rice women. During her tenure at Rice, McKinney has posted a 118-87 record, bringing her total as a head coach to 145-115. Last season, McKinney guided the Rice women to their most successful season ever. For the first time in history, the Lady Owls won the WAC tournament and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they advanced to the second round after an upset of ninth-ranked UC-Santa Barbara. The Rice women finished the year with a program high 22 wins for their third consecutive season with 20 or more victories. McKinney is aided by eighth-year assistant coach Wooly Hatchell (South Carolina, 1982), fifth-year assistant Shanice Sandford (Oklahoma State, 1993) and first-year assistant Marla Brumfield (Rice, 2000).
Richmond: Bob Foley (Villanova, 1974) has a 57-55 record in his five years with the Spiders. In 16 years as a head coach he has earned a 263-182 record. Foley is assisted by Ginny Doyle, Jessie Hicks and Jose Mori.
North Carolina-Greensboro: Lynne Agee (Longwood, 1971) is in her 23rd season as a head coach and has acquired a 442-170 record during that period. At UNC-Greensboro, she has recorded a 396-147 record in 19 seasons at the helm. Agee is aided by associate coach Carol Reschel, assistant coach Jason Tuggle and volunteer assistant coach Angie Polk-Jones on the sidelines.
Manhattan: Sal Buscaglia (Canisius, 1976) is also in his 23rd year as a head coach, recording a 437-156 record during that span. He has recorded a 29-30 record in his four years at Manhattan. Buscaglia is assisted by Joseph DeAntonio and Renee Bostic.
About the Spiders
Richmond opened the season with consecutive road wins at Marist College (93-85) and Liberty College (74-67). Cammy Desmond and Carolyn Constantakis are leading the Spiders with 12.5 and 12.0 points a piece. Candice Edwards is chipping in 10.0 points and a team high 7.0 rebounds a game. The Spiders returned four starters from last year's 12-16 team.
About the Spartans
UNC-Greensboro opened the season on the road at Campbell with a 60-56 win, then returned home for an 81-70 win against Charlotte. Samika Foster scored 20 points against Charlotte, hitting 11-11 from the free throw line, and is averaging 16.0 points a game. Brianne Doggen leads the Spartans' rebounding efforts with 9.0 an outing.
About the Jaspers
The UNC-Greensboro tournament marks Manhattan's first road trip of the year. The Jaspers defeated Wagner 80-72 in their season opener, then followed up with an 84-60 win over Columbia. Elana Greene leads her team with 14.5 points a game, while Brita Hinkle is averaging a double-double with 11.0 points and 10.0 rebounds a game.
Recap - Rice 67, Texas-Pan American 60
Nov. 17, 2000, Edinburg
The Rice women held off Texas-Pan American's late rally and defeated the Lady Broncs 67-60 Friday night in non-conference action at Edinburg. After a sluggish start, the Lady Owls went on a 14-1 scoring run to close out the first half with a 39-25 advantage. Junior Aarika Florus led her team in the first half with eight points, hitting three of four from the floor. Rice also forced 20 first-half turnovers by UTPA. The Lady Broncs, though, would not back down and chipped away at the Lady Owls lead in the second half. Four times they closed the gap to five, then with just eight seconds left, UTPA's Alexandra Gravel drained a three to cut the lead to just four. But two-pointers by junior LaTonya Sam with four seconds left and Florus at the buzzer iced the game for the Lady Owls. Florus and Sam led Rice with career highs of 14 points each. Florus finished the day hitting six of eight from the floor and both free throws. Sam, a transfer playing in just her third game in the Blue and Gray, also led the Lady Owls with four assists and two blocked shots. Junior Jennifer Rigg had a best of 11 points. Senior Kenya Tuttle equaled her career high of 10 rebounds to lead her team, in addition to swatting two shots.
On the Horizon
The Rice women have a quick turn-around after this weekend's tournament in North Carolina. Rice returns to Houston Sunday afternoon, then leave Monday evening for Tucson, Ariz. to take on the Wildcats on Tuesday. The Lady Owls then host Iona, Eastern Kentucky and Memphis in the Gene Hackerman Rice Invitational Dec. 1-2 at Autry Court. The tournament will mark their first home game since Nov. 10, when they opened the season with a 61-56 victory over South Carolina in the preseason WNIT.
In the WAC...
After the first week of action, several Lady Owls find themselves among the leaders in the conference statistics. Junior Aarika Florus is tops in the league in shooting percentage, hitting .733 (11-15) from the floor. Florus is also 11th in free throw percentage (10-14-.714) and is 14th in scoring (10.7 ppg). True freshman Kate Beckler leads the WAC in three-pointers a game, averaging 2.33 makes, and is sixth in three-point shooting percentage, hitting .350 (7-20). Junior Jennifer Rigg is tied for fourth at the free throw line, making .889 (8-9) of her attempts, while dishing out 3.33 assists a game, seventh best in the league. A member of last year's WAC all-newcomer team, sophomore Kim Lawson is fifth in steals (2.33 spg) and 14th in assists (2.00 apg). As a team, the Rice women lead the league in three-point field-goal percentage (16-46-.348) and turnover margin (+5.33).
The WNIT
After hosting a postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament game in 1999, the Lady Owls hosted South Carolina in the first round of this year's preseason WNIT, defeating the Lady Gamecocks 61-56. The Rice women then traveled to Ruston, La., where they fell to future WAC foe Louisiana Tech 85-54. Rice was one of seven 2000 NCAA tournament participants in the 16-team field, including Louisiana Tech, Texas, Purdue and Virginia. The Lady Owls have a 2-2 record in the WNIT post-season tournament
Tough Non-Conference Schedule
The Rice women tune-up for the 2001 WAC schedule by taking on three teams currently ranked in the top 15 in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll and the AP poll, and another team which received votes in both polls. The Lady Owls have already faced Louisiana Tech, currently eighth in both polls, falling 85-54 in Ruston, La. On Nov. 28, they travel to Tucson, Az., to take on Arizona, which is 30th in the coaches poll and 37th in the AP poll. Rice then wraps up the non-conference season against Texas Tech on Dec. 28 at Autry Court and Notre Dame on Dec. 31 at Indiana. The Lady Raiders are ranked 13th in the coaches poll and 15th in the AP poll, while the Irish are fifth in the coaches poll and sixth in the AP poll. Texas Tech and Notre Dame faced off in the mid-east regional semifinals of the 2000 NCAA tournament.
TV Time
The Lady Owls will make at least two appearances this year on Fox Sports Net in regionally televised games. Rice's game against SMU on Sunday, Jan. 21 at Autry Court has been moved up to a 1 pm start time for TV. Also, the Lady Owls game at TCU has changed dates to accommodate the television schedule, with the game now set for Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 at 7:30 pm. Fox Sports Net will also air the championship game of the 2001 WAC women's basketball tournament.
Career Night
A number of Lady Owls started the year on a high note in the season opener against South Carolina, setting several career bests. Junior Aarika Florus, making just the second start of her career, had 13 points to nearly double her previous high of seven. Junior Daneesh McIntosh led the team with a best of eight rebounds, and sophomore Kim Lawson had four steals. Newcomers Kate Beckler and Jennifer Rigg set high standards for themselves in their first appearance in the Blue and Gray. Beckler, a true freshman, led the team with 19 points, hitting five three-pointers (the eighth most in game) on a school record 12 attempts. Rigg, a junior transfer, set up the Lady Owls offense by dishing out seven assists.
WAC Picks
The Rice women were predicted to finish fourth in the WAC by the league coaches, tallying 44 points and receiving one first-place vote. SMU is favored to successfully defend their 2000 regular season title, receiving six of the nine first-place votes and receiving 61 points. Hawaii was picked second with 51 points and one first-place vote, while TCU was tabbed for third with 47 points and a vote for first.
2000-01 WAC Women's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll
School (first-place votes) Points1. SMU (6) 612. Hawaii (1) 513. TCU (1) 474. RICE OWLS (1) 445. Nevada 386. Tulsa 317. Fresno State 298. UTEP 149. San Jose State 9
The Future's Looking Up...
Although the 2000-01 season has just begun, the Rice coaching staff is continuing to add height to their 2001-02 lineup. Coach Cristy McKinney signed Katy Taylor High School standout Michelle Woods to a national letter-of-intent to don the Blue and Gray next year. Woods currently stands at 6-1 and received preseason all-America honors from Street and Smith heading into her senior year. Woods will join Johnetta Hayes (6-4) and Elisa Inman (6-2), who are sitting out this season after transferring to Rice, in a lineup that will feature at least seven players measuring 6-0 or taller. The Lady Owls currrently have five players standing at 6-0 or taller. McKinney has one more scholarship to offer for next season.
The 2000 NCAA Tournament
The Lady Owls' 67-64 win against ninth-ranked UC-Santa Barbara in the first round of the NCAA tournament was historical for many reasons. In addition to being their first victory in their first-ever NCAA tournament, the W was also the Lady Owls' first over a top-10 opponent. The last time they beat a ranked opponent was when they closed out the 1997-98 regular season with consecutive wins over 15th-ranked Hawaii and 16th-ranked Utah. The game also brought Rice's win total to 22, the most in a single season in program history. The victory marked the biggest upset of the NCAA tournament, as the 13th-seeded Lady Owls were the lowest seed to advance to the second round. In the second round, though, the Rice women were overpowered by North Carolina 83-50 to bring to an end the most successful season in school history.
The 2000 WAC Tournament
On March 10, Rice won the 2000 WAC Tournament title to claim the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Owls, the third-seeded team, defeated sixth-seeded Fresno State 65-47, second-seeded Hawaii 76-73 in the semifinals and top-seeded SMU 71-67 to claim their first conference crown. In the championship game, senior Marla Brumfield led all scorers with 27 points, including 16 in the first half, giving the Lady Owls their first NCAA Tournament berth. Rice led by as many as 21 points in the first half and 17 in the second half but had to hold off a late rally by SMU. Brumfield made two free throws with 35 seconds left to give the Owls a 67-61 lead, but a basket by SMU's Katie Remke and two free throws by Anika Calvert cut the margin to two with 10 seconds to go. Senior Kirra Jordan made two free throws with nine seconds left and Calvert scored with a second remaining, but Brumfield then sealed the win with two more free throws. Against Hawaii, the Lady Owls and the Wahine battled through 12 ties and combined to shoot 60-70 from the free-throw line, before Kim Smallwood secured the victory with a blocked Hawaii shot with seven seconds showing and draining two clutch free throws with three ticks left. Rice set a WAC tournament record by holding Fresno State to just 14.3 percent (3-21) shooing in the first half of their game, and equaled the record for fewest points allowed in a half with 12. After averaging 20.3 points over three games, Brumfield was named the tournament's MVP, while Jordan was also named to the all-tournament team.
