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Rice University Athletics
Women's Basketball Notes: Owls Take On #3 Notre Dame
12/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
- Note in PDF format
Women's Basketball at #3 Notre Dame
Sunday, Dec. 31, 2000
South Bend, Ind.
Quick Facts
Rice (8-3) at Notre Dame (11-0)
Sunday, Dec. 31, 2000, at noon (CST),
Joyce Center (11,418), South Bend, Ind.
Non-conference game.
Radio/Internet
Broadcast via KTRU 91.7 FM and available on the internet (www.ktru.org) with Matt Thomas.
Television
None.
Series
First meeting.
On The Web
Rice: www.RiceOwls.com
Notre Dame: www.und.com
WAC: www.wacsports.com
Probable Starting Lineup (2000-01 scoring, rebounding averages)RICE LADY OWLS (8-3)F 5 Jennifer Rigg 6-0, Jr.-Tr., Toronto, Ontario 9.6p, 4.4rF 44 Aarika Florus 6-1, Jr.-2L, Mont Belvieu 7.8p, 4.4rC 22 Kenya Tuttle 6-1, Sr.-1L, Houston 7.5p, 8.5rG 21 Kim Lawson 5-7, So.-1L, Houston 7.9p, 3.8rG 24 Kara Liggett 5-10, So.-1L, Bristow, Okla. 8.2p, 3.2r
Tip Off
Sunday's game marks the first between Rice (8-3) and #3 Notre Dame (11-0)... The Irish are the second top-10 team the Lady Owls face this week and the third of the season. On Thursday, the Rice women's upset bid came up short as they fell to #10 Texas Tech 63-56 at Autry Court. Rice was defeated by then #8 Louisiana Tech on Nov. 12, 85-54 in the second round of the WNIT... Sunday's game is the final non-conference game of the season for the Lady Owls. They tip-off league action on Jan. 5 at Fresno State at 9 pm.
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 124-89 record, bringing her total as a head coach to 151-117. 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 assisted 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). Notre Dame: Muffet McGraw (St. Joseph's, 1977) has a 387-156 record in her 19 years as a head coach, including a 299-115 mark in 14 years at the helm for the Irish. She is assisted by Carol Owens, Kevin McGruff and Coquese Washington.
Recap #10 Texas Tech 63, Rice 56
Dec. 28, 2000, Autry Court, Houston
Texas Tech led by as much as 10 in the first half, 21-11 with 6:13 left on the clock, when Rice responded out of a timeout with a 12-2 run. Senior Kenya Tuttle tied the game at 23 with two of her six first-half points. The Lady Raiders closed the first half on a 9-1 run, and took a 32-24 lead into the locker room. Both squads shot well in the first half, with Rice hitting .385 (10-26) and going 4-7 (.571) from the foul line. Texas Tech hit .414 (12-29), including .500 (4-8) from long range, while matching the Owls at the charity stripe. Texas Tech opened the second half with five straight points, as the Lady Owls found themselves down by as much as 13 early on. Tuttle and sophomore Kara Liggett combined for eight points as Rice slowly gained ground with a 13-2 run, and closed within two. With 4:22 to go, Rice took their first lead of the game, 54-53, off a tip-in basket by Tuttle, but the Lady Owls couldn't hold on, as Tech rallied and sealed the game off a pair of free-throws by Amber Tarr. Tuttle led all Rice shooters with 16 points, adding nine rebounds, and was followed closely by junior Aarika Florus, who scored 13.
Career Day
Senior Kenya Tuttle's 16 points against was the best offensive output of her career, topping her previous high of 12, set against Tulsa last season.
Bombs Away!
A year after hitting a program record 143 three-pointers, the Lady Owls are on pace to surpass the mark. The Rice women have nailed 59 treys through the first 10 games this season, while last year, they hit 46 through 10 games.
Hot Start
The Lady Owls 8-3 record marks their best start since the 1988-89 season. That year, the Rice women won eight of their first nine games, then split their next two to improve to 9-2.
Powers That Be
With success and their challenging schedule, the Lady Owls' have watched their power ranking soar to new heights. After seeing its RPI climb to as high as 28th, Rice entered this week ranked 39th by both CollegeRPI.com and the Collegiate Basketball News, tops in the WAC.
Welcome to the Family
A quick look at the Lady Owls stats this year shows three newcomers leading the team in scoring. True freshman Kate Beckler is averaging 11.4 points a game to lead Rice this season. She has scored in double-digits six times, including the last five of the last six games, and has been the team's leading scorer five times. Junior Jennifer Rigg, a transfer playing her first year at Rice, is chipping in 9.6 points an outing. Lindsey Maynard, a freshman, has made good use of her limited time on the court by averaging 8.3 a game. She has played in six games, averaging 11.0 minutes a game.
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 receiving votes in both polls. The Lady Owls have already faced Louisiana Tech, currently ninth in both polls, falling 85-54 in Ruston, La. On Nov. 28, they traveled to Tucson, Az., where they lost to Arizona, which is 28th in the AP poll and 30th in the coaches poll. Rice 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 10th in the coaches poll and 11th in the AP poll, while the Irish are third in both polls. 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, 2001 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.
WAC Picks
The Lady Owls tip-off the league schedule on the road at Frsno State on Jan. 5 and at Nevada on Jan. 7. 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 PollSchool(1st 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
All-Tournament
Two Lady Owls were honored at the UNC-Greensboro/Marriott Classic. Sophomore Kim Lawson was named the tournament MVP after leading Rice to victory against the host Spartans. Junior Jennifer Rigg was named to the all-tournament team after totaling 35 points and 18 rebounds over two games. At the Gene Hackerman Rice Invitational, senior Kenya Tuttle and Kara Liggett were selected as co-MVP's, while Rigg garnered all-tournament honors.
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 currently have five players standing at 6-0 or taller. McKinney has one more scholarship to offer for next season.
News From The Nest
Freshman Kate Beckler has led the Lady Owls in scoring five times this season, including a best of 25 points against Grambling State in her first career start... Senior Kenya Tuttle dished out a career high five assists against Arizona and had 16 points against Texas Tech... Also at Arizona, sophomore Kim Lawson had the first double-double of her career with 10 points and a career-high 10 rebounds... At UNC-Greensboro, Tuttle posted her first career double-double with 10 points a career best 16 rebounds. Junior Aarika Florus grabbed a career-high eight rebounds in Rice's victory In the first round of the UNCG/Marriott Classic, junior Jennifer Rigg had the best night of her career, scoring 26 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking two shots. She was 14-16 from the charity stripe, with the 14 makes equaling the mark for the fourth most in a game at Rice Sophomore Starla James made her first career starts at the UNCG tournament Junior Daneesh McIntosh has equaled her career best of eight rebounds in three of the Lady Owls' five games this season Beckler made her collegiate debut in high style on Nov. 10 against South Carolina in the first round of the preseason WNIT. She scored a team high 19 points, while hitting 5-12 from long range. Beckler's 12 three-point attempts are a single game record for Rice. Rigg also dished out seven assists in the opener.
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. 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) shooting 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.
