Rice University
Ole Miss
Owls Drop Season Opener at Mississippi
11/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2005
Oxford, Miss. -
Mississippi raced to an early lead and made the most of 31 Rice turnovers on the way to a season-opening 110-63 win over the Owls here Friday. The 110 points is the second-highest ever allowed by Rice, with only a 113-point effort by Texas on Feb. 15, 1984, higher.
Armintie Price, ranked as the best two-guard in the nation by ESPN.com, showed why she is so well-regarded, leading Ole Miss with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs.
Junior guard Krystal Frazier scored all of her team-high 11 points for the Owls in the second half. Lauren Neaves added 10 points in the losing effort, while Tiffany Loggins topped Rice rebounders with nine.
"We let it go too far at the outset and could never get back in it," said Greg Williams, making his debut as the Rice head coach. "We had too many careless passes and we let Mississippi get away with too many easy baskets. You can't do that and hope to beat an SEC team at their gym."
The Lady Rebels took a 48-31 lead into the half on the strength of 12 points by Price and 10 by guard Ashley Awkward. Ole Miss grabbed 11 steals and forced 19 Rice turnovers, and the Owls hit on only 27 percent of their shots from the field.
Shooting 58.5 percent in the second half, Mississippi hit five of seven three-pointers, many of them after the game was locked up. Carla Bartee hit three of four from long-distance and ended up with 21 points as five Lady Rebels scored in double figures.
Rice returns home to host Texas Tech on Monday at 7 pm.
