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Rice University Athletics
Rice University
Davidson
Frazier, Jeffries Lift Owls Past Davidson
12/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2005
Houston -
Krystal Frazier scored a game-high 15 points and Rosyland Jeffries added 11 to help a spotty-shooting Rice team to a 63-52 win over Davidson in the first round of the Gene Hackerman Invitational Friday at Autry Court. The Owls will face Louisiana Tech, 75-67 winners over Texas-San Antonio in Friday's early contest, in Saturday's championship game at 7:30 pm.
Frazier hit five field goals and was perfect in five free throw attempts as she recorded her best scoring game of the season. Jeffries, whose career high is 13 points from 2002, shot 50 percent from the field, including a three-pointer, and grabbed four boards in the win.
Junior forward Lauren Neaves was held below her season-average, scoring just six points, but she nabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Center Valeriya Berezhynska added nine points and five assists for Rice, as the Owls improved to 3-2 on the year.
"The first part of the game wasn't very pretty for either team," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "But we came back and settled down and did some things well. We kept our turnovers down late in the game and that helped us."
Both teams came out shooting poorly, scoring only 10 total points in the first eight minutes of play. Davidson went up by seven at 14-7 on a lay-up by Mandy Halbersleben with 9:24 to go in the first half before the Owls started to battle back. Frazier put Rice ahead 18-17 with a pair of free throws at the 4:20 mark, and the Owls never relinquished that lead. Freshman Catherine Flores knocked down four free throws and Jeffries added two buckets in the final four minutes to give Rice a 29-20 lead at the half.
The Owls widened the lead to as much as 15 points midway through the second half and used a tough defense to stifle the Wildcats. Davidson fought back to within eight at 50-42 on a Danielle Hemerka lay-up with 6:38 left, but Kadie Riverin plugged a three-pointer and Frazier and Jeffries chipped in baskets to lead the Owls down the stretch as they dropped the Wildcats to 1-3 on the year.
As a team, Rice shot 35.4 percent from the floor and 61.9 percent from the line. Davidson hit on 27.6 percent from the field and 65.4 percent from the charity stripe.
Jessica Mitchell led Davidson, which faces UTSA in the consolation game Saturday at 5:30 pm, with 11 points, and guard Tia Washington added 10 points for the Wildcats.
