Rice University
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UTEP
Loggins, Cunningham Lead Owls Over UTEP
1/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2006
Houston -
Tiffany Loggins and Amber Cunningham had career-high scoring nights and the Rice Owls (7-11, 3-4) played swarming defense on the way to an 83-32 win over UTEP (11-8, 3-4) in Conference USA women's basketball action Friday at Autry Court. Loggins tossed in 18 points, including three three-pointers, and Cunningham hit four of five treys on the way to a 14-point outing.
The 32 points scored by the Miners was the fourth-lowest total ever by a Rice opponent, and the Owls had a season-high for scoring with 83.
"This was exactly the kind of game we needed to get back in the hunt," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "After Krystal Frazier (Rice's leading scorer) went down last Sunday at SMU, we didn't know how the team would react. They came out and played some pretty tough defense and hit some good shots, and that's going to help us down the road."
Looking to break a four-game conference losing streak, Rice played inspired ball from the tip-off, holding the Miners scoreless until the 14:08 mark of the first half. Three-pointers by Cunningham, Samantha Stovall, Catherine Flores and Latrice Elder put the Owls up 14-2, and after a pair of Kasia Krezel free throws for UTEP made it 16-4, Rice went on an 11-0 run to widen the margin to 27-4 with 7:36 to go.
Rice led by 28 after a jumper from Flores at the 4:57 mark, and a tip-in at the buzzer by Tiondra Wright put the Owls ahead 40-13 at the half. The 13 points equaled the fifth-lowest total ever in the first half by a Rice opponent. UTEP shot only 17.9 percent from the field in the first half, while Rice hit at a 48.4 percent clip.
Cunningham canned a pair of three-pointers to open the second half as the Owls went on a 12-0 run to make it 52-13 with 15:25 left. The Miners scored their first points of the second half on a pair of free throws by Whitney Thornton with 13:21 on the clock, and Jonna Launiainen's trey 37 seconds later was the first UTEP field goal of the half.
An Erica Yancey jumper with 9:22 to go cut the Rice lead to 39 at 63-24, but Rice went on another 11-0 run to go up by 50 with 5:51 left. Loggins hit a final three-pointer with 1:06 to go to give the Owls their biggest lead of the game at 83-31 before Launiainen hit a free throw in the final minute for the Miners.
Lauren Neaves led all rebounders with 10, moving to fifth place on the Rice all-time rebounds list. Freshman Tiondra Wright added a career-high eight boards, and fellow freshman Emery Carter grabbed seven.
The Owls shot 45.2 percent from the field, including 10 of 18 three-point attempts (55.6 percent), and hauled down a season-high 54 rebounds. UTEP shot only 21.4 percent from the field and had only 35 rebounds. Thornton led the Miners with eight points, while Ingrid Goslin had a team-high five rebounds.
Rice hosts Tulane Sunday at 1 pm at Autry Court.
