Rice University
Tulane
Neaves, Cunningham Lead Owls to Win Over Tulane
1/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2006
Houston -
Lauren Neaves scored 22 points and Amber Cunningham added a career-high 20 points and seven assists as Rice held off a spirited Tulane team Sunday, taking an 82-69 win at Autry Court to move to 8-11 overall and 4-4 in Conference USA play. Tulane dropped to 9-8 and 3-5 with the loss.
Neaves, who became the 12th player in Rice women's history to score 1,000 career points, had a game-high nine rebounds. Kadie Riverin notched a career-high 18 points to go with seven boards, four assists and five steals.
"Again, we came out and did really well in the first ten minutes," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "We opened up a pretty good lead, but we need to keep working on protecting those leads. The second half was a little bit of a concern, but all credit to Tulane for making a comeback."
The Owls sprinted out to a 14-point lead at 22-8 on a Cunningham three-pointer with 10:10 to go in the first half, and then extended the lead to 24 on a Tiffany Loggins trey and a Rosyland Jeffries bucket with 2:30 remaining. Rice took a 37-18 lead into the half, marking the second straight game that the Owls have held opponents below 20 points in the first half.
Neaves knocked down a jumper and a pair of free throws to put Rice up 43-23 with 17:49 left on the clock, and she capped off an 8-0 run with another free throw to make it 53-25 with 14:47 to go.
Tulane's Nikki Luckhurst, who scored a career-high and game-high 28 points, helped put the Green Wave back in the game with 11 points over the next three minutes, keying a 17-0 run. Luckhurst canned a trey with 6:40 to go to cut the lead to 11 at 65-54, and then sank a pair of free throws with 2:45 left to bring Tulane within six at 73-67 before Rice hit nine free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Rice hosts Houston Friday at 7 pm at Autry Court, looking to avenge a 79-72 loss at Hofheinz Pavilion on Jan. 15.
