Rice University
UCF
Owls Top UCF 66-52 for Second Conference Win
1/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2006
Houston -
Lauren Neaves scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Rice to a 66-52 win over UCF in Conference USA play Sunday at Autry Court. The 6-2 junior forward hit on seven of 11 shots from the field and was 12 of 14 from the free throw line as the Owls improved to 6-7 overall and 2-0 in league play. UCF dropped to 2-12 and 0-3 with the loss.
"Coming back from Friday's win, this was an important game for us," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "It's great to get our league schedule under way with two wins before we go on the road. We were a little sluggish coming out for the second half, and we need to work on our offensive rebounding."
Rice went on a 16-6 run to open the game and stretched the margin to 12 on a three-pointer by Krystal Frazier with 4:31 to go in the half. Neaves hit a pair of lay-ups to give the Owls a 36-20 lead, and Frazier's jumper with 2:10 to go made it 38-20. Amber Long knocked down a free throw for UCF to put the score at 38-21 at the half.
Lay-ups by Juliana Gomes and Long cut the Owls' lead to 12 with 18:27 to go in the game, and a pair of Keunta Miles free throws for the Golden Knights made it 43-32 Rice with 14:38 left.
Tiffany Loggins hit a free throw and a lay-up to put Rice back up by 16 at 51-35, but a trey by Long and a pair of free throws by Shelby Weber shrank the gap to 10 with 6:41 left. From that point, Neaves took over and scored the Owls' next 11 points to give Rice a 62-47 lead with 2:09 to go. Rosyland Jeffries snaked through the UCF defense to score on a lay-up with 56 seconds remaining, and Neaves iced the game with two free throws in the final 24 seconds.
Weber had a double-double to lead UCF, scoring 15 points and topping all rebounders with 13 boards. Long added 12 points for the Golden Knights, while Frazier chipped in 11 for the Owls.
Rice travels to Huntington, W.Va., Friday to face Marshall and then returns to face Houston at Hofheinz Pavilion on Sunday.
