Rice University
Arkansas-Little Rock
Trojans Stop Owls 54-46
11/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2006
Little Rock, Ark. -
Jocelyn Love scored a game-high 18 points and Nikya Hughes added 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead UALR (3-1) over Rice 54-46 in women's basketball action Monday night at the Jack Stephens Center. Kadie Riverin led the Owls (3-1) in scoring with 17, while Lauren Neaves recorded her 39th career double-double with 14 points and 12 boards in the losing effort.
The Trojans raced to a 7-0 lead at the 17:40 mark and had a 12-6 margin with 14:40 to go in the first half before the Owls chipped away at that lead and went ahead 13-12 five minutes later. A Neaves layup at the 3:19 mark gave Rice its biggest lead of the night at 21-17, but turnovers and defensive lapses cost the Owls as UALR rolled back to a 28-23 lead at the intermission.
Another Neaves layup early in the second half cut the margin to three, but that was as close as Rice would get. Love's 10 second-half points helped the Trojans extend the lead to as many as 14 points with 10:16 remaining. Eight straight Riverin points pulled the Owls within six at 46-40 with 5:23 left, but UALR used time-consuming offense and tenacious defense to protect the lead on the way to handing Rice its first loss of the season.
Rice had 20 turnovers and shot only 32.7 percent from the field, including 1-7 marksmanship from three-point range.
The Owls travel to Fort Worth Saturday to take on nationally-ranked TCU at 2 pm.
