Rice University
Marquette
Marquette Downs Owls, 78-62
12/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2006
Houston -
Krystal Ellis scored a game-high 26 points and helped Marquette hold off a late Rice rally as the Golden Eagles (7-1) took a 78-62 win from the Owls (5-3) in women's college basketball action Sunday at Autry Court.
Ellis, who was a perfect 8-8 from the field in the first period on her way to a 20-point half, also had six steals and four rebounds.
Lauren Neaves had her 41st career double-double with 21 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, but 29.4 percent shooting and 19 turnovers doomed the Rice effort.
Krystal Frazier gave the Owls the lead on her first shot of the game, but an Ellis trey with 15:20 left put Marquette up 12-10 and the Golden Eagles never trailed after that. Marquette went on a 7-0 run before Samantha Stovall canned a jumper to make it 19-12 with 11:02 remaining, and then put together another 7-0 stretch to increase its lead to 26-12 at the 8:47 mark.
Rice cut the lead to seven on a Valeriya Berezhynska layup with 7:17 on the clock, and a Catherine Flores three-pointer four minutes later kept the margin at seven as Marquette led 37-30. Flores was seeing her first action after suffering a knee injury midway through last season. Ellis then hit a three, a layup and a jumper to send Marquette into the half with a 44-30 lead. The Golden Eagles shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half.
Neaves scored the first points of the second half on a free throw and a layup, but Marquette roared back to go up by 19 on an Ellis jumper with 16:05 left in the game. Danielle Kamm stretched the margin to 22 with a jumper at the 12:34 mark, and six minutes later the Golden Eagles went ahead by 24 at 68-44 on a layup by Janelle Harris.
After another Harris bucket made it 70-48, the Owls started to rally with just over five minutes left and went on a 12-0 run sparked by two treys and a jumper by Frazier. Neaves scored with 2:06 left to make it 72-62, but the Golden Eagles reasserted themselves and scored six points to seal the win.
Christina Quaye and Jasmine McCullough chipped in 10 points each for Marquette in the winning effort, and Kamm had a team-high nine boards.
Berezhynska had 11 points and Frazier had 10 for the Owls, with Stovall scoring nine points and handing out five assists.
Rice hosts the Gene Hackerman Invitational at Autry Court Dec. 8-9, with Friday games featuring Idaho State vs. Kent State at 5 pm, and the Owls taking on Alcorn State at 7 pm.
