Rice University
Idaho State
Neaves Leads Owls to Hackerman Title
12/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2006
Houston -
Samantha Stovall scored 13 points and Lauren Neaves added 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots to earn tournament MVP honors and lead Rice to an 88-69 win over Idaho State in the championship game of the 10th Gene Hackerman Invitational Saturday at Autry Court. Five Rice players scored in double figures as the Owls improved to 7-3 on the year, and Idaho State fell to 1-7 with the loss.
Kadie Riverin, who was named to the all-tournament team, opened the scoring with a three-pointer and gave the Owls an eight-point lead at 14-6 on a layup with 14:59 left in the half. A trey by Michelle Grohs and a jumper by Jeni Boesel pulled the Bengals within three, before Rice went on an 8-2 run to go up 22-13.
A Grohs jumper and Boesel free throw cut Rice's lead to 25-23 with 9:07 left, but the Owls pumped in nine straight points to increase the margin to 11 four minutes later. After Tara Watts canned a jumper with 40 seconds left to put Rice up 45-31, Jenna Brown knocked down a trey and Natalie Doma scored to send the game into the half with Rice up 45-36.
Neaves and Stovall helped Rice build up a 17-point edge early in the second half, and the Owls went up 62-44 on a Maudess Fulton three with 13:05 to go. A Watts three-pointer made it 67-48 a minute later, and Riverin scored five points in just over a minute to keep Rice ahead by a comfortable margin at 76-58 with 6:46 on the clock.
Watts drilled another three at the 4:33 mark to give Rice its biggest lead of the game at 84-61, and Valeriya Berezhynska and Neaves converted four charity shots down the stretch to give the Owls their fifth Hackerman title.
Riverin finished with 12 points, a career-high eight rebounds, and four assists, while Berezhynska added 12 points and Fulton had 11. Watts dished out a career-high seven assists.
Natalie Doma led all scorers with 21 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds, and Grohs and Andrea Lightfoot added 14.
Doma and Boesel were named to the all-tournament team along with Domonique Thomas of Alcorn State and Kristin Peoples of Kent State. Kent State won the consolation game 89-53 over Alcorn State.
Rice returns to action Dec. 21 at Louisiana Tech.
