Rice University
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UTEP
Neaves Leads Owls to 63-49 Win at UTEP
2/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2006
El Paso -
Lauren Neaves had her tenth double-double of the year, scoring a game-high 21 points and grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds, and Rice tied a team record for fewest fouls as the Owls (10-12, 6-5 in C-USA) downed UTEP (12-11, 4-7) 63-49 in Conference USA women's basketball action at the Don Haskins Center Friday. It was the first road win for Rice since Dec. 19 at Loyola Marymount.
Neaves was seven of 15 from the field and hit all seven of her free throws on the way to her third straight double-double. The seven team fouls committed by the Owls tied the school record set against Texas Southern on Nov. 14, 1997.
A jump shot by Samantha Stovall with 12:29 left in the first half gave Rice a 13-3 lead, and the Owls stretched the lead to 14 at 27-13 on a Tiffany Loggins bucket five minutes later. Kasia Krezel canned a three-pointer with 2:05 left to cut the lead to 32-23, but Neaves hit a jumper with 10 seconds left to send the Owls into the half with a 34-23 edge.
The teams traded baskets to open the second half before a jumper by Valeriya Berezhynska and a pair of free throws by Kadie Riverin made it 44-31 Rice. Riverin's trey with 12:13 to go put the Owls up by 15, and a pair of Neaves free throws at the 6:30 mark increased the margin to 18 at 59-41. UTEP's Charnette Phelps scored on a basket and a pair of free throws to keep the Miners in the game with just under two minutes remaining, but Neaves hit a jumper with 1:12 to go to make it 63-47 as the Owls swept the season series with the Miners.
Rice shot a season-best 53.3 percent from the field, including four of eight from three-point territory, and knocked down 91.7 percent from the charity stripe. Berezhynska ended up with 14 points, five assists and three blocks, while Stovall chipped in 14 points and four assists. Riverin had a game-high seven assists.
Krezel and Ana Valtierra led the Miners with 10 points each, and Izabela Piekarska was the top rebounder with eight. UTEP shot only 34.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from the line.
The Owls travel to New Orleans Sunday to take on Tulane at 2 pm.
