Rice University
Tulsa
Neaves Leads Owls to Upset of Tulsa
2/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2006
Houston -
Lauren Neaves had her 13th double-double of the season and Valeriya Berezhynska scored a career-high 18 points to lead Rice (13-12/9-5) to a 78-62 upset of league-leading Tulsa (20-5/11-3) in Conference USA women's basketball action at Autry Court Sunday. The win virtually guarantees the Owls a bye in the first round of the C-USA tournament, to be held in Dallas March 2-5.
Neaves, who was held scoreless for the only time in her career at Tulsa in January, had a game-high 21 points, hitting nine of nine from the free throw line, and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Kadie Riverin also had a strong game for the Owls, chipping in 17 points, while Amber Cunningham matched her career high with seven assists.
"This was a great win for this team and for our program," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "We have had our backs against the wall for weeks now, and it is great to see these players coming together and winning games in the clutch."
Berezhynska scored eight points in the first eight minutes to help put Rice up 18-11 with 12:39 to go. A Megan Moody jumper cut the Owls' lead to five, but then Rice went on a 7-0 run and held Tulsa scoreless for the next five minutes. The Golden Hurricane didn't score a basket until the 4:23 mark, when Emily Jaskowiak's jumper made it 31-16 in favor of Rice. Riverin's jumper with 2:32 to go gave the Owls their biggest lead of the game at 20, but Tulsa battled back and Tandem Mays hit a lay-up with 21 seconds to make it 40-26 Rice at the half.
Rice shot 56.5 percent from the field in the first half, and 60 percent from the three-point line, while Tulsa hit only 34.6 percent of its shots.
Jillian Robbins, who entered the game as the league's top scorer and rebounder, scored for Tulsa to open the second half, and a Jaskowiak lay-up cut Rice's lead to 10 with 19:11 left. Neaves canned four free throws and Cunningham and Riverin knocked down field goals to stretch the margin back to 15 at 47-32 with 16:52 remaining. Five minutes later, Jaskowiak hit three straight buckets to trim the Owls' lead to 10 at 55-45, but a Berezhynska basket and charity shot took the score to 58-45 with 9:52 to go.
The Golden Hurricane cut the Rice lead to single digits at 61-52 on a trey and a lay-up by Mays, but Neaves scored two straight baskets and the Owls never led by less than 11 after that.
Rice had another stellar shooting performance, hitting 51.1 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the three-point line. The Owls also drained 84.4 percent of their free throws and dominated on the boards, outrebounding Tulsa 37-26. The Golden Hurricane came into the game with one of the best rebounding margins in the NCAA at +8.6 a game, but Neaves, Berezhynska and Cunningham were dominant inside for Rice.
Robbins, the second-leading rebounder in the nation, finished with 14 points and eight boards, well below her 13.9 rebounds-per-game average. She also had a game-high five steals. Jaskowiak also had 14 points, while Mays added 13 and Kara Pongonis-Paslay had 10 points and five assists.
The Owls close out C-USA regular-season play at UAB and Memphis next weekend.
