Rice University
Memphis
Owls Beat Memphis, Finish Regular Season in Second
2/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2006
Memphis, Tenn. -
Valeriya Berezhynska had a game-high 15 points and Lauren Neaves turned in her 15th double-double of the year to lead Rice to a 72-56 win over Memphis Sunday in the final game of the Conference USA women's basketball regular season for both teams. Rice claimed sole possession of second place in the league standings with the win, finishing 15-12 overall and 11-5 in C-USA, while Memphis ended up 3-24 and 1-15 in last place.
The game got off to a slow and sloppy start, with the first bucket not coming until the 17:02 mark when Berezhynska hit a jumper to put the Owls on the board. Rice never trailed after that, exploiting a 20.6 percent shooting performance by the Tigers to take a 40-18 lead into the half. A 13-0 Rice run in six minutes midway through the half put the game out of reach for Memphis, which trailed 27-12 with 5:18 to go in the half. With the score at 27-16, the Owls followed up with another 13-0 run before Ashley Howard scored for Memphis with 23 seconds remaining.
Rice used a dominant inside game and distinct size advantage to shoot 51.4 percent from the field in the first half, outscoring the Tigers 28-8 in the paint.
Neaves scored four straight points to open the second half, and a jumper by Kadie Riverin with 17:00 to go made it 48-22 and gave the Owls their biggest lead of the game at 26 points. Rice kept the lead above 20 until a Devin Necaise three-pointer with 6:50 left cut the margin to 19 at 66-47. Necaise scored again and Sherika Montgomery hit a lay-up and a free throw to bring the Tigers within 14 at 66-52 a minute later.
An Amber Cunningham basket and a pair of charity shots by Neaves made it 72-54 Rice with 3:15 to go, and the Owls cruised from there on the way to their seventh straight victory.
Neaves finished with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to go with three blocked shots, while Cunningham contributed 13 points and a season-best nine boards. Samantha Stovall had 10 points and matched her career high with seven boards. Riverin dished out five assists and had four blocks and three steals. The Owls had a cold shooting performance in the second half and ended up at 41.1 percent for the game.
Tamika Butler and Ashley Howard led the Tigers with 15 points each, and Howard hauled down a team-high 13 rebounds. Necaise finished with 13 points as Memphis shot 31.4 percent from the floor.
Rice will be the number-two seed in the C-USA tournament that begins Thursday in Dallas. The Owls will get a bye in the first round and will play their opening game on Friday, March 3 at SMU's Moody Coliseum.
