Rice University
Tulsa
Tulsa Edges Rice for C-USA Championship
3/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2006
Dallas -
Tulsa won the battle of two weary teams Sunday, edging Rice 55-52 in a sloppy defensive contest in the championship game of the Conference USA women's basketball tournament at Moody Coliseum. The Golden Hurricane (25-5) claimed their first-ever conference title and won the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while the Owls (17-13) will wait for a bid from the WNIT.
"This was a tough game, the third in three days," said Rice head coach Greg Williams. "We were a little out of synch and we weren't as sharp as we have been over the past 10 games. Tulsa played a very good defensive game, and we couldn't quite overcome their pressure."
Senior guard Amber Cunningham had a good look at a three-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer, but her shot fell inches short as Rice's nine-game winning streak came to an end.
Rice had 23 turnovers which led to 21 Tulsa points, one of the few statistical categories won by the Golden Hurricane. The Owls outshot Tulsa 37.3 percent to 29 percent from the field, and outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 42-40. Lauren Neaves had her 17th double-double of the year for Rice with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Sophomore center Valeriya Berezhynska put Rice on the board first on a lay-up with 18:51 on the clock, and the lead went back and forth until Samantha Stovall hit a jumper with 12:56 to go to put the Owls up 10-9. Tulsa went on a 7-0 run two minutes later with a three-pointer by Megan Moody and a lay-up by Jillian Robbins before Neaves hit a jumper and a free throw to tie it up at 22-22 with 2:26 to go. Dana Idlet and Robbins scored for the Golden Hurricane to make it 26-22, and then Cunningham swished a buzzer-beating trey to send the Owls into the half down by only one at 26-25.
Stovall gave the Owls the lead with a put-back to open the second half, but Kara Pongonis-Paslay knocked down a three and Robbins canned a pair of charity shots to put Tulsa back in the lead 31-27 with 17:17 to go. Robbins, who earned tournament MVP honors, then hit a lay-up and two free throws to stretch the lead to 35-29 at the 14:03 mark. Megan Moody's free throws gave Tulsa its biggest lead of the game at 38-30 with 11:00 to go before Tiffany Loggins made a lay-up and a charity shot to slice the lead to five.
Cunningham hit a pair of three-pointers to keep Rice within four with 5:08 left, and a Stovall trey with 1:38 to go and jumper with 58 seconds on the clock cut the deficit to two at 54-52. Moody hit one of two from the line to make it 55-52 Tulsa with 13 clicks left, and a foul by Pongonis-Paslay on the Owls' final trip up the court set up Cunningham's last-gasp attempt.
Berezhynska led all rebounders with 15, while Cunningham had 12 points and Stovall had 11 for the Owls. Robbins led all scorers with 17 points for Tulsa, and added 10 boards for a double-double. Moody had 14 points, and Emily Jaskowiak grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
Neaves, who scored 78 points in three games, was named to the all-tournament team along with Robbins, Jaskowiak, SMU's Kendall Shead and Tulane's Jami Montagnino.
