Rice University
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UTEP
Owls Beat Miners to Advance in Tournament
3/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 2, 2007
Tulsa, Okla. -
Lauren Neaves scored a game-high 20 points and Valeriya Berezhynska added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Rice played stingy defense down the stretch to take a 56-46 win over UTEP Friday in the second round of the Conference USA women's basketball tournament at the Reynolds Center. The Owls (18-12) will play top-seeded Tulane, a 62-55 winner over Houston, Saturday at 2 pm in the semifinals.
Rice's inside game was the key to the win as the Owls dominated on the boards, 46-36, and got 50 percent shooting from Neaves and Berezhynska. Both teams shot poorly from the floor otherwise, but Rice knocked down nine free throws in the final 2:40, seven of them by guard Kadie Riverin.
"We struggled offensively," said head coach Greg Williams. "Two weeks ago we came to Tulsa and shot 29 percent and won, and we did the same thing today. Our defense was solid, and that is what won the game for us. It was a fantastic defensive effort, and Krystal Frazier and Maudess Fulton did a great job on Jareica Hughes."
The teams traded the lead for the first six minutes before a layup by Timika Williams gave the Miners a 12-8 lead with 13:35 to go. Berezhynska hit two buckets to tie it at 14-14 four minutes later, then Ana Valtierra's three-pointer and a jumper by Izabela Piekarska put UTEP back in the lead 19-14 with 6:20 left. Neaves drained a jumper and then converted three straight free throws to knot the game at 19-19, and Samantha Stovall popped in a long trey before a Neaves layup with four seconds left sent the Owls into the half with a 24-21 lead.
Shalana Taylor hit a three to open the second half and tie the game, and for the next seven minutes the teams stayed within one point of each other. With 12:44 to go, Berezhynska notched two charity shots, and a minute later she added two more to make it 36-33. The 6-4 junior scored on a layup and another free throw to give the Owls' their biggest lead of the game to that point at 39-33 with 10:46 left. Jareica Hughes scored on a layup and a free throw, and Valtierra sank another three-pointer to tie the game with 8:26 to go, and a Hughes jumper put the Miners up 41-39. Three Frazier free throws helped the Owls claw back into the lead, and the senior hit a key trey with 3:37 on the clock to put Rice up 45-41 and knock the fight out of the Miners. UTEP went seven minutes without scoring during a 15-0 Rice run, until a pair of free throws by Taylor and a third three-pointer from Valtierra with three seconds left ended the contest.
Hughes and Valtierra had 11 points each to lead UTEP, and Valtierra and Tasha Marisett added 10 boards each. Neaves had seven rebounds for the Owls, who shot 29.1 percent from the field and 78.6 percent from the free throw line. UTEP shot 31.5 percent from the field.
