Rice University
Houston
Women's Hoops Loses at Houston
1/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2008
Rice at Houston Final Book (PDF) 
HOUSTON - Morgan Mayse and Tara Watts scored 14 each but the Rice women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 71-66 decision to Houston Sunday afternoon at Hofheinz Pavilion on the UH campus.
Mayse's 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting was a career-high as the freshman notched her third consecutive start for an injured Valeriya Berezhynska.
Brittney Hudson added 12 points off the bench, while Kadie Riverin tallied 10 points and distributed five assists against zero turnovers for the Owls.
"There are a lot of positives we can take away from this game," head coach Greg Williams said. "Morgan and Brittney continued to play well. Tara had a good shooting day."
Rice (7-10, 0-3 C-USA) also got key contributions from Shyrelle Horne, Emery Carter and Melissa Wittmayer. Horne passed out a career-best five assists against zero turnovers in 15 minutes. Carter grabbed a season-high six rebounds. Wittmayer totaled five points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.
With Houston ahead 63-62, Rice called a timeout with 1:42 remaining to reset the offense. Watts connected on a mid-range jumper on the left baseline to give the Owls a 64-63 edge.
Watts then forced a turnover and hit Hudson in the open court. Hudson knocked down the basket in transition but ended up being called for a charge on a bang-bang collision at the 1:10 mark with UH's Whitney James.
Williams was assessed a technical foul and Twiggy McIntyre connected on both free throws as Houston regained a 65-64 lead. McIntyre headlined the Cougars with a game-high 24 points.
James added a driving lay-up with 55 seconds to go coupled with a McIntyre steal on the Rice's next possession. Houston (8-9, 2-1 C-USA) converted on 4-of-6 at the foul line during the final 33 seconds to secure a 71-66 win.
"I was proud of how kids fought," Williams said. "I thought we shot the ball better (than our last four games). I give Houston credit for changing up their defensives in the second half. The technical foul was unfortunate and I'm sorry for my team. I thought the official should have used more discretion in a one-point game with one minute left."
The Owls controlled the tempo early and leaped out to a 31-14 advantage capped by a Hudson transition lay-up from Horne with 7:13 on the clock. Rice's defense limited the Cougars to 4-of-19 shooting in the opening 13 minutes.
A three-ball from Brittney Scott kickstarted a 22-5 Houston run and teams went into the locker room even at 36-36.
Rice returns to the hardwood Thursday evening at Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles lost 85-72 Sunday at SMU. Tip-off against the Golden Eagles is set for 7pm.
KTRU 91.7 FM and RiceOwls.com will carry all of the action live from Reed Green Coliseum with a 6:45pm CT pregame show.
