Rice University
Tulane
Women's Hoops Loses Conference Opener to Tulane
1/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2008
Tulane at Rice Final Book (PDF) 
HOUSTON - The Rice women's basketball team opened Conference USA action with a 61-38 loss against Tulane Friday evening at Sharp Gym on the Houston Baptist University campus.
Rice (7-8, 0-1 C-USA) was held to season-lows with 38 points on 28.1 percent shooting. The Owls were playing without leading scorer and rebounder Valeriya Berezhynska.
"We've struggled to score in our last three games since Christmas," head coach Greg Williams said. "There's no doubt that we missed Val, but she's played in two of our last three games. It's like a hitter in baseball. If you're in a slump, how do you get out of it? You take extra batting practice and keep swinging the bat. You have to keep shooting to get out of a shooting slump."
Rice was paced by Brittney Hudson, who poured in career-highs with eight points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action off the bench.
"I was really excited about the opportunity that the coaching staff gave me tonight," Hudson said. "My main goal was to play hard and in-control every second that I was on the floor. The personal records are nice, but the bottom line is that the team didn't win."
"Brittney has been a pleasant play (off the bench) the last three games," Williams said. "She's playing the way that we thought she was capable of playing. She's practicing better and that's carrying over into the games. It's good to see her getting rewarded in game situations."
The Owls had five players tally five points apiece, including Melissa Wittmayer's 2-for-3 effort with a blocked shot. Kadie Riverin notched five points and four assists.
Tulane (11-3, 1-0 C-USA) jumped out to a 24-19 lead at halftime before the Owls started the second half on a 7-2 spurt headlined by Morgan Mayse's five points to even the score at 26-26 with 17:25 remaining.
The Green Wave responded with a 17-2 spurt of their own over the next eight minutes that included a 6:10 stretch holding Rice without a field goal.
Alendra Brown and Brittany Lindsay scored four points each during the run and paced Tulane with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
"Our defense was strong in the first half but our offense wasn't there,' Hudson said. "I thought we came strong to start the second half but things fell apart."
The Green Wave also got 10 points from Chassity Brown, while Ashley Langford chipped in nine points to go along with five assists.
Rice concludes C-USA opening weekend against UTEP 2pm Sunday at HBU's Sharp Gym. The Miners (10-2, 1-0 C-USA) won a 79-61 decision Friday over Houston behind Natasha Lacy's 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
"Our focus for Sunday is to come out and play the entire game as a team," Hudson said.
KTRU 91.7 FM and RiceOwls.com will have all of the action live with the pregame show starting at 1:45pm CT.
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