Rice University
Tulane
Balanced Effort Lifts Women's Hoops Over Tulane
2/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2008
Rice at Tulane Final Book (PDF) 
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Rice women's basketball team had five players score in doubles figures and Valeriya Berezhynska recorded the program's first career triple-double in a 78-73 victory over Tulane Thursday evening at Fogelman Arena in a nationally televised contest on CSTV.
Berezhynska dished out a career-best 10 assists to go along with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Lauren Neaves was two blocks away from a triple-double at UAB during the 2005-06 season, while Marla Brumfield was two assists away at Sam Houston State during the 1999-2000 campaign.
"It's a huge win for us in a nationally televised game," associate head coach Misty Murphy said. "We're making strides in every game and showed some composure tonight executing in pressure situations in a hostile environment. Valeriya was instrumental in our success and Kadie stepped up hitting some clutch free throws down the stretch. Tara and Maudess were great on offense. Morgan continued her strong play on both sides of the floor."
"It feels good and it's huge for our confidence to win back-to-back games," Berezhynska said. "It was a great team effort from everyone. We can't have two or three people have a good game. Everybody has to play well and this is what we need to do each game to be successful."
Tara Watts poured in a career-best 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Maudess Fulton and Morgan Mayse added 15 and 13 points, respectively for the Owls.
Kadie Riverin chipped in 12 points on an 8-for-8 effort at the free throw line in the second half. The 12 points allowed Riverin to pass Brenda Conaway (1991-95) for sole possession of ninth place on the program's career scoring list.
The two teams traded blows in the opening minutes before Rice (10-15, 3-8 C-USA) opened up a 23-16 advantage with 8:20 remaining in the first half behind back-to-back triples by Watts and Fulton.
Tulane (13-11, 3-8 C-USA) responded with a 10-0 run capped by a Dominique Philpots jumper to grab a 26-23 lead at the 4:47 mark.
The Owls fired back and closed the half on a 17-2 spurt to go ahead 40-28 heading into the locker room. Mayse strung together six consecutive points, while Watts tallied 18 of her 20 points in the first half.
The Green Wave trimmed the deficit down to three points on three separate occasions in the final minute. Rice answered by knocking down six-of-eight free throws in the final 56 seconds to salt away the 78-73 win. The Owl starting five combined for 74 of the team's 78 points.
Rice continues its four-game road swing Saturday at No. 24 UTEP. The Miners (20-2, 11-0 C-USA) picked up an 80-55 victory over Houston. Tip-off is set for 8:05pm CT.
"UTEP is having a fantastic season and we're going to have to play very well in a tough place to play," Murphy said. "We played well against them for a half in our first meeting. We're going to need another team effort to come out successful."
KTRU 91.7 FM and RiceOwls.com will carry all of the action live from Don Haskins Center with a 7:45pm CT pregame show.
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