Rice University
Tulsa
Riverin and Mayse Propel Women's Hoops Past Tulsa
2/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2008
Tulsa at Rice (Final Book - PDF) 
HOUSTON - Kadie Riverin poured in 20 points for the third time in the last four games, while Morgan Mayse scored a career-best 18 points to lift the Rice women's basketball team to a 69-59 victory over Tulsa Saturday afternoon at Hofheinz Pavilion on the UH campus.
Rice (9-15, 2-8 C-USA) ended a five-game skid and won at Hofheinz Pavilion for the first time since the 1995 season. The game was played at Hofheinz Pavilion due to HBU's Homecoming weekend.
"I'm very proud of the team for fighting through some things in a game that seesawed back and forth," head coach Greg Williams said. "The team has been working hard and we haven't hung our heads. Tulsa plays a very good match-up zone. Morgan and Emery (Carter) stepped up on the interior and played physical in the second half with Valeriya (Berezhynska) being in foul trouble."
Tulsa (9-14, 5-5 C-USA) held a 56-53 edge after a Chanel Johnson lay-up with 6:30 remaining in the second half. Johnson paced the Golden Hurricane with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go along with a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Owls fired back with an Emery Carter jumper coupled with a Riverin triple off of a Tara Watts steal to jump ahead 58-56 at the 5:36 mark. Watts passed out a career-best eight assists and secured five steals, while Carter chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds.
"The coaching staff has told since my sophomore season that I need to take more shots and keep shooting even when I'm miss a couple," Riverin said. "I would get frustrated and stop shooting earlier in my career. The difference for me now is that I forget about the last one and keep letting the shots fly."
Kara Vaughan responded with a three-ball of her own on Tulsa's next possession before Rice closed the game on an impressive 11-0 spurt over the final 5:11.
Carter tacked on another basket and Maudess Fulton buried a three-pointer on the left wing with 2:56 left to make it 63-59. Fulton finished with 10 points and five rebounds in 33 minutes as Rice knocked down a season-high seven three-point baskets.
The Owls turned back to Riverin and Mayse, who connected on all six of their free throw attempts in the final 48 seconds to salt away the 69-59 victory. Rice went 18-for-21 for the game at the line. Mayse also picked up a steal on the defensive end with 32 seconds to go.
"I wanted to step up with Val being in foul trouble," Mayse said. "My goal was to keep working hard on both sides of the courts."
Rice embarks on a four-game road swing Thursday at Tulane. Tip-off against the Green Wave is set for 7pm and a CSTV national broadcast.
"Tulane is a very good basketball team and made a couple of changes to their starting lineup since we saw them to open conference play," Williams said. "They're coming off a nice win at East Carolina. It's a big bull's-eye on your back when you're the preseason conference favorite. It's going to be a tough four-game stretch for us on the road."
KTRU 91.7 FM and RiceOwls.com also will carry all of the action live from Folgeman Arena with a 6:45pm CT pregame show.
