Sunday, February 1
Tudor Fieldhouse
2:00 PM
Rice University
58
vs
55
North Texas
Porter Leads Owls to Overtime Victory Over Mean Green
2/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2015
HOUSTON, Texas - Rice senior center Christal Porter registered her fifth double-double (20 points, 15 rebounds) of the season to help the Owls snap a six-game losing streak with a 58-55 overtime triumph over the North Texas Mean Green Sunday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Rice (7-12, 2-6) avenged a Jan. 10 loss to the Mean Green (2-17, 1-7) by winning the overtime period 10-7, six of which points came from Porter. The Owls improved to 3-0 in overtime this season, overcoming 11 ties and seven lead changes.
Porter made 8-of-14 shots from the field and was a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line while also contributing two blocks and a steal in a career-high 44 minutes of action. The Owls also got a superb performance from junior forward Alyssa Lang, who scored 15 points including the Owls' final eight points in regulation. Lang made 4-of-7 shots from the floor and was 9-of-10 (career-best) at the free throw line.
The Mean Green was led in scoring by forward Briesha Wynn (17 points) while forward Eboniey Jeter notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Rice rallied from a poor shooting first half, making just 5-of-21 shots (24 percent), by shooting 44 percent (12-of-27) in the second half and 50 percent (2-of-4) in overtime.
Both teams struggled shooting in the first half but it was North Texas that took a 21-20 lead into halftime. Rice had been just 1-5 this season when trailing at the intermission. However the Owls came out the aggressors in the second half and opened up a lead as large as 40-29 with 11:50 remaining following a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Nakachi Maduka.
North Texas responded to the 22-10 Rice run with one of their own, grabbing a 43-42 edge with 3:56 left in the second half following a Wynn layup, capping a 14-2 spurt. The Mean Green went up 48-46 with 54 seconds left after a jumper by BreAnna Dawkins only for Lang to knot the score at 48-48 21 seconds later on a jumper in the paint to send the game to overtime.
With the game tied 55-55 in overtime and under one minute remaining, Porter gave the Owls the lead for a good with a made turnaround jumper in the paint with 40 seconds remaining. Porter then came up with a big block leading to a foul and a 1-of-2 trip at the free throw line from Jasmine Goodwine. North Texas had one last opportunity to tie the game trailing 58-55 but Goodwine sealed the win with a block on a Dawkins three-point attempt.
The Owls will look to carry their momentum to next Thursday when they host Marshall at 6 p.m.
-RiceOwls.com-
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