Rice University
Middle Tennessee
Owls Fall at Middle Tennessee, 51-41
2/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Kenny Bybee (kab10@rice.edu)
MT 51-Rice 41 (PDF box score)
MURFREESBORO, TN - The Rice Owls women's basketball team dropped a second straight contest on the road Saturday afternoon, falling 51-41 to Middle Tennessee at the Murphy Center.
Rice (18-6, 8-4) was undone by 19 turnovers, which resulted in a 23-14 edge in points off turnovers for MT, in one of the most physical games of the season. The Owls shot just 35 percent from the field and were outscored 24-8 in points in the paint.
Redshirt sophomore Erica Ogwumike led all players with 15 points while junior Nicole Iademarco added 12 points and made three of the Owls seven three-pointers.
MT (16-10, 8-5) was led in scoring by Anna Jones (12 points) and Abbey Sissom (11 points).
The Owls jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the first quarter behind a pair of three-pointers from Wendy Knight and Iademarco, but the Blue Raiders responded with a 6-1 run over the final three minutes to narrow the Rice advantage to 9-8 at quarter's end.
MT increased their lead to 24-17 with 2:43 left in the second quarter before Iademarco drilled a pair of three-pointers to trim the deficit to 26-23 going into the break. Rice made just four field goals in the quarter but all of which were three-point shots.
Ogwumike scored seven of her 15 points in the third quarter and Rice managed to pull to within 37-35 of MT with 1:24 left to go in the third, but the Blue Raiders scored the last five points of the quarter to take a 42-35 advantage going to the fourth.
In the final quarter the Owls were limited to just 2-of-11 shooting from the field and Ogwumike was responsible for all six of Rice's points.
The Owls will be back in action next Thursday, Feb. 22 when they host Marshall at 7 p.m. from Tudor Fieldhouse.
-RiceOwls.com-
