Thursday, February 20
Houston, TX
7:00 pm CT
Rice University
-178,122 CUSA
69
vs
66
North Texas
-917,311 CUSA
1
2
3
4
F
North Texas
19
18
11
18
66
Rice
20
6
20
23
69
Photo by: Juan DeLeon
Owls Storm Back to Defeat North Texas, 69-66
2/20/2020 10:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Ogwumike scores a career-high 33 points
HOUSTON – The Rice Owls women's basketball erased a 13-point first half deficit by outscoring North Texas 43-29 in the second half en route to a 69-66 home victory Thursday evening on Fight Cancer Night at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Rice (17-8, 12-2) stopped a mini two-game slide behind a career-high 33 points from senior guard Erica Ogwumike, who also collected a game-high 12 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. Ogwumike made 10-of-20 shots from the field and converted 12-of-13 at the free throw line to go along with a game-high four assists and three steals in 37 minutes. The Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year scored 21 of her 33 points in the second half.
Joining Ogwumike in double-figures was junior guard Sydne Wiggins (12 points) and freshman wing Lauren Schwartz (10 points).
With the victory, Rice moved back into a tie for first place with Old Dominion (22-4, 12-2) in the C-USA standings and improved to 37-2 at Tudor Fieldhouse over the past three seasons.
North Texas (9-17, 3-11) was led in scoring by senior center Anisha George, who scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
"We've been on the road a ton over the last couple weeks and it was so amazing to be able to come home and have the feeling of our Rice community and fans behind us. I'm proud of the way our team has responded to adversity all season; no matter what they face they have tremendous character and fight."
First Quarter
After falling behind 17-9 midway through the quarter, Rice responded with an 11-2 run over the final four minutes to take a 20-19 advantage at the conclusion of 10 minutes. Ogwumike scored 12 points in the opening quarter alone on 5-of-8 from the field (2-of-3 at the line). North Texas scored 18 of their 19 points in the paint, led by seven points from George.
Second Quarter
North Texas closed the half on a 14-2 run to take a 37-26 halftime lead. The Mean Green shot 64 percent from the field in the quarter, outscoring Rice 18-6. The Owls gained a bit of momentum in the waning seconds of the half on a made layup from Alexah Chrisman before the buzzer sounded.
Third Quarter
Rice came out the aggressors in the second half, immediately reeling off seven consecutive points over the first two minutes, including a three-pointer from Wiggins. North Texas was able to push the lead back up to 48-37 but the Owls refused to go away, closing out the quarter on a 9-0 run with six of the points coming from Ogwumike. The Owls outscored the Mean Green 20-11 in the period, which included 13 fastbreak points.
Fourth Quarter
The Owls took the lead for good on a Jasmine Smith three-pointer at the 8:05 mark, claiming a 52-51 edge on one of Rice's three made trifectas on the night. The Smith three-pointer was the start of a 12-2 run in which the Owls eventually pushed their lead to 63-55 with 3:21 remaining. The Mean Green pulled to within 67-66 with nine seconds left and was forced to foul Wiggins and send her to the free throw line. The junior calmly made two clutch free throws to extend the lead to 69-66 before blocking N'Yah Boyd's last second three-point attempt on the other end of the floor as time expired to seal the victory.
The Owls have a quick turnaround before traveling to UAB (17-9, 9-5) on Saturday, Feb. 22 for a 2 p.m. tip-off from Bartow Arena on CUSAtv.
-RiceOwls.com-
Team Stats
UNT
RICE
FG%
.467
.500
3FG%
.250
.250
FT%
.421
.769
RB
33
30
TO
16
17
STL
12
7
Game Leaders
Pts
33
FGM
10
3FGM
1
FTM
12
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG
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