University of Houston
12-17
Rice (C-USA Championship)
16-12
Rice Eliminates Women's Basketball By 79-64 Margin
3/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 3, 2006
DALLAS - Sha'Ratta Hawkins (Houston, Texas/Jesse Jones HS) tied a tournament record with seven three-pointers, but it was not enough as Rice handed the University of Houston women's basketball team a 79-64 defeat in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship, presented by Aeropostale, Friday at Moody Coliseum.
Rice (16-12), the No. 2 seed, snapped a three-game skid against the No. 10 Cougars (12-17) thanks to hot shooting and a 29-point night from Lauren Neaves. The Owls were 28 for 49 (.571) from the field, 6 for 10 (.600) from behind the arc and 17 for 19 (.895) from the charity stripe.
Hawkins netted a career-high 29 points, hitting 7 of 13 from behind the arc. UH's 11 three's were a season-high and the second-best single-game total in school history. She shares the C-USA record with Cincinnati's Valerie King, who knocked down seven three's against Houston on March 5, 2004.
"We lost to a better basketball team tonight," head coach Joe Curl said after the loss. "Both sides played their guts out, and I thought we really dug deep to make a run in the second half. Our kids believed that we could get back in it up until the minute."
The Owls opened the second half on a 14-6 run, leading by 20, 56-36 with 15:23 left. The Cougars pulled off a 10-2 run, keyed by eight points from Hawkins, over the next 3:58 and were within 12 at 58-46 with 11:25 left. Rice used a 7-2 run of its own to move the lead back to 17, 65-48 with 7:36 left.
Hawkins added eight more points as the Cougars went on an 11-6 run, pulling within 12 at 71-59 with 2:29 left. The teams traded buckets and a layup by Ryan Meyers (Arlington, Texas/Arlington HS/Grayson County CC) had the lead down to 10, 73-63 with 1:46 left.
Tye Jackson (Houston, Texas/Westfield HS/Purdue) split a pair of free throws with 1:36 left, bringing the deficit to single digits at 73-64. UH would not score the rest of the contests and Rice's Kadie Riverin hit four-straight free throws to ice the 15-point win.
Jackson finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals. Emily Fryters (Adelaide, Australia/Concordia College), the squad's lone senior, closed her career out with nine rebounds and three steals, fouling out with under a minute to go.
Neaves was 11 for 13 from the field, 7 for 7 from the charity stripe with eight rebounds and two blocks. Valeriy Berezhynska added a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Amber Cunningham hit four triples and finished with 16 points.
Rice had the Cougars in a 12-point hole at the break, 42-30, after the Owls shot 65.2 percent from the field in the first half (15 for 23). Houston mustered an 11 for 31 effort in the half with six three-pointers, eclipsing their two-triple output of Thursday night.
Rice's Neaves was dominant, hitting 16 points in the half, making six of her seven attempts. Valeriy Berezhynska pulled down nine boards in the opening 20 minutes, nearly eclipsing the Cougars 10 team rebounds by herself.
The Cougars finished the season below .500 for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. Houston was 7-21 (3-13 C-USA) that year.
