Women's basketball falls to Arkansas, downs Furman over break

By Yan Digilov     12/4/08 6:00pm

Two hard-fought games in different venues resulted in two separate outcomes for the women's basketball team in the past several weeks. A second-half surge was enough to give the home team a win against Furman University at Tudor Fieldhouse on Nov. 25, but the Owls could not prevent the University of Arkansas - Little Rock from taking a home victory of its own the Saturday afterwards. Freshman point guard D'Frantz Smart stood out as the scoring leader for Rice in both games. She also registered six assists in each game, along with five rebounds against Furman and six against UALR, despite being the shortest player on the court.

"She has consistently gotten better," head coach Greg Williams said. "Point guard is the hardest position to come in and play as a freshman. We never would have projected her scoring that many points this early."

Her scoring has also come at some of the most opportune moments. Against Furman, with 13 seconds left in the game, she made a key free-throw to make it a two-possession game at 66-62, which turned out to be the final score of the contest.

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Earlier in the match, Smart was the first to break a back-and-forth deadlock that carried into the second half. Her consecutive three-pointers pushed the Owls to a nine-point lead, their biggest of the game, with six minutes left.

Freshman forward Brianna Hypolite and senior forward Maudess Fulton were the other big factors in the decision, scoring 17 and 13 points, respectively. They remained the lone consistent strength in the game, overwhelmingly outplaying the Furman posts, while Rice's guards struggled with spotty shooting.

Unforced turnovers and bad shooting choices by the Owls were really to blame for the lead that Furman held until 10 minutes into the second half. Rice's shooting percentage fell by nearly 10 points from the first half to the second, a difference that would have crippled the Owls if they had not finished 74 percent from the foul line.

As young squads often show, however, a team's strength one day can be its folly the next. In the case against UALR, the Owls went six for 15 from the free-throw line, while shooting 50 percent in the first half and nearly 40 in the second. Unfortunately for them, the turnovers continued.

"Many of them were sloppy," Williams said. "They didn't press us the whole game. We just fumbled passes, telegraphed passes, and had unforced turnovers."

Rice had one last chance at the end of the game to overcome a three-point lead with 10 seconds left, but Smart, who played a pivotal role in putting the squad within striking distance, passed the ball out-of-bounds.

It was an unlikely turn-of-events in a game that featured numerous swings in momentum. The Owls' final efforts came as a response to a 14-2 run by the Trojans. Rice contained UALR's top scorer, sophomore Chastity Reed, in the first half, but finished with 22 points after helping the home team mount their comeback.

The Owls had a commanding 31-24 lead at the end of the first half and led until Reed exploded with a flurry of baskets starting midway through the second half.

Though the loss was the second in the last three games, Williams said that he is happy with where the team is at this point in the season. "We are 3-2," he said. "We could easily be 4-1. We could easily be 1-4. We have come from behind a couple of times."

The lone loss of the season in which the Owls were totally outplayed came at the hands of 10th-ranked Baylor University on Nov. 23.

"It was really a learning experience for us," Fulton said about the game. "They were so aggressive on the rebounding, and aggressive taking it to the hole. They really showed us how it should be done, and we really learned from it."

The Owls lost by a score of 83-58, but showed that they were capable of running with the powerhouse Bears early in the match. The difference in physicality of the teams' post players, though, gave Baylor a distinct edge.

Though Williams may be happy with where the team finds itself early in the season, it remains to be seen where the majority of the squad's offensive production will originate. Smart is currently the team's leading scorer, but the undersized guard has never assumed the role of scorer in the past.

Questions also still loom about Rice's low-post presence. Freshmen Megan Elliott and Candace Ashford have seen playing time, but have not exhibited the consistency to allow for a game plan that utilizes the low-post.

"Megan Elliott has shown that she can come off the bench and make things happen, both with scoring, rebounding, and her hustle," Williams said. "Candace Ashford has had her moments, but she struggled the last couple games."

As the season progresses, it will be important for these young talents to develop as consistent scorers and effective rebounders.

The Owls return to Tudor Fieldhouse tomorrow to take on the University of Texas-Arlington at 5:30 p.m. immediately following the men's game.

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