Owls continue search for offense in pair of road losses

By Yan Digilov     1/15/09 6:00pm

After a decisive victory against George Washington University last week, it seemed as though the women's basketball team was on an upswing, but youth and inconsistency once again undercut the Owls' efforts. Rice traveled to El Paso last Friday to take on the University of Texas-El Paso in the first conference game of the season. From the start, the Owls seemed to carry with them the momentum from the win against GW: For the fourth time in two seasons, Rice carried a halftime lead into the locker room.

But also for the fourth time in two seasons, the Miners (8-7, 1-1 C-USA) ran away with the victory in the second half.

"We have had that problem numerous other games this season, where we execute really well, take good shots, hit a high percentage, and then in the second half are unable to do that," head coach Greg Williams said. "It was a very similar repeat to what has happened to us fairly consistently this year."

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Problems began for the Owls in the final seconds of the first half. With less than a minute left, the Owls had an eight-point lead, but the Miners bridged that gap by scoring five quick points to finish the half down by only three, 31-28.

The Miners were held to 30 percent shooting from the field in the first half, and they could not get their inside-outside game into a rhythm. However, the surge at the end of the first 20 minutes gave them the spark they were looking for.

The Miners shot nearly 59 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game with 36 points in the paint, compared to Rice's paltry 18. Forward Timika Williams led the low post game for UTEP and finished with 19 points, and guard Jareica Hughes scored 21.

The Owls remained within striking distance for most of the second half, closing to within six with only two minutes remaining. But they would not score another basket in the final minutes of the game, and UTEP went on a 10-0 run to finish with the 76-60 victory.

"Jareica Hughes really stepped up her game in the second half," Williams said. "She is a very difficult match-up for everybody in the league."

Though the duo of Hughes and Williams gave Rice a considerable amount of trouble towards the end of the game, there was no concrete explanation for the Owls' offensive stagnation in the second half. The Miners played basic man-to-man defense and did not change their game plan at all, yet Rice's shooting and production fell flat.

Though the final result was upsetting, one match-up on the floor proved to be entertaining for the duration of the game. Freshman point guard D'Frantz Smart has emerged as one of the leaders on the Owl squad, and her debut against Hughes, a league superstar, was in itself an event to pay attention to.

The numbers suggest that Hughes came out the victor in their first battle, scoring nine more points and dishing out seven, compared to Smart's five, assists. Smart also got into foul trouble in the second half, forcing her to guard Hughes more cautiously.

"It was a good match-up," Williams said. "It was entertaining to watch those girls compete against each other."

With the El Paso loss still on their minds, the Owls traveled to New Orleans to take on Tulane University on Sunday. The Green Wave (9-7, 2-1 C-USA) started the year 8-3, before Williams said he wanted his team to redeem itself, but he also knew Tulane would be difficult to beat. "We talked about bouncing back," he said. "We talked about how Tulane was definitively going to be very focused for us."

On Friday, as the Owls played UTEP, Tulane was at home taking on the University of Houston. The Green Wave were up by 18 points in the second half before UH rallied to win the game by two. Tulane wasted no time in taking out the resulting frustration on the Owls.

Rice got off to an early 4-0 lead, but that was about all that went well, as Williams' squad found itself on the wrong end of a 91-63 stomping. Smart continued to play well, finishing with 19 points, but despite her efforts she could not find a way to energize the rest of the team.

"It is not a very emotional team," Williams said. "You do not see very evident emotions."

The Owls had a problem choosing and making the best shots. Throughout the year, shot selection has been as big a factor as the actual shooting numbers for the Owls. They were outscored by 22 points in the paint, while the starting forwards, senior Emery Carter and sophomore Morgan Mayse, scored a combined 10 points for the second game in a row.

Though the team's underachievement was discouraging, several bright spots emerged in New Orleans. First, freshman Brianna Hypolite scored 15 points on the night. She proved herself to be a scoring threat early in the year, but has been quiet and ineffective since the start of the winter vacation.

"She seemed to play a little more relaxed, and we ended up giving her more minutes," Williams said. "She played well. We are hoping there will be some carry over from her this week, because we certainly could use that type of production this week."

Another part of the silver lining was the play of sophomore center Melissa Wittmayer. She finished the night with seven blocks, five points and nine rebounds. Freshman center Candace Ashford also finished the night with five points.

The Owls face two opponents this weekend, starting with Memphis University tonight at 7 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse. On Sunday, they play host to the University of Alabama- Birmingham.

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