Strong play in face of adversity not enough for Owls

By Yan Digilov     1/22/09 6:00pm

Even the best teams need to be lucky sometimes to keep winning. The opposite can be said of the women's basketball team. The Owls (5-12, 0-4 Conference USA) have been struggling throughout the season to string together solid, 40-minute performances, byt even when they succeed, adversity finds a way to catch up with them. The first of a series of setbacks occurred last week, when freshman point guard D'Frantz Smart sprained a foot ligament and was forced to sit out for the first time in her college career. Smart leads the team in scoring and assists, but also plays a leadership role and is currently out on a day-to-day basis.

However, last weekend's absence of the young point guard seemed only to fuel the rest of the team's desire to win. Three players hit double-digit scoring in both of Rice's contests, while the Owls' bench scored a combined 63 points against the University of Memphis on Friday and the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Sunday. The offensive production stemmed from some of the most confident play the team has exhibited all season.

"I just see us really progressing," said senior guard Maudess Fulton, who finished with 13 points against the Tigers. "We just have a certain energy that we didn't have before, and I feel like people want it more."

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The Owls dominated play for most of the match against Memphis at Tudor Fieldhouse. A stringent defensive effort complemented the squad's offensive production.

Junior Shyrelle Horn took control of the ball to start the game in place of the injured Smart. The Owls have struggled to minimize turnovers at the point guard position all year, and Friday was no different as Horne finished with eight turnovers on the night.

But what Horne lacked in ball control, the rest of the team made up for in aplomb. Uncharacteristically, they shut down Memphis (8-10, 1-4 C-USA) defensively from the start of the match, limiting the Tigers to only 25 percent shooting in the first half.

The Owls showed signs of a dry spell in offensive production as the first 20 minutes finished, and the Tigers started closing the gap. However, Fulton's uninhibited temperament aided her in making several successful drives to the basket to finish the half with a 33-27 lead.

Rice maintained its intensity at the start of the second half, but Memphis did not let up. The Tigers made it a one-point game halfway through the second half, but freshman forward Megan Elliott, who led Rice with 17 points, hit a three-pointer to hold onto the lead. The game remained close, and Memphis finally gained a 63-62 lead on a fast break after another Horne turnover. The Tigers held on to the lead for a 72-69 victory, giving Rice it's third conference loss of the year.

Even though Smart did not return for the following game at home, the squad gained confidence from their previous performance without their young leader.

Their confidence was tested, though, just hours before Sunday's game. The night before, head coach Greg Williams fell ill with an unspecified illness. He was taken to St. Luke's Hospital for tests, and the squad found out during shoot-arounds that he would not be present during the game against UAB (7-11, 2-3 C-USA).

Misfortune affected the Owls' leaders on and off the court, but the team showed great resilience in Sunday's contest. Senior forward Emery Carter set the tone on defense with a block against UAB's 6'5" freshman center on UAB's first possession. On the other end, junior guard Tara Watts started the game off with a three-pointer for the Owls.

Rice outplayed the Blazers in the first half and finished with a 36-32 lead going into halftime. The Owls played near-perfect ball, grabbing rebounds on both sides of the floor, forcing turnovers and taking strong shots.

Mirroring the game against Memphis, the second half stayed competitive, and the Blazers slowly hammered closer as the game wound down. Midway through the half, the Owls hit another dry spell offensively, and the visitors came within one. However, after two offensive rebounds with about five minutes left, Fulton nabbed a bucket to make it a three-point game.

The Owls finished the night with an astounding 16 offensive rebounds and 41 rebounds total. Despite the impressive showing, the Blazers stayed in the game due almost entirely to the offensive effort of senior point guard Britney Jones. As her team struggled to keep up, she exploded in the second half and finished the night with 24 points.

McKinney made it a five-point game with two minutes remaining after making two free throws. She started the game at the point guard position and played for all but five minutes with only one turnover. But Jones continued to dominate the Owls and gave the Blazers a lead with 1:30 left.

Then the fireworks began.

Sophomore forward Morgan Mayse, who finished the night with 17 points, hit a three-pointer to tie the game, but it was quickly nullified on the other side of the court by a UAB three.

With 46 seconds left, the visitors gained a four-point lead, yet Mayse struck again with a three-pointer to pull within one only seconds later. After UAB missed a free throw, the Owls had 15 seconds to make a shot to win the game.

But luck had another plan for the home squad. After a missed shot, an offensive rebound, and another missed shot, the Owls fell 69-68 to the Blazers.

"Nobody keeled over or rolled over," associate head coach Carlos Quintero said. "Everybody from the get-go felt that we could win this. I think a lot of our players fought hard. We had our chance at the end of the game. We battled and that's all you ask for."

The Owls played again yesterday at the University of Central Florida, but the results of the game were not available at the time of printing. They will try to improve their fortunes again against the University of Southern Mississippi on Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse.

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