Struggle continues for women's basketball

By Yan Digilov     2/5/09 6:00pm

There simply does not seem to be an answer when it comes to the question of what makes the women's basketball team tick. Though it remains a mystery as to who on the team will finish the game with two or 20 points, the storylines of most of their recent losses have been surprisingly similar. "We seem to come out really strong against every team we play," junior guard Tara Watts said. "We hold them down in points all in the first half. Sometimes, it is like we don't play to our potential in the second half, and that is where we have been losing it."

On Thursday, Jan. 29, it was freshman forward Brianna Hypolite who hit the 20-point mark when Rice (5-17, 0-9 Conference USA) went on the road against the University of Tulsa. In her previous performance, she failed to score altogether and posted only two points in the Owls' next game against Southern Methodist University.

"None of us have been able to figure that out," head coach Greg Williams said. "Like she has done all year, she will follow that up with a 'Hey, were you here?' performance the next night."

---

---

Though inconsistent play is often associated with younger players, it has not been coming solely from the freshmen members of team. Watts began the season as one of the Owls' strongest offensive weapons but has struggled to score at all in the team's recent skid. Like Hypolite, she followed several no-show performances with a 15-point flurry against the University of Houston on Wednesday, which ended up being Rice's ninth-straight loss.

Watts had no explanation for her recent dry spell. "Truthfully, I have no idea," she said. "I am just missing. I am hoping to get out of it."

But poor shooting has not taken just Watts hostage: The entire squad has averaged a meager 31 percent from the field in their last three games. While some shots are simply not falling, many others should have never been taken in the first place.

"We work on these things in practice," senior guard Maudess Fulton said. "We work on shooting all the time. It is basically just having it carry over into the game we are having difficulty with."

The decreased offensive efficiency has been exacerbated by consecutive poor performances from the team's leading scorer and ball handler, freshman guard D'Frantz Smart.

Smart returned against Tulsa (6-14, 2-6 C-USA) after sitting out for two weeks with a foot injury, and played an ominously uncharacteristic game. She had six turnovers in only 17 minutes of play to counteract a pair of assists and only two points.

"That is one of the things about injuries," Williams said. "[Players] don't always come back like they left. She did not play at the level she had been playing prior to her injury in either the Tulsa or SMU games."

Tulsa forced 28 turnovers in the game and registered a colossal 20 steals thanks to a full court press that the Owls could not seem to crack.

The team's woes have carried over onto the defensive side of the court as well. Williams has been unable to get his players to communicate on either side of the floor, a failing that is especially fatal on defense.

"It is just a weakness," he said. "I think they understand the importance of it, but getting them to do it on a consistent basis has been something that we have been unable to achieve."

Watts said that part of their inability to communicate has come from their youth. "It is partly just the 'young team' excuse," she said. "In high school, you do not need to communicate as much. It is also just focus. Once we get tired, we just stop talking completely, and it is a problem."

The team's defense fell apart in Dallas on Saturday after the Owls, the last place team in C-USA, tied SMU (14-7, 7-1 C-USA), sitting atop the conference standings, in the second half. Concomitantly, Rice lost focus on defense and offense, allowing the Mustangs to go on a 14-0 run that propelled them to a 68-52 victory.

Though the Owls have been making a habit of underachieving, the players know that Williams has not lowered his expectations.

"He expects everyone to score 20 points every night," Hypolite said. "I don't go out planning on scoring that many points. I just want to help my team. I think it is just going to be hard work and toughness on my part. All those things will come with hard work and toughness."

But tough, hardworking performances have come in unexpected spurts in recent weeks for the Owls. The team followed a poor practice on Tuesday with an impressive performance against Houston (14-7, 6-3 C-USA) on Wednesday. Despite losing by a score of 66-56, Rice left the expectations for their second shot at the Cougars on Saturday up in the air.

As long as the spurts are there, the squad maintains their commitment to take on each unexpected challenge with a bright outlook for the future.

"It is very frustrating to be in last place," Watts said. "The pressure is gone that we have had in the past, but I would rather be winning. It is frustrating, but we are here to play basketball. It is going to be fun no matter what. Even when we lose, we have times where we play really well, and that's when the game is fun."

This sentiment has been especially shared by many of the young players on the squad who may have been vacillating between greatness and mediocrity, but are dedicated to getting the Owls back to a spot in the standings that the younger players have never experienced.

"You always see hints and sparks of fantastic play," Hypolite said. "When we put it together, I think that it is going to be something amazing. I honestly do."

For recaps of basketball games please visit http://www.ricethresher.org.

---