Seniors finish with exemplary performance

By Yan Digilov     3/12/09 7:00pm

The expectations were low for the women's basketball team as they entered the Conference USA tournament last Saturday. After losing to the University of Central Florida by 25 points earlier in the season, few could have expected the performance the Owls (7-23, 2-14 C-USA), stuck with the lowest seed, would put up. Fortunately, seniors Maudess Fulton and Emery Carter knew they had it in them all along.

Throughout Rice's 11-game midseason losing streak, Fulton emerged as the team's most reliable player, averaging double-digit scoring for the first time in her career. It was Carter's early-game surge, however, that propelled the Owls to their first win of the season over Tulane University on Feb. 24.

Convention may have ruled the Owls out of contention before they stepped foot on the court against the Golden Knights, but for the two senior leaders of a young, inexperienced team there was still a bit of honor to be won.

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The match-up began as a battle of streaks. After UCF (17-16, 11-5 C-USA) went on a 12-0 run to go ahead 20-7, Rice responded with 10 straight points of its own thanks in large part to sophomore forward Morgan Mayse.

The Owls went into halftime down 34-24 and continued to slide early in the second half, resulting in a 14-point UCF lead with just over 13 minutes left in the game. The setting was all-too-similar to the teams' previous matchup.

But this time would be different.

"I remember thinking that I'm going to give it everything I got," Fulton said. "I know there were no high expectations for us, but everyone on our team approached the game knowing we could win."

Fulton sank two consecutive jumpers, and all of a sudden the Owls found themselves on a 20-9 run. With over two minutes left in the game, she hit another one of her eight field goals to give Rice its first lead of the half at 58-57.

"[Fulton] had our kids focused for the tournament," head coach Greg Williams (Hanszen '73) said. "It is hard for a team, sitting where we were, to go in with a focus and a belief that you can still pull some upsets. She was a big factor in that. Our team did not have that all year. I credit her and Emery a lot."

The teams battled for the rest of the match, and with 22 seconds left on the clock UCF's Amber Kirkpatrick, who was 5 of 29 from beyond the arc throughout the season, hit a three-pointer that put the Knights ahead by four points.

It would be enough for UCF, who then went on to win the conference tournament without losing another game by less than 11.

Seniors' redemption

Despite the loss, the game signified much more than a close shot at an upset. The last-ditch effort sent a message to future Rice squads in numerous ways.

First and foremost, the outstanding play of Fulton, who finished with 22 points, and Carter, who finished with ten rebounds, was yet another exhibit of the veterans' determination, an aspect of the game that has been visibly lacking for some of the younger players on the squad.

The effort also made history for the team, as Fulton entered the game with a shot at hitting the millennium mark.

"We knew going in...that she needed 17 points to hit 1,000," Williams said. "It was within her reach, but it was against a really good defensive team. I was so happy that she was able to get that in her last game."

Fulton also did it on a night where she was asked to face guard Chelsie Wiley, who was named to the All- Tournament team, for 39 minutes of play, a tiring task that often takes away from a player's offensive production. In the minute that Fulton took for a breather, Wiley scored six of her nine points.

Junior Tara Watts also performed phenomenally on the defensive end, holding the tournament MVP, Emma Cannon, to three points. The two UCF stars combined for 46, 28 and 34 points in the next three games of the tournament.

"I gave it everything I had, and we just fell short," Fulton said. "We played the basketball that we were capable of for the entire season. It just came a little late. I don't have any regrets concerning that game. I was proud of every single person."

Carter echoed her remarks.

"It was a good feeling that even though our season wasn't as good, we still fought in the end," she said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win. I was proud."

No regrets

Learning to play without regrets was something that both of the departing seniors learned in their time at Rice. After a promising freshman campaign in the 2004-2005 season, Fulton was given a medical redshirt due to an ACL injury suffered in a preseason game. An ACL injury would later befall Carter in the middle of her 2006-07 sophomore campaign.

"Coming back was a struggle," Fulton remembered. "You can't do everything the way you could before. It was a struggle mentally adjusting to the fact that you are not 100 percent."

Fulton was asked to move from a starting position on a team that made an NCAA tournament run her freshman year to coming off the bench and contributing in any manner possible in '06-'07.

Carter was also forced to find a new role on the team. Before her injury, she had just managed to secure a starting spot on the squad ahead of Valeriya Berezhynska, who went on to be one of Rice's most prolific scorers of all time with 1,076 career points.

Though the difficulties of coping with the first major injuries of their careers proved challenging for the two final remnants of the era of Christy McKinney, who was Rice's head coach before leaving for Clemson University in 2006, each finished their careers at Rice carrying some valuable lessons.

Fulton noted that differences existed between her two coaches, but the value of hard work was always stressed.

"In our practices [with McKinney], we just ran and ran and ran," she said. "We were really in shape that season . But both [coaches] made me reach my potential. It was a struggle at times, but looking back on it, I appreciate it."

The struggle and growth began for Fulton as soon as she began playing at Rice.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," she said. "At the high school and the AAU levels you think you are playing competitive basketball, but in college.the level of competition escalates. Everyone wants the ball so badly."

While she was never able to take a trip back to the NCAA tournament after her freshman year, Fulton exhibited the importance of playing to one's full potential in her final year, and indeed, her final minutes on the court.

The lessons of elders

Though McKinney recruited Carter out of high school, she was only coached by Williams in her time at Rice. An emotional coach by nature, his leadership beckoned Carter to give nothing short of her best effort, despite lingering injuries that kept her off the court for stretches throughout her final two years.

"He is very passionate about the whole game in general," she said. "He expects a lot because he is so into the game."

Those high expectations led to big disappointments at the completion of a difficult season, which saw the Owls only win two of their last 16 games. Now, the process of reevaluating what went wrong begins. Most disappointing for the Owls has been the lack of development throughout the season and the duration it took for the players to get accustomed to playing with one another.

"Why aren't players at a certain level?" Williams asked. "Well, it is not because we aren't trying to teach them things they need to work on. They haven't made a certain commitment to carry that forward, to apply that in games and stay dedicated to what they are doing. I have to say some of [us] haven't done that."

The final game of the year proved that the pieces of the puzzle are all there, but it is taking time for them to fit properly. But the performance may have also served as an important motivational tool for the young squad. It is interesting to note that only a year ago, a UCF squad full of freshman finished last in C-USA standings and left the first round of the tournament after dropping the first game by two points.

Williams has elected not to waste a moment, beginning off-season workouts right away. Now the current Owls will apply the lessons of the season on the court, while the former Owls will be challenged to use them off the court.

"I played basketball at the Division I level for four years," Fulton said. "I feel like since I have done this I can do anything. I am not saying the world is going to be a piece of cake, but I am equipped and ready.

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