Tulsa
at Rice (C-USA)
Rice Snaps Tulsa's Nine-Game Win Streak, 78-62
2/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2006
Houston, Texas - Rice's inside duo of Lauren Neaves and Valeriya Berezhynska combined for 39 points and the Lady Owls snapped Tulsa's nine-game win streak with a 78-62 victory in front of 1,197 at Autry Court.
Tulsa drops to 20-5 overall and 11-3 on Conference USA play, but maintains a two-game lead in the league with two games remaining in the regular season. The loss was TU's first since a 60-57 setback against UAB on Jan. 13. The Lady Owls improved to 13-12 overall and moved into sole possession of second place in the conference standings.
Neaves hit 6-of-13 field goal attempts and all nine free throws to finish with a game-high 21 points, and she notched a double-double with 11 rebounds. Berezhynska was 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe and finished with 18 points.
Rice shot better than 45-percent in each half and finished 51-percent for the game. Tulsa was whistled for 23 fouls and the Lady Owls converted the miscues into a 27-of-32 night from the free throw line.
After trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, Tulsa climbed back into contention when junior Tandem Mays cut the deficit to nine points, 61-52, with a lay-up at the 7:35 minute mark. Rice answered with a 7-1 run and a Berezhynska trey with 3:20 remaining gave Rice a 14-point lead.
The loss was the worst for Tulsa this season and the Hurricane remained winless at Autry Court. Rice improved to 9-3 at home this season.
Junior Jillian Robbins and senior Emily Jaskowiak each led TU with 14 points, while Mays added 13 points, and senior Kara Pongonis-Paslay chipped in 10 points. Tulsa shot 41.4 percent for the game, and was out-rebounded, 37-26.
Tulsa ran into a buzz saw in the first half. Rice connected on 13 of its 23 field goal attempts for nearly 57-percent, and was perfect from the free-throw line, hitting all 11 attempts. The Owls built a 20-point lead last in the first half before Tulsa pulled to within 14 points, 40-26, at halftime.
The Golden Hurricane was plagued by poor shooting in the opening half, as TU connected on just 9-of-26 attempts for 35 percent. Rice turned eight Tulsa's turnovers into 12 points.
