Houston, Texas -- The woes of the SMU women's basketball team continues as the Mustangs drop a 68-52 decision to the Rice Owls Saturday evening in Houston. The loss was SMU's fourth straight. With the loss, SMU falls to 9-17 overall (4-12 WAC). Rice improves to 19-7 overall (13-4 WAC).
The Mustangs, playing shorthanded to due a knee injury to junior guard Kenni Patton, kept the game nip-and-tuck in the first half, hitting nearly 40% of their shots - including six-of-seven from the charity stripe. But Rice went into the halftime intermission with a one-point lead, 29-28.
In the second half, SMU would be its own worst enemy, turning the ball over and unable to get many offensive rebounds. Rice started pulling away from SMU, building up a lead to as many as 11 points halfway through the second half. Foul trouble also plagued the Mustangs as junior post Kaci Alexander picked up her fifth foul with nearly five minutes remaining in the game. Rice connected on high-percentage shots while SMU struggled to score points. The Owls tallied 38 points in the paint compared to SMU's 28. Rice also recorded 12 blocked shots on SMU.
Sophomore guard Jackee Brown went down with an injury to her left knee late in the second half and had to be assisted off the court. The extent of her injured knee is unknown and further evaluation will take place on Monday.
Top scorer for the Mustangs was sophomore guard Shanta Ramdhanny with 12 points. Sophomore forward Tyesha Glover tied a career-high with 13 rebounds. Leading all scorers was Rice's Daneesh McIntosh with 14 points.
The Mustangs close out the regular season with two home games this coming week. SMU faces Nevada Thursday evening (7:00 p.m.) and Fresno State Saturday afternoon (2:00 p.m.). Both games will take place at Moody Coliseum.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
SMU vs Rice Lady Owls
2/23/02 5 pm at Autry Court, Houston
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VISITORS: SMU 9-17, 4-12 WAC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 Glover, Tyesha...... f 4-9 0-0 0-2 3 10 13 3 8 1 1 0 0 31
34 Alexander, Kaci..... c 3-9 0-1 0-1 1 1 2 5 6 1 4 0 2 24
04 Krouch, Vanita...... g 0-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 1 24
33 Brown, Jackee'...... g 3-9 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 1 9 3 2 0 0 33
40 Cossey, Andrea...... g 3-13 1-7 0-1 1 1 2 2 7 1 4 0 2 34
05 Cruse, Tiara........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 6
13 Roberts, Shonte..... 2-5 0-0 6-6 3 4 7 3 10 1 4 1 1 26
22 Ramdhanny, Shanta... 2-4 1-1 7-10 0 2 2 0 12 1 1 0 0 22
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 17-54 3-12 15-22 12 25 37 15 52 10 20 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 7-28 25.0% Game: 31.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 9-15 60.0% Game: 68.2% 3
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HOME TEAM: Rice Lady Owls 19-7, 13-4 WAC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Liggett, Kara....... f 1-9 1-5 0-0 0 4 4 1 3 1 4 0 2 25
33 Inman, Elisa........ f 7-10 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 4 14 1 3 1 0 19
30 McIntosh, Daneesh... c 4-8 0-0 0-1 4 1 5 3 8 1 3 2 2 30
15 Maynard, Lindsey.... g 4-10 1-1 2-2 2 2 4 2 11 2 1 2 0 23
21 Lawson, Kim......... g 2-3 1-1 0-0 0 3 3 2 5 4 1 0 2 23
03 Singleton, Eshombi.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 6
05 Rigg, Jennifer...... 3-7 0-1 0-0 4 2 6 3 6 1 2 1 0 13
14 Beckler, Kate....... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 4
20 Brown, LaToya....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 4 5 0 0 3 1 1 0 12
22 Woods, Michelle..... 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 3 1 0 1 0 13
32 James, Starla....... 2-5 0-1 0-2 1 4 5 2 4 1 0 0 1 15
34 Hayes, Johnetta..... 3-7 0-0 4-4 2 3 5 0 10 1 0 4 0 17
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 29-66 3-10 7-11 15 29 44 20 68 18 17 12 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-35 37.1% 2nd Half: 16-31 51.6% Game: 43.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-3 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 30.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 63.6% 1
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Officials: Scott Yarbrough, John Weeks, Darla Foutz
Technical fouls: SMU-None. Rice Lady Owls-None.
Attendance: 2111
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
SMU........................... 28 24 - 52
Rice Lady Owls................ 29 39 - 68
SMU's Kaci Alexander fouls out with 4:19 to go in the 2nd half
Points in the paint-SMU 18,RICE 38. Points off turnovers-SMU 17,RICE 15.
2nd chance points-SMU 8,RICE 16. Fast break points-SMU 2,RICE 10.
Bench points-SMU 22,RICE 27. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-7 times.
