Feb. 17, 2006
Box Score
Houston, Texas - The SMU women's basketball team could not come back from a 20-point halftime deficit and fell to the Rice Owls by the score of 71-56 Friday evening in Houston. With the loss, SMU drops to 13-12 on the season (8-5 C-USA) while Rice records its fourth consecutive win and improves to 12-12 (8-5 C-USA).
In the first half, SMU jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead, but Rice went on a 10-0 run from that point and took over the first half. SMU was held to one shot and could not grab offensive rebounds. Rice took advantage of its momentum and built up a 20-point lead in the latter stages of the half. The Mustangs were held scoreless for the last 5:27 of the half and went into intermission (40-20). SMU hit only 23% from the field during the first 20 minutes of the game. The Owls connected on four three-point field goals and went to the free throw line 13 times, hitting 10 from the charity stripe. SMU's 20 first-half points were the fewest tallied this season.
In the second half, SMU's defense could not slow down the Owl offense. But the Mustangs made a gallant effort to cut the lead but Rice's defense and offensive transition stifled any serious SMU run.
"We couldn't get it going tonight," said SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola. "We lost some confidence in the first half when Sarah and Janielle got into early foul trouble. We needed help from the bench tonight and got it from Elbie and Juli."
SMU's top scorer was sophomore post Janielle Dodds with 16 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Juli Colli added 10 points, going 4-of-8 from the field. Freshman Elbie Gates recorded eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Rice's Lauren Neaves scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Mustangs will regroup and play its final regular-season road game on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Houston (9-15, 6-7 C-USA), who lost to first-place Tulsa Friday night. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on CSTV. The game will also be broadcast on KKGM-Radio (1630AM).
