Rice Owls lose season opener at Prairie View A&M

Posted: November 12, 2011, 10:29 a.m. CST.

The 2011-2012 basketball season may still be a very productive season for the Rice Owls; however, the team's confidence coming into the season took a bruise Friday night in a season opening loss on the road at Prairie View A&M 61-58.

"It's a disappointing loss for us certainly," said Owls head coach Greg Williams after the game. "It would have been disappointing for either team to lose. Both teams really battled. It was a great opening game for the season. I give Prairie View a lot of credit. They're a young team. They're going to be very good."

Missed layups, missed free throws, and missed opportunities hurt the Owls in the ball game.

Jessica Kuster scored a game-high 22 points as well as grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds; but, Kuster made only six of 18 field goal attempts and nine of 16 free throws. Senior D'Frantz Smart scored 11 points; but, her 2 for 13 from the field (2 for 9 on threes) and six turnovers hurt the club as well.

The Owls received solid contributions from freshmen Christal Porter and Maya Adetula. Porter scored nine points including six points in three impressive minutes in the first half. Adetula played solid defense in her twelve minutes and swished a rainbow three point shot midway into the second half which pulled the Owls within one point 47-46.

"We had four freshmen ready to play," Coach Williams admitted. "I thought it was important to get them into the game in the first half. I thought they all contributed."

Rice led at halftime 32-29; but, the Owls failed to score the first four plus minutes into the second half as Prairie View scored 10 straight points to lead 39-32. After the media timeout, Kuster settled her team down with 9 of the Owls' next 11 points.

"How do you figure that?" said Williams. "We didn't score up until the first media and let them score. We were running up hill from that point on. I was proud of the way we battled back on several occasions on the road."

Porter converted a three-point play to give the Owls a 51-50 lead with 6:16 left in the game; but, the Owls did not make another field goal until freshman Megan Shafer's three-point shot with less than 20 seconds remaining in the game. Shafer's basket pulled the Owls within 58-57. After Prairie View's Kiara Etienne split two foul shots, Shafer had a chance to tie the game at 59; but, with 3.4 seconds on the clock, Shafer missed the first free throw. Coach Williams wanted Shafer to miss the second free throw; however, Shafer made it.

The Owls were forced to foul; and, this time Etienne sank both free throws for the final points of the ball game.

"We had a chance to tie the game late; but, we weren't able to do it," Williams lamented.

Rice (0-1) heads to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a Sunday afternoon matchup versus the Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Tip is set for 2 p.m.