Houston Roundball Review Archive: December 2006 "Good" Owls Dominate #10 Aggies

Friday, December 1, 2006

Basketball fans! Get on board the Rice Lady Owls' roller coaster! If you dare!

After two poor performances on the road last week, Rice (5-2) returned to Autry Court and produced two dominant wins in a five day period.

Defeating Sam Houston State earlier in the week on Monday was only impressive because the Owls were expected to blow out the 'Kats; however, Friday night, the number 10 Texas A&M Aggies were the competition.

Before the game, a few people asked me my thoughts on the game. My answer was the same: "It depends on which Rice team shows up. The good one or the bad one."

Following the 79 to 66 win over the Aggies, it is very safe to say the "good Owls" showed up Friday night at Autry Court.

Rice trailed A&M 10 to 4 at the 16:50 mark of the first half; then, the Owls find a rhythm on offense which lasted the rest of the half.

Rice made a remarkable 69.0% (20 of 29) of their shots to take a 47 to 33 lead to the locker rooms.

The Owls missed just one of their last 12 shots over the final 10:10 of the first half.

Lauren Neaves

Teammate Valeriya Berehzhynska came off the Rice bench and scored 21 points (9 for 11 from the field) in just 20 minutes.

The Aggies had no answer for Val. She scored 11 straight points during a three-minute stretch in the first half which help the Owls turn a two-point lead (18 to 16) to a nine-point margin (29-20).

Senior forward Samantha Stovall added 13 points; five assists; and solid defense throughout the ball game.

After the game, head coach Greg Williams described Friday's victory as a "great win for our program..."

Rice needs to string together victories instead of making their fans queasy riding along this "wild 'n wacky" roller coaster ride.

Rice doesn't get too much time to enjoy the great win. The Owls host a good Marquette team, Sunday, December 3, at Autry Court. Tip-off is set for 2pm.

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