Women's basketball drops four in a row
The Rice Owls women's basketball team hosted two home games this past week against Tulane University and the University of Southern Mississippi. On Wednesday, Jan. 29, the Owls played the Green Wave and lost 62-55. Coming into the game, senior forward Jessica Kuster was 14 points away from breaking the all-time Rice scoring record. At the 3:23 mark, Kuster made a 3-pointer, giving her the outright record for points scored. She currently has 1,881 points and broke a record that had previously been held for 32 years. Kuster also holds the Rice record for career rebounds and field goals made.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, the Owls hosted the Golden Eagles and lost 74-58. The Owls had 23 turnovers in the game, leading to 29 points for Southern Miss. The Owls trailed by as many as 27 points early in the second half and managed to close the gap to 11 points with approximately 3:30 to go but failed to complete the comeback. Kuster led the team with 29 points and 12 rebounds, while junior forward Christal Porter scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Porter achieved her second double-digit scoring game in the last three games. Kuster secured her 18th double-double of the season and is currently second in the NCAA in that category. The Owls fell to an overall record of 10-11 and 3-5 in C-USA play.
Porter said Kuster deserves all the success that comes her way. Porter said that along with her teammates, she works hard every week for the sake of making Kuster's senior year successful.
"Her success is awesome, well-deserved and [earned]," Porter said. "We want to give our best for her because she is a great leader."
Porter said the Tulane game was hard-fought, but the Owls struggled to close it out in the second half. She said the Owls' defense was effective, but their offense failed them.
"I think we definitely played well against Tulane, who is one of the better teams in our league," Porter said. "We had a good defensive scheme against them, and it was well-executed. We were tied at halftime but just had a hard time scoring [in the second half], so that's what we have to work on in the future."
Porter said the upcoming game against Middle Tennessee State University will be very intense and competitive. She said Rice has the talent to take down the No. 25 team in the nation.
"Well you know that [they're] a great team, but I think we have a great chance of beating them," Porter said. "I feel that our team has the talent. Even though we haven't been playing our best basketball in the last couple of games, I know we can play on their level. It will definitely be a good matchup."
Rice travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn. to take on Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8.
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