Women's basketball captures second in Ark.
The Owls started their season in the Arkansas Dial Classic, winning 81-43 over UNLV in the preliminary round and falling to Arkansas 81-68 in the championship.
Sophomore forward Angelica Smith was named to the All-Tournament team.
Against UNLV, the domination began with the play inside, as Rice had nearly as many offensive rebounds (36) as UNLV had on both ends of the court (37). That led to 28 more shots for Rice than for UNLV and 20 more free throws.
Smith had 24 points and 10 rebounds (including nine on the offensive end of the floor).
She had plenty of help as senior forward Stephanie Mundschau had 12 points, including two shots from beyond the three-point arc, senior guard Kim LaLonde had 10 points and five assists, and freshman center Jennifer Hamilton had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Mundschau and Hamilton led an exceptional bench effort as the Owls received 35 points and 31 rebounds from the reserves.
Leading the way for UNLV was reserve Elena Adams, who scored 11 points. The Owls were up 21 at the half and never looked back.
The Rice-Arkansas game was a lot closer than the final score indicated, as the Owls proved they could compete with the nation's elite.
The Owls actually outshot the Razorbacks from the field and caused more turnovers (26-25) but were unable to put the little things together for the big upset.
Arkansas went 20 of 25 from the free throw line while Rice could only make 10 of 18, and the Razorbacks hit five of 13 three-point attempts as the Owls failed to find the hoop on each of their six long-range shots.
The defense, which held the Razorbacks to 42-percent shooting in the first half allowed Arkansas to hit 56 percent in the second half, including 57 percent from the three-point line.
Conversely, Rice went from shooting 52 percent in the first half to 45 percent in the second half.
Top performers for the Owls were Smith with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Hamilton with eight points and five rebounds and junior guard Jessica Garcia with eight points.
Guard Christy Smith had 25 points for the Razorbacks en route to being named the tournament's most valuable player.
The Owls entered this tournament on a positive note due to a win over a tough Houston Flight AAU squad composed of former varsity players from universities around the country.
The Owls played tough defense in the final minutes as Houston Flight pulled to within one point, 61-60, but were unable to inch ahead of the aggressive Rice women.
Garcia scored 14 points for the Owls, including four successful three-point shots.
Smith had 11 and Mundschau had 10 as the Owls proved to be stronger inside and had better aim from the perimeter.
Point guard Kim Perrot led the Flight with 11 points and six assists.
The Owls were in New Orleans this week for a late Wednesday night game against Tulane University but return home for the Harvey Suites/Rice Classic with Bradley University, the University of Cincinnati and Oklahoma State University.
The first round games are Saturday night (Rice plays Bradley at 8 p.m.) and finish up Sunday afternoon.
Last year's tournament had Rice, the University of Idaho, Grambling State University and Xavier University.
Rice defeated Idaho in the first round of the tournament 81-35, shooting a blistering 54 percent from the field.
In the final though, the Owls ran into a brick wall in the second half and lost the title to Grambling State 83-63.
The game against Arkansas saw 3,692 screaming Razorback fans, and the Owls are hoping to see a good crowd at their own tournament.
This item appeared in the Sports section of the December 1, 1995 issue.
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