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The Rice Thresher
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by Jason Gershman thresher editorial staff The women's basketball team began the new year with an 8-4 record and, despite the loss of four key seniors from last year's team, appeared to have a good chance to repeat as Western Athletic Conference champions. But January was tough on the Lady Owls. They went 3-4 in WAC play, winning only one of three games at home and two of four on the road, and are now 11-8 overall. Their main problem has been inconsistency on both ends of the floor. When they are strong defensively, their offense often struggles. When their offense is on fire, they seem to have defensive lapses. "I believe our inconsistent play has a lot to do with the fact that most of our team is young and we have not been patient enough with our offense," senior forward Kenya Tuttle said. "We have been struggling all year with our offense and if we just settle down and move the ball more, it will create open shots so we don't have to force up so many shots out of rhythm. "Too often, we play in spurts and have not been able to maintain our intensity throughout 40 minutes. I think we are going to have to become more focused and intense in the coming weeks to become more successful on the court." The team feels progress has been made since damaging home losses to Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University. This weekend will be a critical one for the Lady Owls to evaluate their progress. They face SMU in Dallas today before returning home to play the University of Texas at El Paso on Sunday. "This next game at SMU will be a challenge because they always play us tough," Tuttle said. "We know if we take care of ourselves and our weaknesses then we will be able to come away with a victory." A pair of wins against SMU and UTEP, which Rice defeated by 40 points at Autry Court last year and is just 7-13 on the season, would put the Lady Owls back near the top of the WAC standings. Currently, the Lady Owls are tied for fifth in the conference. Everyone is chasing TCU, which has a breakaway lead in the WAC at 6-0. Following the Horned Frogs are a handful of teams separated by less than two games in the standings. Hawaii is second at 5-2, but they have suffered their first two home losses in two seasons of WAC play. Additionally, Hawaii has six road games left, including visits to all of the teams contending for the conference title. Rice will look for revenge against the Rainbow Wahine Feb. 18. The 5-3 Mustangs and the 4-3 Wolf Pack also have difficult paths in the second half of the WAC season. The Mustangs will play the Horned Frogs twice and the Wolf Pack will play five games on the road. So far this season, the Wolfpack are 1-7 in games on opponents' home courts. But the Lady Owls are not as worried about what their opponents are doing as they are about improving their own play. "We just have to worry about improving how we play each week," head coach Cristy McKinney said. "I think we have made some progress since we played SMU. The goal now is to try to get better and to be ready to play our best basketball in March." The Lady Owls still hope to meet their preseason goals of repeating as WAC Champions and playing in the NCAA Tournament. Despite their inconsistent play over the past month, they are still ranked 70th in the nation in the Ratings Percentage Index, a computer ranking system used by the NCAA in selecting teams for at-large berths. The Lady Owls can look to last season's late charge in WAC play for inspiration. The 1999-'00 Lady Owls were only 4-3 at the halfway point of WAC play, but ended the season winning 10 of their last 12 games. This season's team hopes to hit its stride in much the same way. "This past month or so has been tough," Tuttle said. "I believe we are tired of losing and will try even more to have more of a dominant presence on the court. Therefore, I personally look forward to these next weeks when we will be able to turn things around and play up to our capabilities."
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