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The Rice Thresher
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by Jason Gershman thresher editorial staff
The women's basketball team, however, learned the lesson that, above all, what wins games is putting points on the scoreboard. Several times this season, the Lady Owls couldn't overcome an inability to score and dropped games they easily could have won if they had just managed to find some decent shooting. Preseason expectations for the team were high despite the loss of four key members from last year's squad that won the Western Athletic Conference tournament and made a surprise run to the second round of the NCAA tournament. But the losses proved to be more painful than the team had anticipated, especially on the offensive end of the court. The Lady Owls, who finished the year 18-12, shot just 36 percent from the floor and offensive droughts plagued them in almost every loss. Over the course of the season, no Lady Owl stepped up as Rice's go-to scorer. Last year, Marla Brumfield and Kirra Jordan consistently provided an offensive threat, averaging 15.1 and 13.2 points per game and scoring in double figures in more than two-thirds of the team's games. This season, however, no player averaged more than 8.5 points per game and only Kenya Tuttle scored in double figures in more than 10 out of the 30 games played this season, accomplishing the feat in 12 contests. Rice jumped out to an 8-2 start this year, but headed into WAC action stinging from losses to national superpowers Texas Tech University and the University of Notre Dame. Once WAC play began, the Lady Owls struggled and dropped five of its first eight games. Near the end of the season, Rice began to pull together, winning four games in a row before falling in the WAC tournament semifinals to Texas Christian University. But it wasn't enough to make up for the midseason slump, and the Lady Owls were shut out of postseason action. There's plenty of hope for the future, though. The Lady Owls showed some of their best outside shooting of the season in their last three games. Junior guard LaToya Brown sank four three-pointers in scoring a career-high 15 points in the regular-season finale against Fresno State University two weeks ago. She followed that effort with an eight-point outing against the University of Nevada in the first round of the WAC tournament, including the three-pointer that sent the game into overtime. "The Fresno game gave me some confidence in my shot," Brown said. "But [my shot] has always been there." Freshman Lindsey Maynard perhaps made the greatest strides on offense, leading the Lady Owls in both tournament games despite not playing the entire first half against Nevada. Maynard went 6-of-8 from three-point range over the tournament, scoring a total of 27 points. "I just got my confidence built up this week because I knew we needed to win to make the NCAA tournament," Maynard said. "I just tried to help the team win." Maynard and fellow freshman Kate Beckler combined for 24 of Rice's 58 points in the Lady Owls' final game against TCU. Beckler led the Lady Owls in scoring this season with 8.5 points per game. "I think they [Beckler and Maynard] have some great potential," McKinney said. "We had some upperclassmen on the perimeter we thought would get the job done but they didn't and these two freshmen stepped up to get the job done. They will be really great players at Rice if they continue to work hard, and it's my job to make sure that they do." Next season might be the best one in the paint in the history of the Lady Owls. Although the team loses Tuttle, junior center Daneesh McIntosh and junior forward Aarika Florus return for their senior seasons. The team will also gain three new post players. Sophomore transfers Elisa Inman, from Purdue University, and Johnetta Hayes, from the University of Oklahoma, are 6-2 and 6-4. They will be joined by Michelle Woods, a 6-1 freshman who will be coming to Rice from Katy Taylor High School. "Our offense just never came around this year," McKinney said. "Elisa and Johnetta will help us on our inside game next year and our two freshmen now have a year of experience. I was hoping we would catch fire down the stretch but we didn't."
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