Balanced scoring helps Owls defeat Prairie View

Posted: November 14, 2014 -- 10:46 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Tudor Fieldhouse) -- Last season, the Rice Owls struggled to find a consistent second scorer to Jessica Kuster. Kuster average 20 plus points per game while the second leading scorer averaged 7 points per game. Kuster has graduated; but, Friday night, the Owls began a new era with 22 points from sophomore Jasmine Goodwine and 21 points, in her college debut, from freshman Shani Rainey in the Owls' 70-58 victory over Prairie View A&M. Reem Moussa scored 9 points and Nakachi Maduka chipped in 8 points off the bench.

"We're excited about her, first game as a freshman and she was pretty impressive," head coach Greg Williams said of Rainey. "She was also the starting defender on their best player (Jeanette Jackson) and we hold her to 11 points. With Jasmine, we've seen glimpses of this and she shot the ball at a high percentage tonight. For those two to come out and play with a lot of poise and give us what they did was important."

In addition to her 21 points and her good defense on Jackson, Rainey added eight rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots, and one steal in 32 minutes of game action. Her biggest area of weakness was making only 7 of her 16 free throw attempts.

The Owls (1-0) shot 48.4% (15 for 31) in the first half; but, seven turnovers and 6 for 14 from the foul line helped Prairie View (0-1) stay within six points (37-31) at halftime. The Lady Panthers made only 10 of 35 field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

Both teams struggled to make buckets in the second half. Prairie View made 13 of 44 field goal attempts (29.5%) while the Owls only made 9 of 27 shots from the floor. The Owls' poor free throw shooting in the first half carried over to the second half as they missed 13 of 28 foul shots in the second stanza.

Prairie View's offense bogged down due to guard Jeanette Jackson's foul trouble. Leading 7-5 in the first half, Jackson was whistled for two fouls. The Owls began a 20-8 run with Jackson sitting the bench. In the second half, Jackson picked up her fourth foul with Rice leading 44-37; and, Rice stretched its lead to 13 (52-39) in five minutes of action.

Senior Christal Porter grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for the Owls.

The Owls' second game of the young season is Wednesday, November 19, at top five ranked Texas A&M.

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