Rice never trails in 68-58 win over TCU and improves to 7-0

POSTED: December 3, 2022 -- 7:18 a.m. CST

HOUSTON, TX (Tudor Fieldhouse) -- The Rice Owls defeated the TCU Horned Frogs 68-58 Friday night to improve to 7-0 this season. The Owls led the entire ball game. Zero lead changes. Zero ties.

Senior Katelyn Crosthwait opened the game with a 3 point basket then senior teammate Ashlee Austin scored a layup to a 5-0 Rice lead and Rice never looked back. Austin (18 points) and Crosthwait (14 points) combined for 32 of Rice's 68 points.

Rice senior point guard Destiny Jackson added 10 points, a team-high 7 rebounds plus a team-high 6 assists.

"We had another balanced attack with three in double figures," Lindsay Edmonds, Rice Head Coach said after the game. "Everything didn't go right but man they fought and they showed how resilient they are."

Rice led TCU 17-8 at the end of the first quarter and 32-23 at halftime.

TCU (3-4) pulled within 5 points (40-35) with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter. Rice freshman post player Shelby Hayes scored a put back layup to increase Rice's lead to 7. Rice sophomore Malia Fisher knocked a jumper to beat the buzzer which gave Rice a 46-37 lead after 3 quarters.

The Horned Frogs were very aggressive in the fourth quarter and cut the Owls' lead to 5 (48-43) with 7:12 on the game clock. However, India Bellamy scored a layup to start an 8-1 Rice run which boosted the Owls' margin to 12 (56-44) with 5:09 left in the contest.

TCU made one final push and outscored Rice 12-4 over the next 4 plus minutes to climb within 4 points (60-56) with only 49 seconds remaining.

The Owls went a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line in the final 73 seconds to seal the victory.

"I am so proud of this group," Coach Edmonds said. "To do what we did last week against Texas A&M and to come in this week and take care of the home court against another Power-5 program in TCU, I'm just so proud of the girls. They were focused all week and had unbelievable preparation and we were really locked in."

"Our seniors are very confident," Katelyn Crosthwait added. "We're just trying to get everybody on the same train. I just think we're prepared for this."

Ashlee Austin said, "We came into a program that was winning. We have a lot of confidence that was brought into us by Coach. I think this team just has a lot for each other. I think our seniors know how to win. We know how to communicate. And, we're just trying to pass that down and we just get better by the week. It feels great."

Lucy Ibeh scored 17 points to lead TCU.

NEXT:

Rice has a few days off before hosting the Houston Cougars on Saturday, December 10, at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

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