Boxscore

HOUSTON ? Krystal Frazier scored 16 points to lead Rice to an 83-69 win over Louisiana Tech before 606 fans at Autry Court Thursday night.

With the win, Rice (20-8, 13-4) pulled to within one game of the Lady Techsters in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

Tech (18-7, 14-3) travels to Tulsa Saturday to face the Golden Hurricane at 2 p.m. while Rice wraps up its regular season at home against SMU at 7 p.m.

?Give credit to Rice,? said Tech head coach Kurt Budke. ?This is an NCAA Tournament team that we just played. They dominated us inside all night long and we struggled shooting the basketball.

?You?re not going to beat anyone shooting the way we did, especially in the second half. However, I just told our team that we still don?t have to share this league title with anyone. We have to come back Saturday and give it everything we have against a very good, very well-coached Tulsa team.?

After Rice built a 28-16 first half lead over Tech, the Lady Techsters fought back and actually took a 40-39 lead into the halftime locker room, thanks in large part to 14 first half points by guard Lakiste Barkus.

However, the Lady Owls came out in the second half and quickly retook the lead by holding the Lady Techsters to only 21 percent (8-38) shooting in the second half, including only 1-of-13 from beyond the arc.

Rice shot 54 percent (15-28) from the field in the second half en route to outscoring Tech 44-29. A 55-36 rebounding advantage by Rice also aided the 14-point victory.

The win by the Owls marked the third time in four years that they had beaten Tech in Houston.

Tasha Crain led Tech with 19 points while Barkus added 18 points and Erica Taylor scored 10 points.

In addition to Frazier?s 16-points, Lauren Neaves added 14 points and 13 rebounds while Annie Peck scored 13 and Eshombi Singleton scored 10.