Thursday, January 16
Houston, TX
7 p.m.
Louisiana Tech University
at
Rice
Photo by: Darrell James
@LATechWBB Heads to Houston to Face Owls
1/15/2020 11:55:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HOUSTON, Texas – Coming off its most complete offensive effort of the season, Louisiana Tech will face quite the defensive challenge Thursday night when the Lady Techsters travel to face defending Conference USA champion Rice at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Tech (9-5, 1-2 C-USA) shot a season-high 54 percent from the field and hit a season-best 11 three-pointers in its 87-80 win over UTEP, handing the Miners their first league loss.
Rice (9-6, 4-0 C-USA) is one of the top two defensive team in C-USA along with Old Dominion. The Owls are allowing a mere 55.3 points per game and limiting opponents to just a .348 shooting percentage for the year. Rice has allowed just five of its 15 opponents to score more than 59 points this season.
Rice did struggle a little in their non-conference schedule with a surprising loss to Texas Southern but the Owls seemed to have righted the ship in C-USA play.
"I think they have figured some things out," said Tech Head Coach Brooke Stoehr. "The biggest thing for them is they have a 6-9 kid in the middle. They can take some gambles defensively. They just don't give up a lot of points. They run their Princeton offense so you get fewer possessions. They have struggle a little with turnovers at times. We need to handle their size and force them to guard us. We have to be able to go in there and make some shots and take care of the basketball."
The Owls returned Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike (16.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg) and 6-foot-9 Nancy Mulkey (9.3 ppg, 39 blocks) but have missed the services of the graduated Nicole Iademarco.
"I think they missed (Iademarco) early on this year," said Stoehr. "She could guard one through four, really one through five if she had to. She really took pressure off Ogwumike and Mulkey. If people focused on them, she could really hurt you. She could shoot it. She rebounded. She was a really good passer.
"I think they missed her early on and they had some young players trying to figure out things.vI think Wiggins has started to hit some shots. Lauren Sschwartz, a freshman, is starting to play well. I think she is shooting above 50 percent from the field in league games."
Tech has seen the resent emergence of sophomore Keiunna Walker, this week's Conference USA Co-Player of the Week. Walker averaged 24.5 points per game in Tech's two contests and has upped her season average to 12.1 points a contest. She also lead the team in steals (24) and charges drawn (12).
Tech leads the all-time series against Rice 15-10, although the Owls own a 6-4 advantage in games at Tudor Fieldhouse. Rice won both of last year's meetings on its way to a perfect 16-0 record in league play.
The Owls haven't lost a home game since a loss to LA Tech in March 1, 2018.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on KNBB 97.7 FM with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. It can also be seen with a paid subscription to CUSATV.com.
Tech (9-5, 1-2 C-USA) shot a season-high 54 percent from the field and hit a season-best 11 three-pointers in its 87-80 win over UTEP, handing the Miners their first league loss.
Rice (9-6, 4-0 C-USA) is one of the top two defensive team in C-USA along with Old Dominion. The Owls are allowing a mere 55.3 points per game and limiting opponents to just a .348 shooting percentage for the year. Rice has allowed just five of its 15 opponents to score more than 59 points this season.
Rice did struggle a little in their non-conference schedule with a surprising loss to Texas Southern but the Owls seemed to have righted the ship in C-USA play.
"I think they have figured some things out," said Tech Head Coach Brooke Stoehr. "The biggest thing for them is they have a 6-9 kid in the middle. They can take some gambles defensively. They just don't give up a lot of points. They run their Princeton offense so you get fewer possessions. They have struggle a little with turnovers at times. We need to handle their size and force them to guard us. We have to be able to go in there and make some shots and take care of the basketball."
The Owls returned Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike (16.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg) and 6-foot-9 Nancy Mulkey (9.3 ppg, 39 blocks) but have missed the services of the graduated Nicole Iademarco.
"I think they missed (Iademarco) early on this year," said Stoehr. "She could guard one through four, really one through five if she had to. She really took pressure off Ogwumike and Mulkey. If people focused on them, she could really hurt you. She could shoot it. She rebounded. She was a really good passer.
"I think they missed her early on and they had some young players trying to figure out things.vI think Wiggins has started to hit some shots. Lauren Sschwartz, a freshman, is starting to play well. I think she is shooting above 50 percent from the field in league games."
Tech has seen the resent emergence of sophomore Keiunna Walker, this week's Conference USA Co-Player of the Week. Walker averaged 24.5 points per game in Tech's two contests and has upped her season average to 12.1 points a contest. She also lead the team in steals (24) and charges drawn (12).
Tech leads the all-time series against Rice 15-10, although the Owls own a 6-4 advantage in games at Tudor Fieldhouse. Rice won both of last year's meetings on its way to a perfect 16-0 record in league play.
The Owls haven't lost a home game since a loss to LA Tech in March 1, 2018.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on KNBB 97.7 FM with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. It can also be seen with a paid subscription to CUSATV.com.
Players Mentioned
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