RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech was on the brink of pulling off  the biggest upset in Conference USA action this year, but the defending league champion Rice Owls stormed back from a double digit deficit to defeat the Lady Techsters 73-60 in overtime at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday afternoon.

Tech (13-13, 5-11 C-USA) led 54-44 with 7:08 to play in regulation following a four-point play by junior guard Raizel Guinto, but the Owls used a 12-2 run the rest of the way to send the game into overtime. Rice trailed 56-54 with 14 seconds to play and capitalized on a defensive breakdown on an inbounds play to tie the game at 56-56 on a wide open layup.

Amber Dixon, who led Tech with 20 points and seven rebounds, had two looks from beyond the arc in the final 10 seconds but neither would fall, sending the game into overtime.

"I can't fault our effort today," said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. "We played extremely hard and made a lot of game-winning plays. But we didn't make them late when we needed them. We had one player switch on a simple pick-the-picker play and it cost us. We didn't pull down some key defensive rebounds early in overtime. We missed some open shots late in regulation.

"We did so many good things today, but it's not about moral victories. That's not what we are about. It's about winning games, and we didn't do what we needed to do to win this game late. It's a microcosm of our season."

Rice scored the first four points of the overtime period and never looked back, outscoring Tech 17-4 in the extra five minute period. The loss marked the second overtime loss of the season for Tech, which fell at North Texas 74-69 in January.

After missing its first five shots of the game, Tech finally got on the scoreboard with 5:37 to play in the opening quarter on a Grayson Bright layup. Bright scored the first eight points of the game for Tech and tied the contest at 8-8 on her second three-pointer of the quarter with 4:08 to play.

Freshman Anna Larr Roberson gave Tech its first lead at 10-8 and then less than a minute later gave the Lady Techsters a 12-10 advantage. It would be the last time Rice was tied or led until the Owls tied the game 54-54 with 2:14 to play.

The Lady Techsters shot 56 percent (14-25) from the field in the first half, but couldn't find an offensive rhythm after halftime – connecting on just 7-of-34 field goals the rest of the way.

Bright added 14 points while Roberson scored 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds and Guinto added 10 points.

Nancy Mulkey led Rice with 22 points while Erica Ogwumike added 15 points and 12 rebounds.