Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Rice
Marshall Women Fall At Rice, 68-64
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2008
HOUSTON - Valeriya Berezhynska scored 23 points while tying a career high with 20 rebounds to lead Rice to a 68-64 win over the Thundering Herd women's basketball team Thursday evening at Sharp Gym on the campus of Houston Baptist University.
Berezhynska was 8-of-14 from the field while hitting seven out of eight free throws.
Marshall was led by a 23-point effort from Kizzy Hart, who also notched three steals and three rebounds.
With the loss, Marshall drops to 14-15 its first time under .500 since being 3-4 after a loss to Pitt on December 1. Rice saw its record improve to 12-17 and 5-10 in C-USA.
Through the opening 16 minutes of the contest, the Marshall offense was the story, connecting on 11 of its first 21 field goal attempts. After opening the game scoring eight of the first ten points, the Herd offense, powered by 12 first half points from Kizzy Hart, would see its lead grow to as many as 12, 25-13, with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.
After Hart's fourth trey of the half gave Marshall an 11-point lead with four minutes left in the half, the Rice offense found its stride, finishing the half on a 13-2 run to knot the score at 35 at the half. Valeriya Berezhynska was the difference for the Owls in the opening stanza, scoring 14 points and grabbing nine boards while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Hart went 4-of-5 from three-point range in the first half, leading the Herd with 12 points. Marshall's offense, who tallied a season-low 14 field goals in its last outing against UAB, scored 15 in the first half against Rice while shooting 46.9% from the field.
Just 19 seconds into the second half, a shot by Berezhynska gave the Owls their first lead of the game. That shot marked the first of six-straight points for Rice, who opened up a 41-35 lead and extended their late first half run to 19-2 over the Herd.
Marshall would claw its way back to within one point after a Casey Baker steal led to a lay-up by Hart at the 16:11 mark. Rice came right back, and would see its lead grow to a game-high eight points, 59-51, with 8:25 left in the contest after consecutive buckets by Kadie Riverin.
Riverin's fifth field goal of the closing half gave Rice its first double-digit lead of the game with 5:13 left in the contest. With 4:23 remaining, a lay-up by Tynikki Crook ended a six-minute scoring drought for the Herd, whose last point came on a Melody Hudson free throw at the 10:06 mark.
Over the final four minutes, the Herd made a furious charge. Down seven with 2:30 left in the game, Meagan Samis hit a jumper to cut the lead to five. After a shot by Morgan Mayse brought the lead back to seven, a pair of free throws by Alyssa Hammond cut the lead back to five and with 55 seconds remaining, a three by Hart cut the Owl lead to two.
Down two and with the ball, Marshall had a chance to tie or take the lead, but on an inbound pass, Rice came up with a steal and would seal the game, hitting its last four free throws en route to the 68-64 win.
Kizzy Hart, who averaged 23.5 points in two previous games this season in the state of Texas, backed that up with 23 against the Owls. She tied her career-high, connecting on five three-pointers. Joining Hart in double digits was Alyssa Hammond, who scored ten points while tying Meagan Samis for the team lead with six rebounds. Casey Baker notched nine points while recording six assists and five steals.
Berezhynska tied Kizzy Hart with a game-high 23 while Kadie Riverin and Tara Watts tallied 17 apiece.
After shooting 46.9% from the field in the opening half, the Rice defense held the Herd to a 27.0% in the second half. For the third-straight game, Marshall found itself on the short end of the rebounding battle as Rice finished with 47 rebounds while holding the Herd to 38.
Marshall will wrap up the regular season with a game against the Houston Cougars at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon before traveling to Orlando, Florida for the Conference USA Tournament.
