Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball To Begin Four-Game Road Swing
1/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2010
HOUSTON - The Marshall University women's basketball team will begin a four-game road trip, traveling to face Rice and Houston in a pair of Conference USA games this weekend.
A game against Rice will open the weekend on Friday at 8 p.m. ET before the team wraps up the trip against the University of Houston on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.
The Herd is coming off of a solid opening week of C-USA play. Following a loss at East Carolina, the Herd rebounded with wins over UCF, who won the league last year, and Southern Miss, a team the Herd previously lost to six-consecutive times.
Tynikki Crook averaged 14.3 points per game over the week en route to being named the C-USA Player of the Week. The junior also improved her league-leading block total to 31 on the season.
A pair of underclassmen has solid weekends as Rashedah Henriques and Erica Woods had career outings in the games against the Knights and Golden Eagles. Henriques made her first start of the season against UCF and responded with a career-best 15 points. She connected on 5-of-8 shot attempts while tying her career mark with six rebounds.
Woods put forth an 11-point effort in Sunday's win over USM, her first double-digit scoring game at Marshall. The freshman also hauled in six rebounds for the second-straight game.
Marshall has won eight of its last nine games and will look to continue its winning ways, beginning on Friday evening against Rice. After winning just seven games a year ago, the Owls have already won six contests, entering the weekend with a 6-9 mark.
Rice lost its first six games this season, but rebounded to win six of their previous nine games. The Owls went on a 6-1 streak before losing its first two C-USA games last weekend against UTEP and Tulane.
Sophomore forward Jackie Stanley is the Owls' leading scorer, averaging 15.5 PPG. She is the fifth leading scorer in C-USA. Stanley is also the top rebounder and shot blocker on her squad, averaging 7.4 rebounds per game while blocking ten shot attempts on the season.
On Sunday, Marshall will make the short trip across town from Rice to face the University of Houston. The Cougars are 8-7 overall, but are an impressive 2-0 in league play. The Cougars picked up a pair of road victories last weekend at Tulane and UTEP to half a four-game losing streak.
Junior Brittney Scott is one of the top scoring guards in C-USA, currently ranking second in the league with 17.6 PPG. She is coming off of a 27-point effort in the Cougars' 74-67 win at UTEP.
Last season, MU split its meetings against Rice and Houston. The Herd finished on the losing end of a 67-58 decision against Houston before coming back to defeat Rice, 61-51, in a pair of February games at the Cam Henderson Center.
Marshall and Rice have split their four previous meetings while MU owns a slight 3-2 edge against Houston.
WMUL 88.1 will have live broadcasts of both weekend games and all Marshall women's basketball games. A live stream is available by clicking here.
