Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Heads West to Take on Rice
2/21/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Live Video! (FloHoops.com)
Live Radio!
Game Notes!
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The Marshall women's basketball team (8-18 overall, 2-11 Conference USA) will travel to Rice to face the Owls (18-6, 8-4) in Tudor Fieldhouse Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. The game will be live streamed on FloHoops.com.
The Series: Rice leads 7-5
The two schools have met 12 times with Rice winning seven, all of them in Tudor Fieldhouse. Marshall did secure a 72-69 win in Houston on February 5, 2015.
Scouting the Owls: The Owls (18-6, 8-4) are led by Erica Ogumwike's 17.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 49 steals. Gabrielle Stanton leads the team with 75 assists and 34 blocks. Nicole Iademarco leads the way with 57 3-pointers. Ogumwike, sister of WNBA first overall picks Nneka and Chiney who both played collegiately at Stanford, transferred to Rice from Pepperdine and sat out the 2016-17 season. As a team, Rice leads Conference USA in 3-point percentage defense (.275) but is 10th in rebounding offense (36.2), turnover margin (-2.2) and offensive rebounds (11.3). Individually, Ogumwike leads C-USA in defensive rebounds per game (7.2).
Marshall's Individual Conference USA Ranks (Top 10):
Scoring: Shayna Gore, 2nd (19.8); Talequia Hamilton (8th, 14.7)
3-Pointers Per Game: Shayna Gore, 2nd (3.0)
Free Throw Percentage: Shayna Gore, 2nd (.849)
Blocked Shots: Talequia Hamilton, 3rd (1.5)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage: Shayna Gore, 9th (.406)
Converting Freebies: Marshall made 15 of its 16 free throws in the 67-54 loss to Middle Tennessee, the highest percentage for the program (minimum 10 attempts) since swishing all 10 in a 54-52 win at Louisiana Tech on March 3, 2016. As a team, the Thundering Herd is second in the league (conference games only) at the free throw line, converting at a .780 clip (145-for-186). In fact, Marshall boasts a free throw percentage of .732 (270-for-369) in all of its games this season, which would be the program's best end-of-season mark in at least the last 18 seasons (unavailable records did not allow for additional research).
The Highs: Taylor Pearson recorded her second block at WKU on Saturday. In that same game, Shayna Gore made eight free throws, which tied a season and career-high for the Logan native.
Long-Range Streak: Marshall has made as many or more 3-pointers than the opposition in six consecutive games.
Free Points: Kate Zhibareva has made 17 of her 18 free throw attempts this season, good for a .944 clip.
70: The Thundering Herd is 7-1 this season when reaching the 70-point mark. Its only loss is an 85-76 at the hands of Cleveland State.
Gore Surging From the Arc: Shayna Gore has made steady improvement over the course of her career at Marshall, with jumps from her freshman to sophomore to junior seasons in field goal percentage (.399-.443-.455), 3-point percentage (.295-.372-.406) and scoring (10.8-17.5-19.8). Her 78 3-pointers this season are a single-season program record.
Gore Joins the 1,000 Point Club: In the third quarter at home against Morgan State (Dec. 6), Shayna Gore had 10 points and needed just three more to reach 1,000. The junior guard received a pass from Tana Driver and fired off a three from the top of the key and drained it to reach the historic milestone. It was the 70th game of her career. Gore became the 21st member of Marshall's 1,000 Point Club and joined two of her old teammates from her freshman season in Leah Scott (1,371) and Norrisha Victrum (1,003). She currently has 1,386 points and is fifth all-time in Thundering Herd history.
Talequia Hamilton currently has 1,055 points at Marshall, the 22nd player in program history to reach the four-digit mark. She also tallied 11 as a freshman at the University of Cincinnati during the 2011-12 season.
SWAT Duo: Talequia Hamilton and Ashley Saintigene continue to form a formidable shot-blocking duo this season. The two towers combined for 96 blocks in 2016-17 and have 62 this year through 26 games. Hamilton recorded the 100th for her career at No. 22 Kentucky and is currently third all-time with 132.
Saintigene finished her freshman season with 42, the sixth-highest single-season mark in program history. The sophomore began the 2017-18 season with a career-high six blocks against Longwood to move into the top 20 all-time at Marshall. She now has 64 in her career and is 12th.
Up Next: Marshall continues its westward swing with a Saturday evening game at North Texas (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT).
