Jan. 22, 2011

Rice (10-9, 2-3) vs. UAB (9-9, 1-4)
Sun., Jan. 23, 2011 • 2 p.m. (Central)
Tudor Fieldhouse (5,750) • Houston, Texas

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Rice Head Coach Greg Williams
Greg Williams (Rice, 1970) is now in his sixth season as the head coach of his alma mater. Williams has an 81-95 record at Rice and an 18-year career mark of 282-234.

Series History
UAB holds a slim 3-2 edge over Rice in the all-time series. The Owls captured last season's only meeting 72-58 in Houston as Jackie Stanley led Rice with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Quick Look at the Owls
Rice lost its second C-USA road match on Thursday at UTEP 79-57. Jessica Kuster led the Owls with game-highs of 19 points and 9 rebounds.

B Hyp
Brianna Hypolite is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 ppg and is third in steals with 22. Hypolite also leads the squad with 22 three-pointers made. She scored a career-high 31 points as Rice defeated Mercer 65-39 at the GSU Thanksgiving Tournament in which she also named MVP. Her previous best was 28 points in the overtime win vs. Montana State and she followed that effort with 15 points against Florida International.

Smart Player
Junior guard D'Frantz Smart spent part of her summer at summer school by attending the Point Guard College held in Boston. Smart leads the Owls in assists with 99 and in steals with 40. The Chicago native scored a season-high 17 points with 5 steals vs. FIU and dished out a season-high 10 assists at home vs. UCF. She also had 9 assists vs. Marshall and 8 assists and zero turnovers in the Texas State game.

Smart's assist-turnover ratio is 1.5, ranking second in C-USA.Her ratio is 1.9 for C-USA only games.

Rice Assists in a Season
1. Dede Brantley (1986-87) 152
2. Charonda Wilson (1998-99) 145
3. Marla Brumfield (1999-2000) 143
Kadie Riverin (2006-07) 143
5. Leslie Tassin (1988-89) 138
6. Dede Brantley (1985-86) 137
7. D'Frantz Smart (2009-10) 130
8. Yalonda Stiner (1991-92) 128
9. Kim Lawson (2002-03) 127
10. Kim LaLonde (1984-85) 126
D'Frantz Smart (2010-11) 99

Kuster Third in the Nation Jessica Kuster is the third-leading rebounder in the nation among all freshmen at 10.1 rpg and 28th overall as of Jan. 17. She is also averaging 11.2 rpg in C-USA games, which ranks second in the conference.

Kuster FOTW Jessica Kuster has been named the C-USA Freshman of the Week five straight times and six of the last seven weeks (Dec. 6, Dec. 20, Dec. 27, Jan. 3, Jan. 10, Jan. 17), which is the most weekly honors in the history of the league. She leads Rice in scoring (12.7) and in rebounding at 10.0 which is first among C-USA freshmen and ranks second overall. Her scoring average ranks first among all C-USA freshmen. She is the only freshman ranked in the top 20 in scoring for C-USA. She also leads the Owls in blocks (34).

In five C-USA games, Kuster leads Rice in scoring (14.8) and in rebounding (11.2)

She made her first collegiate start in the contest vs. HBU and scored a game-high 16 points with a team-high 7 rebounds.

In only her ninth collegiate game, Kuster scored 35 points in the win over Long Beach State with a game-high 10 rebounds in only 31 minutes of action. She made 13 of 16 from the field and it is the seventh-most points scored in a game by a Rice Owl. The 35 points scored ties for first in the nation as a single-game high by a freshman.

She has led the Owls in rebounding in 13 games and she grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds at Northwestern State. Kuster also leads Rice with four double-doubles.

In her first collegiate contest, Kuster came off the bench to lead Rice in rebounding with 7 boards in 23 minutes of action vs. Montana State. In 24 minutes vs. FIU she pulled down 9 boards in 24 minutes and again had 9 rebounds in 26 minutes at Baylor. She also scored in double-digits for the first time with 11 vs. FIU.

At the Half
Rice is 10-0 when leading at half-time.

Rebounding Edge
The Owls are 8-1 when they outrebound the opposition.

Rice Double-Doubles in 2010-11 (7)
Jessica Kuster (6)
35p, 10r vs. Long Beach State
13p, 18r at Northwestern State
26p, 14r at Texas State
14p, 11r vs. Lamar
17p, 15r at Tulsa
16p, 16r at East Carolina

Morgan Mayse (1)
11p, 10r vs. Mercer

Counselor Elliott
Redshirt junior Megan Elliott, a native of Atlanta (Pace Academy), plans on attending law school upon graduation from Rice. Right now she is schooling the opposition by averaging 5.1 rebounds per game (second on the team). She had a game-high 10 rebounds vs. SFA in 29 minutes of action off the bench and tallied a season-high 11 points at HBU.

Goswitz Got Game
Sophomore Jessica Goswitz's was hampered prior to the start of the season with ankle sprain but has since recovered and is the Owls' fourth-leading scorer at 7.2 ppg. She scored a season-high 15 points in the win over Long Beach State with 5 rebounds and 3 steals. She is second on the team with 21 made three-pointers.

Her career-high occurred last season when she poured in 19 points vs. UAB.

McKinney Carries Rice in 2nd Half
Amenemope McKinney tied her season high with 12 points in the Marshall contest including two key baskets on consecutive possessions to keep the Thundering Herd at bay. McKinney tallied 10 points in the second-half vs. Marshall. She previously scored 12 points in the win over Northwestern State.

Ol' 97
The 97 points scored by Rice at Texas State ties as the fifth-highest point total in a game in school history. It is also the highest output in the Greg Williams era at Rice.

36, 40, & 47
Rice's 47-point (97-50) victory over Texas State is the second-largest winning margin in the Greg Williams era. The largest victory margin in the Williams' era came on Jan. 27, 2006, when the Owls defeated UTEP in Autry Court 83-32 (51).

The 40-point (80-40) winning margin at Northwestern State is the second-largest of the season. The Owls also posted a 36-point winning margin over HBU (82-46) on Dec. 21.

Defense
The 39 points scored by Marshall is the lowest amount by a Rice opponent since the Owls held UALR to 39 points in the 49-39 victory on Nov. 20, 2007. The lowest point total scored against Rice in an Owl victory is 32 as the Owls crushed UTEP 83-32 (Jan. 27, 2006) in Greg Williams' first season.

Top 10 Opponents
Rice is the only Conference USA school that has played two top-10 opponents thus far. The Owls played at #2 Baylor (Nov. 14) and hosted #8 Texas A&M (Nov. 20).

Balanced Minutes
Six players are averaging 20+ minutes per game led by Smart (28.0), Goswitz (27.4), Hypolite (26.5), Kuster (26.8), Mayse (24.1), and Elliott (22.6).

In-season Tournament Record
Rice competed in three in-season tournaments and posted a combined record of 4-3. The Owls went 1-2 at Baylor's World Vision Classic, 2-0 to capture Georgia State's Thanksgiving Tournament and 1-1 at their own Gene Hackerman Invitational.

Ashford 13
Junior Candace Ashford scored a career-high 13 points in the win over Texas State. The center made 4-6 from the field and 5-7 at the free throw line in 11 minutes of action.

Opal Taskila - Gem of a Player
Center Opal Taskila registered her first career double-double with 14 points and career-high 12 rebounds in the win at UCF last season in a career-high 30 minutes of action. She followed that effort with 8 points and a team-high 9 rebounds at Southern Miss in 27 minutes.

Rogers Made 12 In A Row
Sophomore forward Zoe Rogers, who had scored a grand total of 15 points previous to last year's home Tulane game, scored a career-high 19 vs. Tulane. She made all nine of her field goals, including one trey, in the second-half.

Rogers then made her first three field goals vs. UTEP. She finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds vs. the Miners. She earned C-USA Freshman of the Week Honors.

Owls Sign Three in November
Head coach Greg Williams has announced the signing of Megan Shafer, from the The Woodlands, Texas, Nakachi (Nikki) Maduka of Arlington, Texas, and Maya Adetula from Mansfield, Texas, to National Letters of Intent to attend Rice and play basketball for the Owls beginning in the fall of 2011.

Megan Shafer, a 6'0" forward for College Park High School, led the team in scoring (498 points) and rebounding her junior year at 15.6 points per game and 6 rebounds per game. Shafer earned All-District 15-5A First Team, District 15-5A Newcomer of the Year, and Montgomery County Newcomer of the Year accolades, as well as Academic All-District. She is the daughter of Eddie and Fran Shafer. Nikki Maduka, a 5'11" forward, plays for Martin High School and was an All-District 4-5A First Team pick in 2010. Averaged 9.9 ppg and 4.5 boards a game in addition to 3.2 assists per game and 2.3 steals per game. Nikki is the daughter of Charles and Gloria Maduka.

Mark Lewis of ESPN's HoopGurlz wrote of Maduka, "...can slash from the elbow and does a good job of mixing it up once she gets into the paint. Her individual skills may well be the thing that will set her apart when matched up with bigger opponents... Defensively she's aggressive and has the ability to match up with both interior and perimeter players. Her quickness benefits her on the ball and off and she's aggressive on the boards at both ends."

Joey Simmons' Premier Basketball Report 2011 Texas Top 150 has rated Maduka #32 and Shafer #39. Maduka competed for the North Texas Shockers AAU basketball club coached by John Shields, while Shafer played for the HBA Blazers AAU basketball program and was coached by Herb LeeDee.

Adetula, a 5' 9" guard from Mansfield, Texas, and Mansfield High School averaged 16.2 points a game last season by scoring 501 points. She also averaged 3.1 rebounds per game as well and 1.6 steals.

"All three of these players, besides of course of being outstanding student-athletes, to be admitted to Rice, are high-energy players who will help our perimeter game next season on both ends of the floor," comments Williams. "We are real pleased with how this class came together and I think they will have the opportunity to come in and contribute as freshmen."