The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 29, 1999 Page: 9 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER SPORTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 29,1999
No. 25 SDSU avoids Rice upset
by Ben Weston
THKESHKK KI1ITOKIAI. S I Al l
California dreaming, on such a
winter's day ...
While the rest of us were enjoy-
ing California-style weather over
the weekend, the women's tennis
team actually traveled to the coast
to play dual matches against San
Diego State University, ranked No.
25, and the University of the Pa-
cific. The squad came back with its
second win of the year and its first
loss.
Anyone could have
won. We were very even.
We were just unlucky
that day.'
— Justyna Gudzowska
Senior tennis player
Rice began the weekend well
with a match against SDSU Friday.
The Owls split the six singles
matches with junior Charlotte
Feasby, senior Justyna Gudzowska
and sophomore Erin Waters com-
ing away with victories. Feasby's
6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win was particularly
impressive since her opponent
came in nationally ranked.
"Charlotte has really stepped up
for us," Head Coach Paul
Blankenship said. "We were look-
ing to see who might step up into
that No. 2 position, and she cer-
tainly'seems to be doing that quite
well."
Dual meets finish with three
doubles matches, and Rice and
SDSU again stayed even through
the first two, with the team of Wa-
ters and Gudzowska pulling out a 9-
8 win in the second match to counter
an 8-2 loss in the first.
The final match featured Rice's
4
SONJA GEE/THRESHER
Freshman Judith Hagedorn hits a forehand in practice Tuesday.
No. 1 and No. 3 players, junior Elle
Lewis and freshman Judith
Hagedorn. This one, like the previ-
ous match, went into a tiebreaker.
The Californian pair got the win,
which gave SDSU a 5-4 victory for
the whole event. The Owls were
somewhat disappointed despite hav-
ing lost to a nationally ranked team
by the smallest of margins.
"Anyone could have won,"
Gudzowska said. "We were very
even. Wewerejustunluckythatday."
Luck never came into play the
next day as the Owls destroyed Pa-
cific 8-1. Waters and Gudzowska
again pulled off impressive wins in
both their singles matches and their
doubles match, bringing their com-
bined record for the weekend to 6-0.
And with a dominating 8-2 win in the
final doubles match, Lewis and
Hagedorn proved they had no inten-
tion of giving up after the tough loss
Friday night.
Pacific did not play badly, win-
ning one singles match and stretch-
ing two others to three sets, but the
Owls were not about to be stopped.
"The score's a bit deceptive be-
cause I think the match, particularly
in singles, was a lot closer than [8-
1]," Blankenship said. "I was very
impressed with our kids."
Owls' home win streak blown
away by Golden Hurricane
Skaer scores 20, but Tulsa pulls out ugly Autry Court win
by Chris Larson
THRESHER STAFF
A lot of little problems added up to one big
problem last Saturday for the men's basket-
ball team. The Owls fell 65-50 to the University
of Tulsa in a game that could have put them
atop the Western Athletic Conference Moun-
tain Division.
Instead, Rice slipped to 12-5 on the year, 3-
2 in conference play and saw its nine-game
winning streak at Autry Court come to an end.
A 9-0 Golden Hurricane run with 2 min-
utes, 1 second remaining blew open a game
that had been tight throughout, as Tulsa (15-
5, 3-2 WAC) built an insurmountable 51-41
lead.
'There were probably about half a dozen
situations in the game where we had break-
downs. There was a point in the game when
we let things get away," Rice Head Coach
Willis Wilson said.'"We missed a lot of little
things, like blocking out for rebounds on
free throws and missing defensive assign-
ments."
Late in the game, Rice had a defensive
lapse as Tulsa forward Michael Ruffin got an
easy dunk and was fouled. Additionally, Tulsa
grabbed multiple offensive rebounds that not
only allowed them second looks at the basket
but also enabled them to burn valuable sec-
onds off the clock.
The game was exactly what you'd expect
from the two teams that lead the WAC in
lowest opponents' field goal percentage. Easy
shots were few and far between for both
teams as Rice effectively double- and triple-
teamed Tulsa's potent inside offensive play-
ers.
Tulsa also managed to keep a short leash
on Rice's star shooting guard, senior Robert
Johnson. He was held to 14 points on 5-of-13
shooting, significantly below his 22.5 points
per game average.
"The shots just didn't go in," Johnson said.
"I wasn't able to get a streak going."
On the night, Tulsa shot 37.8 percent from
the field, while the Owls could hit only 32.6
percent of their shots. With under six minutes
left in the first half, the score stood at just 16-
9 in favor of the Golden Hurricane.
"Both teams are very, very good defen-
sively, and neither team shot particularly well,"
Wilson said. "It was a game of intensity and
physical play."
Senior forward Jason Skaer continued his
improved offensive output, leading all scorers
with a career high' of 20 points on 8-of-13
shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point
range. The rest of the Owls collectively shot
just 7-for-33 (21.2 percent). Ruffin led Tulsa
with 18 points, although 10 of those came
from the free-throw line.
"Besides scoring, I'm upset because I didn't
do the little things I could have done," Skaer
said. "I'm sure my dad's going to take me
home tonight and make me block out on free
throws."
The Owls have a pivotal homestand this
week as they host Southern Methodist Uni-
versity Thursday at 7:35 p.m. and 24th-ranked
Texas Christian University Saturday, also at.
7:35. In a division in which six of the eight
teams stood at either 3-2 or 2-3 at the begin-
ning of the week, the championship is en-
tirely up for grabs. This week should help
separate the contenders from the pretend-
ers.
"I have confidence in myself and the team
that we'll bounce back," Skaer said. "We can't
let this loss affect the next game. One loss
won't kill the season for us, but to contend for
the conference championship we can't let an-
other game slip by at home."
Lady Owls add two
more to injured list
by Leslie Anne Carter
THRKSHKK EDITORIAL STAFF
$
And then there were six.
When the Lady Owls tipped
off against the University ofTulsa
Saturday, they were already low
on players, with only eight in uni-
form. By game's end, the Rice
women had added two more play-
ers to their injured list.
In the last five minutes of
Rice's 60-55 win over Tulsa, se-
nior guard Ashley Duncan
sprained her ankle and senior
point guard Charonda Wilson
sprained her elbow, bringing
Rice's ever-expanding injury
count to seven.
Luckily, the Lady Owls had
their personal wrecking crew
crashing the boards to offset an
injury-depleted bench and a lack-
luster 33-percent shooting per-
formance.
Five-foot, 10-inch junior for-
ward Kim Smallwood and 6-foot-
3 senior center Jen Hamilton
combined for 17 offensive re-
bounds to help Rice out-re-
bound the Golden Hurricane 56
to 36. With 17' points and 15
rebounds, Smallwoodnotched
her fourth double-double of the
season. She also tied the school
record for offensive rebounds
with 10.
"It wasn't anything spectacu-
lar," Smallwood said of her per-
formance. "If we hadn't re-
bounded the way we did, we
would have lost. We should do it
all of the time."
Hamilton also recorded a
double-double, her first of the
season, with 10 points and 14
rebounds.
Rebounding was one of the
COURTESY SPORTS INFORMATION
Kim Smallwood
few things the Lady Owls (11-6,
4-1 Western Athletic Conference)
did right against the Golden Hur-
ricane. After two stellar shooting
performances at home, they were
unable to find the bottom of the
basket at the'Reynolds Center.
Rice made just 10 of 29 shots in
the paint and was only 46 percent
from the free throw line. In fact,
Tulsa had better shooting per-
centages from the floor, the three-
point line and the charity stripe.
"We had a really rough
shooting game," Hamilton said.
"It's the same problem as be-
fore. We have good shooters
and we had the shots we
needed. We just didn't con-
nect."
Despite the Lady Owls' ane-
mic offense, the Rice women led
for most of the game. Up 49-43
with 5 minutes, 48 seconds to go,
it seemed Rice would hang on for
the win. But then things started
to get interesting.
While going up for a layup,
Duncan came down on an op-
Sot- BASKETBALL, Page 10
P3
*i • *•
Wmmmm
Sophomore point guard Mike Wiiks tries to keep the ball away from
65-50 loss Saturday. Wiiks led the Owls with five assists.
E.J. ESTRIDGE/THRESHER
Tulsa's Tony Heard in Rice's
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 29, 1999, newspaper, January 29, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246637/m1/9/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.