Owls Fall to Marquette in OT at NCAA Tournament

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – One of the most magical and memorable Rice women's basketball seasons came to a close on Friday as the 12th-seeded and No. 21 ranked Owls lost their first game in 93 days in a 58-54 overtime setback in the NCAA Tournament opening round to number five seed and No. 18 ranked Marquette at Reed Arena.

The Owls (28-4), who set a single-season school record in wins, were playing in their third-ever NCAA Tournament and first since 2005. Despite the loss, C-USA Coach of the Year Tina Langley knows the Owls took an important step into becoming one of the best teams in the nation.

"I think the future is very bright," Langley said. "This is a very young and talented team. We know that we can continue to compete at this level for a long time. We'll learn from this game. I think it gives you a little bit of hunger when you've had a chance to be here."

"We talked about this in the locker room, how we went from a team that had no postseason experience to becoming WBI champions, then the NIT and now the NCAA. It's hard to skip steps in basketball and in life. Sometimes you can have a special group that can take you a little farther than you anticipate, but this group fought tooth and nail to get better every game. I anticipate that they will continue to do that for next season."

Rice junior guard Erica Ogwumike, the C-USA Player of the Year, tied Kim Smallwood (2000) for the most points scored by an Owl in an NCAA Tournament with a game-high 22 points, 16 of which came in the second half and overtime, in 42 minutes of action. Sophomore center Nancy Mulkey just missed out on a double-double with 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and a Rice NCAA Tournament record five blocks in 37 minutes.

In addition, freshman guard Jasmine Smith dished out a career-high six assists in 40 minutes.

The Owls outscored Marquette 12-8 in the opening quarter with four different players registering points. Ogwumike and Smith each connected from beyond the arc for two of the Owls' four made three-pointers on the afternoon.

In the second quarter there were four different lead changes, the final of which came on a steal and score from Marquette's Selena Lott in the final seconds to give the Golden Eagles a 20-19 halftime advantage.

A staple all season, the Owls responded with their best offensive quarter of the game in the third, outscoring Marquette 18-15 while shooting 53 percent in the period. Rice outscored Marquette 9-2 in the first five minutes of the quarter and opened up a 28-22 advantage after a Wiggins three-pointer. The Golden Eagles were able to trim their deficit to 37-35 at the end of 30 minutes.

In the fourth, Rice outscored Marquette 15-8 over the first seven minutes with nine of those points coming from Ogwumike. However, Marquette (27-7) rallied from a 52-43 deficit in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime before proceeding to outscore the Owls 6-2 in overtime.

The Owls finish the year having established several school records while claiming their first-ever C-USA regular season and conference tournament titles. Rice jumped into the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches' Poll Top-25 for the first time in program history and set a school record 21-game win streak.