Mulkey, Ogwumike lead No. 24 Rice women past N Texas 61-43

Mar 14, 2020, 06:37 pm

FRISCO, Texas -- Nancy Mulkey scored 20 points, Erica Ogwumike added 15 points and 10 rebounds and No. 24 Rice pulled away from ninth-seeded North Texas for its 19th straight victory on Thursday, 61-43 in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament.

Sydne Wiggins contributed 10 points for the Owls (26-3), who have the third-longest winning streak in the nation heading into Friday night's semifinal against fourth-seeded Western Kentucky. If Rice wins the tournament it will match Quinnipiac for the second-longest streak behind No. 1 Baylor (23) and the 2007-08 UTEP team for the longest winning streak in conference history.

Nicole Iademarco, who stretched her Rice record for 3-pointers to 196, opened the game with her 195th and the Owls never trailed. It was 18-13 after one quarter and 30-22 at the half as Mulkey had 12 points. Rice kept the lead around 10 points in the third quarter and dominated the fourth for its largest win of its three over North Texas this season.

Ogwunike had 10 of her points in the second half for her 17th double-double of the season and surpassed 1,500 points for her career.

Mulkey also finished with six blocks, which pushed her season total to 78, six behind the school record Lauren Neaves set in 2003-04. The 6-foot-9 redshirt sophomore transfer from Oklahoma missed the first eight games of the season with an injury.

Terriell Bradley and Madi Townley had 11 points apiece for the Mean Green (15-15).