Ogwumike, Iademarco help No. 24 Rice women top La Tech 78-42

Mar 2, 2019, 10:05 pm

HOUSTON -- Erica Ogwumike scored 18 points with 14 rebounds, five assists and two steals and No. 24 Rice used a 21-0 run in the first half to roll past Louisiana Tech 78-42 on Saturday to extend its school-record winning streak to 17 games.

Nichole Iademarco went 6 of 8 from 3-point range and also scored 18 points for the Owls (24-3, 15-0 Conference USA), who finished 13-0 at home. Lauren Grigsby added 12 points and Nancy Mulkey had 11 in front of a record crowd of 2,606. Ogwumike has nine double-doubles in her last 11 games, Iademarco, a senior, increased her school record to 193 3-pointers in her last home game.

Mulkey hit a jumper to start an 11-0 run to end the first quarter with a 16-4 lead. Grigsby started the second quarter with a layup, Ogwumike scored the next five points for a 26-4 lead.

It was 40-17 at the half and 11-straight points that helped end the third period on a 17-3 run made it 63-26. Iademarco hit back-to-back 3-pointers to end the third and Rice shot 13 of 22 (59 percent) from long range.

Rice, which has the nation's third-longest winning streak in the nation behind No. 1 Baylor (19 games) and Quinnipiac (18 games), goes for the third perfect season in Conference USA history on Thursday at Texas San Antonio. Previous perfect teams, Houston (2010-11) and UTEP (2007-08) lost in the conference tournament.

The Lady Techsters (14-14, 6-9) were 2 of 15 in the first quarter and missed 14 straight shots during the Rice run. They ended up at 27 percent (16 of 59) and were 4 of 21 from distance. No player reached double figures. Kierra Anthony, who is fourth in the nation in scoring at 24.3 points a game, was 3 of 15 for six points.