Frisco, Texas – The Rice Owls have been winning all year and Saturday night was no different. The Owls came into the Conference USA championship game having won 20 games in a row after defeating Western Kentucky 64-57 behind 22 points from Conference USA Player of the Year Erica Ogwumike. Saturday night at the Ford Center, the sophomore 6’ 9 center from Cypress, Texas, Nancy Mulkey took center stage. Mulkey poured in 24 points and had 8 blocks to lead Rice to their first conference championship ever and first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2005.
The Lady Raiders from Middle Tennessee held a 34-26 lead at the half behind a strong performance from their forward Alex Johnson who was scoring down low and hitting from deep as well. Johnson tallied 27 points to lead all scorers and shot 50% from the field. Freshman guard Taylor Sutton had 10 points and 4 assists.
It was a different story in the second half as the 24th ranked team in the country outscored Middle Tennessee, 21-9 in the 3rd quarter to take the lead for the first time in the game, shooting over 40% from the field and 75% from deep. The 4th quarter was much of the same with the Lady Owls hitting all their free throws, outrebounding the Lady Raiders and forcing costly turnovers. Rice never trailed again and punched their ticket to the big dance with a 69-54 win over the third seed Middle Tennessee Lady Raiders. Nancy Mulkey was named the tournament MVP totaling 54 points in 3 games and blocking 8 shots in the championship game.