Neaves scores 27, adds 18 grabs to lift Rice in 73-70 win

HOUSTON (AP) -- Lauren Neaves had 27 points and 18 rebounds, leading Rice to a 73-70 win over No. 14 Texas Tech on Monday night.

Rice (1-1) trailed through the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second before rallying to tie the score at 43-all.

The Lady Owls went on an 18-7 run over the next 6 minutes. Neaves scored eight points in the burst. Kadie Riverin, who finished with 13 points, made a layup with 3:33 remaining to give Rice its biggest lead at 61-50.

Krystal Frazier shot 5-for-6 from the line in the final minute and Neaves hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to help preserve the victory.

"It's an amazing feeling," Neaves said about the victory over the ranked team. "Like coach said in the locker room afterwards, this is a game we'll remember forever."

"We started to get into a pretty good rhythm in the second half. We were taking advantage of the things they were doing," Neaves said.

"Coach told us at the half that we didn't need to do anything different. We just had to play harder and get back on defense better. And that's what we did."

LaToya Davis scored 26 points, Judith Smith added 14 and Alesha Robertson 13 for Tech (1-2).

Rice stayed with Tech through most of the first half, tying the score at 11 and trailing 19-17 with 8 minutes to play in the half.

Neaves had 10 in the first half as Rice shot only 32.8 percent.

Tech is playing without second-team All-Big 12 guard Chesley Dabbs, who is out for the season after having surgery on her left knee Nov. 10.

"We've got to put this game behind us," said Tech's Alesha Robertson.

"We've got to get better focus on the road. We have to get our minds right on road games. That's a big problem right now."

Tech coach Marsha Sharp said Robertson made some big shots to give them the first half lead, but she didn't make them in the second half.

"We needed to be more aggressive. We didn't take it to them much the second half. I'm disappointed Erin (Myrick) didn't shoot more and we missed some free throws that were major toward the end."