Saturday, January 15
Houston, TX
3 PM
Marshall University
66
at
53
Rice
Savannah Wheeler
Fourth-Quarter Rout Lifts Marshall to Road Victory
1/15/2022 7:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Wheeler breaks the 1,000-point mark
FINAL STATS
WHEELER/KEMPER POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
HOUSTON, Texas – Marshall outscored Rice 21-3 in the fourth quarter to win, going away, 66-53 Saturday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston.
The win lifted the Thundering Herd to 9-5 overall and 4-1 in Conference USA, while the Owls dropped to 5-6 and 0-3 in the league.
Aaliyah Dunham led the visitors with a superb bounceback offensive effort, scoring a game-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. She also had a game-best seven assists. The South Charleston, W.Va. native came into the game making just one of her last 15 from the field. Kennedi Colclough posted 16 points (7-for-14 on FGs) with three steals and Savannah Wheeler was held to 5-for-18 shooting (0-for-6 on triples), but managed 13 points. The Catlettsburg, Kentucky native converted a three-point play at the end of the first half to become Marshall's 23rd 1,000-point scorer.
Lorelei Roper added seven rebounds and helped limit the Owls' leading scorer Ashlee Austin (16 ppg.) to nine points and nine turnovers in just under 28 minutes of action.
Rice's Destiny Jackson was the only Owl in double figures with a team-high 10 points and nine rebounds. Trinity Gooden led the way in assists with four and India Bellamy added three blocks.
The Owls took command early, building a 13-point lead (19-6) on a Haylee Swayze triple at the 2:57 mark of the first quarter. Swayze swished three 3-pointers in the first quarter, but was shut down by the Thundering Herd after that.
Rice led 39-35 at halftime and 50-45 through three quarters, but that's when Marshall grabbed control and never looked back. Thundering Herd ripped off a 17-0 run and didn't allow a Rice point until Jackson made a layup with 3:37 left. By then, though, Marshall had a double-digit lead and the Owls were not able to mount a challenge over the balance of the contest.
The Thundering Herd's defensive intensity was evident throughout the game as MU forced 23 Rice turnovers and cashed in those miscues for 32 points. The Herd also led 36-24 on points in the paint and 17-5 on the fast break.
"When the horn went off, I honestly asked, 'How did we figure out a way to get that done?!'," said Marshall head coach Tony Kemper. "On the road, it is difficult and we were a little out of sorts. I thought, in the first half, it was (out of sorts) on the defensive end and then a little off on the offensive end in the second half. The timing was just a little rough.
"Aaliyah Dunham really kept us in the game in the first half when we were just not very good. And she was just tremendous. I played her for 40 minutes and she was fabulous throughout. She found a whole bunch of layups for us that were great passes that we could finish. Second, Alexis Johnson was great in the fourth quarter. I thought her quickness and energy could maybe change the game and there was no way that I was taking Alexis out once she started to really run."
The Thundering Herd is back in action at home Thursday against FIU (9-5, 1-2) in a game that will start at 6 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center. Admission is $5.
The Panthers surprised Middle Tennessee on Saturday, winning 56-54 in Miami.
Notes
-Saturday was the program's sixth time this season forcing 20+ turnovers and its ninth holding an opponent under 60 points.
-Wheeler has a 17-game streak of scoring in double figures and has done so 53 times over the course of her career.
-Colclough tied a career-high with three steals.
WHEELER/KEMPER POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
HOUSTON, Texas – Marshall outscored Rice 21-3 in the fourth quarter to win, going away, 66-53 Saturday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston.
The win lifted the Thundering Herd to 9-5 overall and 4-1 in Conference USA, while the Owls dropped to 5-6 and 0-3 in the league.
Aaliyah Dunham led the visitors with a superb bounceback offensive effort, scoring a game-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. She also had a game-best seven assists. The South Charleston, W.Va. native came into the game making just one of her last 15 from the field. Kennedi Colclough posted 16 points (7-for-14 on FGs) with three steals and Savannah Wheeler was held to 5-for-18 shooting (0-for-6 on triples), but managed 13 points. The Catlettsburg, Kentucky native converted a three-point play at the end of the first half to become Marshall's 23rd 1,000-point scorer.
Lorelei Roper added seven rebounds and helped limit the Owls' leading scorer Ashlee Austin (16 ppg.) to nine points and nine turnovers in just under 28 minutes of action.
Rice's Destiny Jackson was the only Owl in double figures with a team-high 10 points and nine rebounds. Trinity Gooden led the way in assists with four and India Bellamy added three blocks.
The Owls took command early, building a 13-point lead (19-6) on a Haylee Swayze triple at the 2:57 mark of the first quarter. Swayze swished three 3-pointers in the first quarter, but was shut down by the Thundering Herd after that.
Rice led 39-35 at halftime and 50-45 through three quarters, but that's when Marshall grabbed control and never looked back. Thundering Herd ripped off a 17-0 run and didn't allow a Rice point until Jackson made a layup with 3:37 left. By then, though, Marshall had a double-digit lead and the Owls were not able to mount a challenge over the balance of the contest.
The Thundering Herd's defensive intensity was evident throughout the game as MU forced 23 Rice turnovers and cashed in those miscues for 32 points. The Herd also led 36-24 on points in the paint and 17-5 on the fast break.
"When the horn went off, I honestly asked, 'How did we figure out a way to get that done?!'," said Marshall head coach Tony Kemper. "On the road, it is difficult and we were a little out of sorts. I thought, in the first half, it was (out of sorts) on the defensive end and then a little off on the offensive end in the second half. The timing was just a little rough.
"Aaliyah Dunham really kept us in the game in the first half when we were just not very good. And she was just tremendous. I played her for 40 minutes and she was fabulous throughout. She found a whole bunch of layups for us that were great passes that we could finish. Second, Alexis Johnson was great in the fourth quarter. I thought her quickness and energy could maybe change the game and there was no way that I was taking Alexis out once she started to really run."
The Thundering Herd is back in action at home Thursday against FIU (9-5, 1-2) in a game that will start at 6 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center. Admission is $5.
The Panthers surprised Middle Tennessee on Saturday, winning 56-54 in Miami.
Notes
-Saturday was the program's sixth time this season forcing 20+ turnovers and its ninth holding an opponent under 60 points.
-Wheeler has a 17-game streak of scoring in double figures and has done so 53 times over the course of her career.
-Colclough tied a career-high with three steals.