Story courtesy of Davidson women's basketball

Rice 63, Davidson 52

HOUSTON, Texas ? Davidson women's basketball team fell to 1-3 on the season with a 63-52 loss to Rice University in the first round of the Gene Hackerman Invitational on Friday, Dec. 2. Rice moved to 3-2 on the season and moves to the championship game to play Louisiana Tech tomorrow, Dec. 3. The Wildcats will finish up the invitational against UTSA, which lost to La. Tech by the count of 75-67.

Both teams came out ice-cold shooting in the first half. After a little over eight minutes of play, Davidson (2-12) and Rice (2-13) were a combined 4-for-25 from the field for a combined nine points with Davidson clinging to a slim 5-4 lead with 11:56 in the half. Sophomore Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) had all five points on a layup and a three-pointer.

The Wildcats then looked to find their rhythm by going on a 12-6 run for a 17-10 advantage at the 7:48 mark in the first half. junior Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) highlighted the run by converting two three-point plays after getting fouled twice on driving layups.

All the sudden Rice then got in going, running off 15 unanswered points to take a 25-17 lead with 3:19 left in the first stanza. Krystal Frazier netted five of her nine first half points during the 15-0 run. Foul trouble hurt the Wildcats during the Owls run as both senior Janell Crayton (Atlanta, Ga.) and Hemerka were saddled with two fouls each.

Davidson held Rice to 33.3 percent shooting in the first half, but shot only 25.8 percent itself and trailed 29-20 going into halftime.