The 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco continued with quarterfinal play on Thursday. For just the sixth time in C-USA Championship history, the top four seeds have advanced to the semifinals. No. 1 seed Rice will face No. 4 WKU in Friday's first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. CT, with No. 2 UAB meeting No. 3 Middle Tennessee in the second semifinal at 8 p.m. CT.

Championship Central

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Quarterfinals Game 1
(1) Rice 61, (9) North Texas 43
Rice placed three players in double-figures and never trailed in posting a 61-43 victory over North Texas in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco.  The top-seeded Owls (26-3), who won their 19th consecutive game, will advance to the semifinals at 5:30 pm CT on Friday.
 
Nancy Mulkey scored 12 first half points and four blocked shots for Rice in the first half on her way to a game-high 20 points and six blocks.  It marked her fifth game with at least 20 points and her fifth game with six or more blocks.
 
Erica Ogwumike registered her league-leading 17^th double-double (17^th in the nation) for the Owls, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  She also went over the 1,500 point mark in her career during the fourth quarter (now with 1,504).
 
Sydne Wiggins was the other Rice player to reach double-digits, scoring 10 points for her fifth double-figure scoring game of the season.
 
The Mean Green (15-15) were led in scoring by Terriell Bradley and Madi Townley, who each scored 11 points.  Townley topped North Texas in rebounding with eight, while Bradley grabbed seven. 
 
Nearly half (20) of the Mean Green’s 43 points came off turnovers, as North Texas forced Rice into 17 miscues
 
NOTES:
*Rice will be making its fourth appearance in the semifinals of the C-USA Championship.  The Owls reached the semifinals last season before falling to UAB, 67-55.
*Rice’s 19-game winning streak is the third-longest in Division I.  Baylor has 23 straight victories and Quinnipiac has won 21 in a row.
 
 
Quarterfinals Game 2
(4) WKU 74, (5) Old Dominion 60
Reigning C-USA Champion No. 4 WKU knocked off No. 5 Old Dominion 74-60 to open Thursday’s quarterfinal round. The Lady Toppers extended their winning streak to four games and have set a date with No. 24 Rice, the top seed, at 5:30 p.m. in Friday’s C-USA Semifinals.  

The victory extends WKU’s (18-13) all-time record to 10-1 in the C-USA postseason tournament. The squad has now won each of its last seven tourney games by double digits. The Toppers shot 47 percent from FG range and reached 50 rebounds. Raneem Elgedawy posted her fifth double-double of the season on 20 points (8-11) and 15 rebounds, including 10 defensive boards. Whitney Creech also registered a double-double of her own on 16 points (6-11) and 10 rebounds to pair with six assists and two steals. The Toppers placed four players in double-figures

Taylor Edwards and Ajah Wayne led Old Dominion (21-10) with 20 and 15 points, respectively. Wayne nearly inked a double-double with nine rebounds. Edwards notched five boards, six assists and three steals. The team committed just seven turnovers and racked up six steals and 40 boards.

Old Dominion clung to a 10-9 lead more than halfway through the first frame. Edwards hit the pull-up jumper to give her seven points on 3-of-4 shots. Dee Givens knotted the action up at 12 when she drew a foul and hit a free throw with three minutes to go. WKU added four-straight points courtesy of Elgedawy to create some distance, but a Victoria Morris trey would bring Old Dominion within one at the buzzer. Edwards and Elgedawy both found themselves in double-figures early with 11 points.

The Lady Toppers matched their largest lead of the day with a 5-0 scoring stretch. Back-to-back buckets from Arame Niang and Creech would send Old Dominion into a timeout trailing 27-23 with 7:36 to play. Another pair of shots from Elgedawy would send WKU up by seven halfway through the second stanza. Meral Abdelgawad would sink a three to hand WKU its largest lead of the day at nine before a scoring drought that allowed the Monarchs to sneak back in with a 6-0 run. Arame put up a quick layup as the clock ran out and the Toppers would head to the break up 36-31. Elgedawy led all players with 15 points and nine rebounds at the half.

A foul on Edwards paved way for a pair of good frees from Alexis Brewer as WKU padded its lead to seven within the first few seconds of the third quarter. Elgedawy found her double-double just under the eight-minute mark on 10 rebounds and 17 points. The Toppers pressed late into the third and a steal converted into an easy layup from Creech made it a 53-45 affair with 2:55 on the clock. Brewer gave WKU its largest lead of the game (11) with a 3-pointer following an ODU turnover. Both teams traded quick shots off the fast break with seconds remaining to close the frame 58-51. The Monarchs cut into WKU’s lead 63-58 with just over five minutes left in the fourth, but seven-straight points for WKU would seal an eventual win.

NOTES:
*WKU is 16-1 when leading at the half this season
*Old Dominion’s seven turnovers tied for the third-lowest single-game mark in C-USA postseason history

Quarterfinals Game 3
(2) UAB 70, (7) Charlotte 55
UAB led wire-to-wire, connecting on 10 three-pointers to help post a 70-55 win over Charlotte in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco.  The No. 2-seed Blazers (25-5) advance to the semifinals for the second straight year and will face Middle Tennessee at 8 pm CT on Friday.
 
UAB jumped out to a 26-13 lead in the first quarter thanks largely to the deep shooting from Miyah Barnes.  She connected on her first five 3-point attempts to score 15 of the first 26 points for the Blazers. 
 
UAB ended the opening quarter with a 31-17 lead, shooting a sizzling 75% (12-of-16) from the field and 85.7% (6-of-7) from three-point territory.  The Blazers finished 9-of-11 from three point range in the first half, taking a 44-29 advantage to the locker room. 
 
Barnes would finish the game with a team-high 21 points while setting a new C-USA Championship single-game record for 3-point field goal percentage (5-for-5, 1.000).
 
Katelynn Thomas and Rachael Childress also scored in double figures for the Blazers with 16 points and 12 points, respectively.  Deanna Kuzmanic set a new career-high for rebounds with 12 and added nine assists and seven points. 
 
UAB’s starters combined for all but six of the points and four of the rebounds that the Blazers compiled on the afternoon.
 
Charlotte’s Jade Phillips reached the 20-point mark for the seventh time this season, finishing with 22 points and 124 rebounds, just one board shy of her career high.
 
Mariah Linney and Christian Hithe joined Phillips in double-figure scoring for the Niners (15-15), adding 11 and 10 points, respectively.
 
NOTES:
*UAB’s Miyah Barnes set a new C-USA Championship record for three-point field goal percentage, becoming the first player to hit at least five three-pointers without a miss.
*With today’s win, UAB has posted back-to-back 25-win seasons for the first time in school history.
*UAB and Middle Tennessee split their two regular season meetings, with the home team winning each time.
 
Quarterfinals Game 4
(3) Middle Tennessee 66, (11) UTEP 44
 No. 3 Middle Tennessee blew past No. 11 UTEP 66-44 in Thursday’s last C-USA Quarterfinal and avenged a loss suffered in last season’s second round. Three Lady Raiders scored in double-figures as the nation’s 15^th-ranked scoring defense held the Miners to just seven points in the third frame. Middle advances to face No. 2 UAB in Friday’s 8 p.m. semifinal.

The Lady Raiders shot 43 percent from the floor and missed just one shot out of 11 attempts from the foul line. The squad defended with authority, winning the battle of the boards 43-23 with three blocks and 14 turnovers. A’Queen Hayes notched 11 points and seven rebounds. Alex Johnson grabbed 17 points off of 7-of-10 FG shooting with 3-of-5 attempts hit from long range. Freshman Taylor Sutton tallied 13 points and Jess Louro pitched in with six assists.

Three Miners placed in double figures. Jordan Alexander totaled 13 points with five boards and two steals. Katarina Zec punched in 12 points and six rebounds for UTEP. The team forced 14 Lady Raider turnovers and compiled a 70.4 percent shooting clip at the FT line.

The Lady Raiders rattled off seven-straight points to open the first frame, shooting nearly 75 percent from 3-point range and 53.3 from the field to command an 11-point lead heading into the second.

Middle Tennessee closed the first half on a 12-0 run in the remaining three minutes as the defense suffocated UTEP to a FG shooting clip of just 16.7 percent. The Miners put up 11 points in the second half with the help of a perfect 7-of-7 performance at the charity stripe, but still trailed 43-21.

The Lady Raider defense only grew stronger in the third, holding UTEP to just seven points on 1-for-7 shots from the floor. A three-point play from Jess Louro at the 7:33 mark in the fourth quarter extended Middle’s advantage to 27 points.

NOTES:
*Middle Tennessee is 12-2 in quarterfinal games, and 31-7 in opening games of postseason play, under head coach Rick Insell.
*The Blue Raiders have appeared in a conference tournament semifinal 32 times, posting a 22-10 record.
*This year’s championship will mark just the second time in the last seven years that the top four seeds have all advanced to the semifinals.  It is only the sixth time in 24 years of the C-USA Championship (2019, 2017, 2012, 2006, 2005, 1999).