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 semifinal play on Friday.  (1) Rice began its comeback late in the third quarter to defeat (4) WKU, 64-57 in the first semifinal.  Then, A'Queen Hayes scored a career-high 34 points to lead (3) Middle Tennessee past (2) UAB, 75-65, in the second semi. Saturday's championship game between the Owls and Lady Raiders is set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CT and will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
 
Championship Central

Watch Links/Stats/Results

Semifinals Game 1
(1) Rice 64, (4) WKU 57
No. 1 seed and No. 24 ranked Rice punched its ticket to the Conference USA Championship game for the first time since appearing in back-to-back finals in 2006-07. The Owls overcame a 15-0 Lady Topper run in the second quarter and held on to defeat No. 4 WKU 64-57 in Friday’s semifinal.

Rice awaits the winner of a matchup between No. 2 UAB and third-seeded Middle Tennessee in the nightcap. The championship game will be played at 4:30 p.m. CT and broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

Rice, one of the nation’s top scoring defenses, held C-USA’s most prolific offense to 57 points on a 40 percent shooting clip. The Toppers went into the game averaging 74 points a night. Erica Ogwumike racked up her season’s 19^th double-double on 22 points (6-12) and 12 rebounds to pair with four assists. Nancy Mulkey chipped in 10 points, three blocks and a steal. Sydne Wiggins also dished out four assists with 11 points and four boards. Rice shot 48 percent from the floor with six 3-pointers and pulled down a game-high 33 rebounds.

WKU placed two in double-figures. Alexis Brewer posted 17 points (7-11) and Arame Niang went 5-for-10 from the floor, including three treys on six attempts, to total 15 points. Dee Givens matched a game-high 12 rebounds and Whitney Creech handed out a game-high six assists.

The Owls have now won six of nine games when trailing at halftime. Ogwumike fired the game’s first 3-pointer early in the second stanza to stretch Rice’s lead to five before WKU began showering threes of its own. Brewer, Niang and Sherry Porter all sunk consecutive shots within a two-minute span to take a 24-20 lead. Another trey from Niang over a minute later grew the deficit to seven points.

Out of the media timeout, WKU showed no signs of stopping the long-range parade. Niang splashed her third 3-pointer in a row to continue the Toppers’ 15-0 run. Shani Rainey would respond with her first long shot to slow a scorching WKU offense. Rainey later posted a jumper in the paint with 1:30 to play to send the Lady Toppers into the break ahead 30-25.

Mulkey broke the seal on the second half with a jumper and muscled a layup under the five-minute mark to tie the action at 35-all. The Owls would take their first lead out of the break in the final seconds of the third frame 43-41 on a Jasmine Smith 3-pointer.

Rice carried that momentum into the final quarter and stretched its advantage as far as 11 points at the 5:28 mark. Ogwumike wasn’t afraid to take hits as WKU pressed aggressively. She compiled six-straight points during a 13-4 run at the foul line to help keep a Lady Topper comeback out of reach.

NOTES:
*WKU became just the second C-USA team to hold Rice to a single-digit win this season.
*Rice tacked on another win to stretch its win streak to 20 games, which still hails as one of the best in the country.
*The Owls will be competing for their first-ever C-USA Championship on Saturday. Rice has advanced to the title game twice in program history.
*Rice improved to 12-13 all-time at the C-USA postseason tournament and 6-3 under the Tina Langley era.
 *Rice reached the 20-win plateau for a third-straight season, marking just the second time in school history Rice has accomplished the feat in three-consecutive seasons.
*Ogwumike has inked nine 20+-point games this season and 20 10+-rebound performances. She also leads the conference with 18 double-doubles on the year.

 
Semifinals Game 2
(3) Middle Tennessee 75, (2) UAB 65
WBB SF: (3) MIDDLE TENNESSEE 75, (2) UAB 65
 
FRISCO, Texas – A’Queen Harris scored 23 of her career-high 34 points in the second half to lead Middle Tennessee to a 75-65 win over UAB in the semifinals 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. 3-seed Lady Raiders (25-5) advance to the title game to face top-seeded Rice at 4:30 pm CT on Saturday.
 
Middle Tennessee led by 15 points early in the fourth quarter, but UAB would battle back to cut the deficit to six points (66-60) with 2:42 remaining.  But Hayes would hit a jumper about a minute later to put the Lady Raiders up eight and the Blazers would draw no closer.
 
Hayes registered her eighth double-double of the season with her 34 points to go along with 12 rebounds.  The senior sizzled in the second half, hitting 9-of-11 shots from the field.  In three games against UAB this season, Hayes averaged 23.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, as Middle Tennessee took two-of-three from the Blazers. 
 
Taylor Sutton scored 17 points for the Lady Raiders, meaning that Hayes and Sutton combined for 51 of Middle Tennessee’s 75 points on the night.
 
For the second straight game, Miyah Barnes would finish the game with a team-high 21 points for UAB.  Deanna Kuzmanic added 18 points and Katelynn Thomas chipped in 11 to go with three blocked shots.
 
UAB’s starters combined for all but four of the points scored after netting all but six of the Blazers points last night.
 
NOTES:
*Middle Tennessee advances to the C-USA Championship title game for the third time in six years in the league.  The Blue Raiders won the 2016 and 2014 titles.
*Only nine players have scored more points in a C-USA Championship game than Hayes did with her 34 points tonight (the record is 43).