Houston women’s basketball suffers loss to crosstown rival Rice

22 Cougar turnovers and multiple droughts from the floor were factored into crosstown rival Rice handing Houston women’s basketball a 70-56 loss at Fertitta Center on Tuesday, its first of the 2025-26 campaign.

“We did not have a lot of toughness around the rim tonight,” coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We looked more like we were in a prayer meeting than a basketball game.”

The toughness that showed came via three Cougars scoring in double figures, which included redshirt senior guard Kyndall Hunter’s 12 points off the bench.

However, 15 missed free throws and a sub 30% night from the field made it look like the Cougars were living on a prayer. When combined with Rice’s 27 points off turnovers and redshirt junior guard Hailey Adams’ 16-point, 13-rebound double-double, these factors all compiled, and Houston never led in the game.

The contest immediately saw the Cougars’ rough start from the floor, as they began 0-for-7 until a triple by Hunter off the bench with just under three minutes to go in the first quarter. 

The mark grew to 4-for-23 as Houston saw itself down 26-12 with 6:12 remaining in the second quarter.

Having taken advantage of only committing two turnovers in the quarter, Houston closed out the quarter on a 15-6 run largely from eight makes at the stripe, cutting its halftime deficit to 32-27.

With a pair of layups from graduate forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim and free throws from Hunter, the Cougars trimmed their deficit in the third quarter down to a possession three times. However, six Houston turnovers in the quarter partly limited the effort to draw closer.

A 25-point fourth quarter for the Owls, which included 10 made free throws by junior guard Victoria Flores, helped them grow out to their largest lead of the night. 

Despite being shut out from the floor over six attempts, Flores finished her night a perfect 16-for-16 from the stripe.

Although the growing pains of a program rebuild succumbed to a loss three games in for Mitchell, he kept the stance firm on the team as an unfinished product, as it awaits its first road trip.

“We are a work in progress,” he said. “We have to get better and just have to do a great job of coaching this team up and realizing it’s the third game of the season. We just have to think about constant improvement every day, and that’s what we’ll do.”

Up next, the Cougars will travel to Nacogdoches, Texas, to face the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks at William R. Johnson Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m., for the first leg of a two-game in-state road trip.