Nov. 30, 2004

WACO, Texas (AP) - Rice stifled Sophia Young for 35 minutes, holding Baylor's top scorer to just four baskets in 13 attempts.

But Young made her shots when it counted, scoring seven of her 15 points in the final five minutes and leading the No. 9 Lady Bears to a 77-65 victory over Rice on Tuesday night.

Steffanie Blackmon led Baylor (4-1) with 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Emily Niemann added 18 points, including 3-of-4 on 3-point attempts, for the Lady Bears.

"After Emily hit some 3s, I just felt we needed to keep the lead," Young said. "I was just aggressive on offense and defense."

Maudess Fulton led Rice (3-4) with 19 points, while Lauren Neaves added 17.

Rice led 55-49 with 8:30 minutes remaining when Baylor scored seven straight points to take its first second-half lead at 56-55. Niemann scored the first five on a pair of free throws and 3-pointer, and Blackmon put the Lady Bears in front with a layup.

The Owls pulled within one at 61-60 on Kadie Riverin's 3-pointer with just over 6 minutes left. But the Lady Bears outscored Rice 16-5 the rest of the way.

"Baylor really made a push, and we didn't get some things done defensively," Rice coach Cristy McKinney said. "We got in a hurry offensively and didn't get good shots like we had done earlier."

Rice jumped out to an early 11-1 lead, but Baylor chipped away and tied it at 13 on Niemann's three-point play with just over 12 minutes remaining. On their next possession, Blackmon put the Lady Bears in front 15-13 with a pair of free throws.

The Owls went ahead 33-31 at the half with Riverin making two free throws with 4 seconds left.