UTEP women's basketball: Rice takes down UTEP 79-62

Rice's Christal Porter recorded a monster double-double with 30 points, and 19 rebounds, as the Lady Owls routed the Miners 79-62 Saturday afternoon in Houston.

UTEP found themselves down 11-2 after the first four minutes of the game, then Maya Adetula scored off an assist from Porter to put Rice up 21-9 at the 12:17 mark of the first half.

Rice took a 43-31 lead at halftime, then Wendy Knight would stretch that lead at the 16:40 mark off the second half with a triple, giving the Owls a commanding 51-36 lead.

Four Owls reached double figure scoring numbers, and Rice also held a 47-31 advantage on the boards.

Houston native Lulu McKinney led UTEP with 14 points, and four rebounds, Sparkle Taylor and Rudiane Eduardo added nine points each, but UTEP shot 37.5 percent on the afternoon, and a 4/12 clip from behind the three point line.

"We didn't play any defense today," UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said.

UTEP allowed 38 points in the paint, and also allowed 19 Rice second chance points explaining Keitha's frustration.

The Miners will be the 11th seed in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament, their first round game will take place Wednesday with a TBA on the time.