HOUSTON -JaMeisha Edwards had 19 points, while Dominique Edwards had 17 points for the Lamar Lady Cardinals, but it wasn't enough in a 97-63 loss at Rice in a non-conference women's basketball game on Sunday afternoon.

Lamar (3-8) trailed by just eight points, 41-33, at halftime, only to see Rice (5-5) outscore the Lady Cardinals 56-30 in the second half.

JaMeisha Edwards had 17 of her points in the first half, while Dominique Edwards had 14 points in the opening period to keep the Lady Cardinals in the game. Baileigh O'Dell was Lamar's top scorer in the second half, with 10 of her 12 points coming after intermission.

Rice dominated the boards, outrebounding Lamar 48-22 for the game. The Owls also used a strong shooting performance to subdue Lamar. Rice connected on 54.7 percent of its shots (35-of-64) for the game, including 61.3 percent (19-of-31) in the second half. Rice was 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from 3-point range for the game.

"We played a good first half," Lamar coach Robin Harmony said. "We didn't carry that over into the second half."

Kiandra Bowers had five rebounds for Lamar, while JaMeisha Edwards had four assists and four steals. Rice had four players score in double figures, led by Christal Porter, who finished with 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Lamar led by as many as four points in the early going and had a 29-27 lead with 4:28 remaining in the first half before Rice closed out the period on a 14-4 run. Rice proceeded to put the game away by opening the second half on a 15-4 run.

Lamar returns to action at 4 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Nicholls in the Southland Conference opener for both teams.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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