There are no upcoming events. Check back soon!

March 3, 2008

IRVING - Valeriya Berezhynska paced the Rice women's basketball team to a pair of home victories last weekend and earned Conference USA Player of the Week Monday afternoon as announced by the league office. It was Berezhynska's third weekly honor this season.

Berezhynska racked up two complete efforts and averaged an impressive 23.0 points, 19.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.

"Val had a fantastic weekend and was very deserving canidate after the numbers she posted," head coach Greg Williams said. "She was a big factor allowing us to put together a three-game winning streak heading into the conference tournament this weekend."

Berezhynska has compiled four consecutive double-doubles and has reached the 20-point plateau in four of her last five outings. The 23 points against East Carolina allowed her to surpass Krystal Frazier (2004-07) and moved into 11th place on Rice's career scoring list.

With Rice behind 39-29 with 16 minutes left in the second half against ECU, Berezhynska scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half as the Owls fought back for a 69-62 Senior Day victory. She also grabbed 19 rebounds and added career-best five steals.

The Ukraine native opened the weekend by racking up 23 points and matched a career-best 20 rebounds. The 20 rebounds also equaled a C-USA high for the season.

Rice strung together a 21-3 run over the final four minutes of the first half and the opening three minutes of the second half to turn a 33-22 deficit into a 43-36 advantage with 17:00 minutes left against Marshall.

Berezhynska fueled the run with 10 points. On the defensive end, she also matched a career-best four blocks as the Owls held on for a 68-64 win over the Thundering Herd.

Rice squares off against East Carolina Thursday at 7pm CT in the opening round of the C-USA Tournament hosted by UCF. KTRU 91.7 FM and RiceOwls.com will carry all of the action live from Orlando with a 6:45pm pregame show.