March Madness is where legends are made, and in 2000, Jennifer Cafferty-Patton and the Rice University women’s basketball team seized its moment, carving out a piece of tournament history that will live on at Rice forever.
In their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, the Owls shocked the college basketball world with an unforgettable first-round upset. And senior guard Jennifer Cafferty’s season didn’t stop there — her deadly 3-point shot propelled her to national recognition as she went on to claim the NCAA 3-point shooting crown.
“It was just fun to be part of that,” Cafferty-Patton said. “And now 25 years later, it’s really neat to reflect on. That was really the beginning of something special for Rice women’s basketball, and they have certainly carried on that tradition.”
Under the guidance of head coach Cristy McKinney, the Owls capped the 1999-2000 season with a thrilling victory in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. That win punched their ticket to the program’s first NCAA Tournament, setting the stage for a Cinderella story. As the 13th seed in its bracket, Rice faced off against powerhouse University of California, Santa Barbara — ranked ninth in the country — but in true March Madness fashion, the underdogs rose to the occasion. The Owls stunned the Gauchos with a dramatic 67-64 victory.
“We felt like we matched up well with them and that our athleticism was going to be something that they had not seen,” recalled former Rice assistant coach Shane Brown, who now serves as the public address announcer for Rice basketball games. “We really felt like we had a legitimate chance to get in there and pull off the win.”
Although the Owls lost their next tournament game to the University of North Carolina, the historic season didn’t stop there.
Known for her smooth stroke from beyond the arc, Cafferty-Patton earned a spot in ESPN’s 12th annual Slam Dunk & 3-Point Shooting Championship in the 3-point shooting contest. She didn’t just win the women’s event but took down the men’s champion too.
“Of all the women competing there at that contest, we all said to each other, ‘Listen, we don’t care which of us wins, but whoever wins has to beat the guy,’” Cafferty-Patton said. She delivered, claiming ultimate bragging rights and putting an exclamation point on her collegiate career.
That season and tournament run changed the trajectory of Rice women’s basketball, Brown said.
“That took the program to a level of exposure that hadn’t been seen yet at Rice in terms of women’s basketball,” Brown said. “Then you’re able to develop a program and start having this success that permeates through the years. And I think a lot of it started with that run that we made.”
The entire 1999-2000 team was honored by Rice Athletics during the Rice women’s team’s game against the University of Texas at San Antonio last month.
Former Rice athletic director Bobby May says he still marvels at that historic season.
“That team might be the best women’s basketball team in Rice history,” May said. “To do it for the first time, it speaks volumes about what this program can do. And that pays dividends down the line.”
More than two decades later, Rice women’s basketball continues to build on that legacy with recent teams following in their footsteps, winning the American Athletic Conference Championship and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2024 then making a run back to the AAC Championship title game this year.
The recent rise in women’s basketball popularity, fueled by current WNBA stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, has only made the memories of that magical run even more special for Cafferty-Patton.
“My kids last year for March Madness, they were Iowa fans, right with Caitlin,” Cafferty-Patton said. “It was fun to watch that with them and see how excited they got.”
Cafferty-Patton’s legacy, and that of the 1999-2000 Rice team, serves as a reminder of what makes March Madness so electric.
“What’s great about March is anything can happen,” Cafferty-Patton said. “It doesn’t matter who’s the higher seed or the lower seed — anybody can win in March. And we saw that come to life.”