Guard Victoria Flores finds greatness at Rice

Victoria Flores was around 5 years old when she developed her own motto: God first and work ethic second equals greatness. The Rice University guard first uttered that motto before a recreational basketball game at the West Dallas YMCA a few blocks from her childhood home.

“That was her saying,” Victor Flores says of his daughter Victoria. “She would say it heading to practice or before playing games. To me, that’s how it should be. God first over everything. If you put hard work into anything you do, you’re destined for greatness.”

Victoria Flores, a 5-foot-7 junior guard from Duncanville High in Dallas, is one of the best players in the American Conference. She’s also a major reason the Owls are atop the conference standings at 14-0 and 24-3 overall.

After transferring from TCU, she became a major port of the Rice’s women’s program as a sophomore last season. She earned a spot on the AAC All-Newcomer Team last season. Flores is averaging 12.3 points per game, which is tied for second on the team. Only senior Dominique Ennis (12.9) averages more points per game for the Owls.

Early lessons at the Y

She began playing basketball on a boys team at her local YMCA, which was so close to her home that she and her dad would bike there.

“My dad was my first basketball coach,” she says proudly. “He knew nothing about basketball, but he was still out there trying.”

Feisty and competitive, she would actually race her dad to the Y. 

“It was hard for me to keep up with her,” Victor Flores said. “She’s always been full of energy.”

She didn’t start playing against girls until she was 10 years old. By the time she got to high school, Flores was already ranked among the top 100 girls high school basketball players in the Class of 2023. 

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Then the tests began. She tore her right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament in eighth grade. After missing her freshman season of high school ball, Flores earned All-State honors as a sophomore. She averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 steals, five rebounds and 3.6 assists as a sophomore and 15.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.1 steals as a junior at Duncanville.

Flores garnered plenty of interest from college coaches heading into her senior year. Then she tore her left knee’s ACL and meniscus at a summer practice before her senior year of high school.

‘Closer to God’

“The first (ACL tear) was very harsh because I was so young,” she said. “I didn’t know why it was happening. I took that opportunity to get closer to God to try to understand why it was happening.

“The second time I knew how to handle it. I was being recruited, ranked in ESPN Top 100 as one of the best players in Texas, so it was harder for me to understand.”

Fortunately for Flores, she had already committed to TCU when she suffered the knee injury that wiped out her senior year. The coaches promised to honor their scholarship offer. 

Another major blow was on the horizon. A week after she was cleared to play at TCU, she was on her scooter heading to a summer class on campus when a car ran a stop sign and almost hit her. While trying to avoid the car, she tore her meniscus again. 

The TCU roster was decimated by injuries that year. The coaching staff even held open tryouts in hopes of filling out the roster. Flores played despite the meniscus tear to help the depleted roster. She even scored 19 points off the bench against Prairie View.

No TCU freshman women’s basketball player had scored more points in a game in more than a decade. Flores had a solid freshman season at TCU. It wasn’t the place for her, though. She entered the transfer portal and contacted Rice coach Lindsay Edmonds.

Home away from home

“I struggled my freshman year, but I knew that’s exactly where God needed me to be to mature as a person and player,” she says. “Although I didn’t enjoy the basketball, I met so many people who will be in my life.

“That’s where God wanted me to be. Then He told me, ‘Vic, it’s time to transfer.’”

TCU and Rice were Flores’ top two finalists coming out of high school. Flores cried on the phone when she told Edmonds that she had picked TCU over the Owls. After Flores changed her mind more than a year later, Edmonds told her she didn’t have a scholarship available. 

“That broke my heart,” Flores recalls. 

A few weeks later, Edmonds called Flores back. A scholarship had freed up. A player with an extra year of eligibility decided to move on after graduating. Flores gladly took the scholarship.

“I knew I wanted to be a Rice Owl,” says Flores, who has dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship and is open to representing her father’s native Mexico internationally.

Team leader

Flores has blossomed. She started 21 games and played in all 34 while leading Rice in assists with 112 as a sophomore. She averaged 3.3 assists and 9.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game last season. This season she leads Rice in free throws made (107). She’s also second on the team in assists (77), 3-pointers (37) and points per game.

For the first time since the eighth grade, she’s playing without a knee brace.  

“I’m just so blessed to be a part of this team and this family,” she said. “I’m glad I’m mature enough to realize that just because you stay close to home (at TCU) it doens’t mean it’s home. I figured out that this is home.”

Her motto, however, is the same one she came up with in West Dallas. She has tried to keep God first, she says. Flores also credits her work ethic with helping her overcome her injuries while pursuing greatness.