Temple drops game to Rice as conference hopes continue to drop

RECAP BY MATEO VERDEN

COURTESY PHOTO

As Temple Women’s Basketball head coach, Diane Richardson sat down in the media room, one message stood out over the rest during her opening statement. 

“We have got to show what we have and not let someone take it from us,” said Richardson.  

This proved to be the case as Temple was once again unable to overcome a team that has become one of their rivals as of late, the Rice Owls, losing 77-66 at the Liacouras Center Wednesday night. 

With the loss, Temple remains eighth in the American Conference standings, with just three games left to try and secure a top 10 spot to appear in the conference tournament. 

Rice came into this matchup undefeated in conference play, and that power was on full display in the first quarter as the visiting Owls shot nearly 60% from the field en route to a six-point lead by the end of the quarter. 

In the second, Temple was able to pick things up behind their equal opportunity offense. Kaylah Turner led the half with nine points and received contributions from forwards Jaleesa Molina and Saniyah Craig with eight points each.  

It wasn’t enough, as at halftime, Temple trailed by six and had a couple of issues to address.  

Rice forward Shelby Hayes was dominating down low as Rice’s leading scorer with 10 points while shooting 5-6. When Temple also put the focus on Hayes and containing her down-low, Rice’s three-point shooting excelled. As a result, Rice finished the half shooting 6-10 from three.  

“One of the things in our adjustments was not over helping. And when they start to display their offense, we had to overload against [Hayes], they overhleped and then they could kick it out from three,” said Richardson. 

To start the third quarter, Temple’s defense started to make an impact on the game, but the offense struggled, shooting 1-5 from the field to start. 

Temple was able to get things going with a 6-1 run as Brianna Mead hit an and-1, giving Temple all of the momentum.  

However, Rice would answer with a run of their own, getting good looks on the offensive end, leading to a 9-2 run and a 14-point lead. A lot of that run was thanks to turnovers, Temple’s Kryptonite this season. 

Temple started the fourth exactly how they needed to, coming out to the tune of a 6-0 run and cutting the lead down to eight. Unfortunately, the turnover bug returned for Temple as they finished the quarter with seven more turnovers. 

The turnover numbers really tell the story of the game. Temple finished with 20 on the game, leading to a total of 15 points for Rice.  

Rice came into the matchup as one of the better three-point shooting teams in the American and that showed as they shot 42% from beyond the arc. Rice’s bench also had a big impact with 17 points compared to Temple’s eight. 

A positive for Temple, however, is that Turner finished with 22 points, her first 20+ point performance since January 31st. Molina also had a solid outing, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds.  

Dominique Ennis, alongside Hayes, were Rice’s key performers. Ennis finished with 21 points, four rebounds, and two assists, while Hayes totaled 19 points and two steals. 

Temple’s next game will be against UAB at the Bartow Arena at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 28th.