Temple Ends Losing Streak with Road Win over Tulane
Written by: Miles Bailey
Photo by: Andrew Mayo
Despite being short-handed and on the road, Temple women’s basketball (8-11, 3-4 American Athletic Conference) snapped their three-game losing streak, beating Tulane (13-8, 3-5 AAC) 68-59 in New Orleans.
The last time the Owls beat the Green Wave was February 5, 2017. The Owls won in a blowout by a final score of 76-50.
In the seven games these teams have played since that win, Tulane had been unbeaten against the Owls.
Entering the matchup, Tulane had a four-game winning streak, and two of those wins were against two of the best teams in the AAC in South Florida (19-4, 8-0 AAC) and Tulsa (15-5, 5-2 AAC).
Earlier today, it was announced that Temple sophomore guards Jasha Clinton and Aniya Gourdine were suspended for violating team policies. Graduate forward Jalynn Holmes and freshman guard Kourtney Wilson left the team as well.
Needless to say, the cards were stacked against the Owls.
Temple started out the game playing some stingy defense, as they managed to create some turnovers, and that led to an early 15-9 lead at the 03:59 mark.
“Yeah, we worked on our team defense all week,” Temple head coach Diane Richardson said when asked about the team’s stellar defense. “And, one of the biggest things is that we communicated.”
To end the half, the Owls managed to increase their lead by a score of 33-27. While they had the lead, they struggled during the final minutes, shooting 1-10 from the field.
To start the second half, Tulane jumped out to a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game since the 06:29 mark in the first quarter. The Owls managed to stop the bleeding, as they ended the quarter with a 46-41 lead.
Senior guard Aleah Nelson started to heat up in the second half, as she scored eight points during the third quarter.
They jumped out to a fast start in the fourth, as they managed to take their largest lead of the game by a score of 53-43.
At the 07:01 mark, they were on a 10-0 run, and converted 4-4 of their field goal attempts.
As the quarter went on, the Owls were up 62-43. It looked as though Tulane was completely out of it, but that was not the case.
“Yeah, I think we were rushed a little bit because of fatigue,” Richardson said when asked about the late game miscues that resulted in Tulane making a late game comeback. “And you know, some of them played 40 minutes. I think it was more fatigue than anything else.”
While there was some worry during those final minutes, the Owls managed to hang on by a final score of 68-59.
Sophomore forward Ines Piper came up huge during the final minutes, as she had two big free throws and a block that ultimately ended the game.
The Owls head back home on Saturday, January 28, to take on UCF, who happen to have a 1-5 record against conference opponents. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
