Temple Struggles on Both Sides of the Ball, Leading to a Houston Blowout Loss
Written By: Liam Andell
Photo Courtesy of: Temple Women’s Basketball Twitter
Despite an early run by the Owls, Houston put their foot on the gas and never let go as they blew out Temple 80-46.
Temple has dropped back to back games and falls to 4-2 in conference play with this loss.
This game wasn’t even close. The 34 point blowout by Houston was the 2nd largest margin of victory for any AAC (American Athletic Conference) matchup so far this season.
Houston grabbed the lead at the 3:07 mark of the first quarter and held onto it for good. The Cougars had an advantage over Temple in almost every statistical category.
One statistic that looked much closer on the sheet than what it looked like on the court was field goal percentage. While Houston only outshot Temple by a 5% margin (37% vs. 32%), these numbers are skewed since Houston attempted 24 more shots than Temple.
These extra opportunities came from Houston’s ability to box out in the paint and grab 31 offensive rebounds, which turned into 26 Houston points.
Other than rebounds, Houston was able to turn takeaways into points as well. Temple’s lackadaisical ball handling amounted to 30 turnovers.
The 30 turnovers for Temple were the most they had given up, dating back three years when they committed 35 turnovers against Hampton.
Although Temple made their fair share of mistakes, Houston deserves a ton of credit for their dominance. They had five players score in double figures, and the two leading scorers came off the bench. Junior forward Tatyana Hill was explosive inside the paint as she recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Of the 11 rebounds, eight of those came on offense. As a team, Houston recorded more rebounds on offense than defense. This shows how Houston was ready to attack the ball and give themselves as many opportunities as possible.
The Owls were happy to see Junior forward Alexa Williamson back on the court after missing the last game due to injury. Unfortunately, they were unable to get anything going offensively as a whole.
Temple forward Mia Davis had her worst performance of the season thus far with only five points and three rebounds.
Davis got herself into foul trouble early with two fouls in the first quarter leading to Coach Cardoza having to put her on the bench.
Not only did Davis shoot poorly, going 2/8 from the field, but having four personal fouls led to her playing less aggressively on defense and rebounds, which is a significant factor as to why Houston capitalized on gathering more opportunities.
As mentioned earlier, Alexa Williamson made her return to the court on Wednesday afternoon. Her return brought the Temple lineup rotations back up to eight possible players and was essential, being that Mia Davis played her least amount of minutes all season with 26.
On a positive note for Temple, guard Jasha Clinton has continued her success during conference play and recorded a team-high 14 points and six steals, which is her career-high.
Temple looks to get back on track this Saturday, Jan. 23, when Wichita State comes to Pearson McGonigle Hall. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 1 PM.
