Temple Women’s Basketball 2025-2026 Cheat Sheet

As the Halloween spirit fades from the air and the chill continues to pick up, it signifies one thing is on the way, and no, it’s not the thawing out of Mariah Carey. 

College Basketball is right around the corner. 

For Temple Women’s Basketball and fourth-year head coach Diane Richardson, this means another chance at overcoming their previous postseason exits and finally being able to win an American Conference tournament, earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.

The way Richardson puts it, there are a lot more “dogs” on this team, which makes this year special.

“I think we are a more competitive team overall,” said Richardson. “We’ve got some dogs on this team. And so the competitive level is higher than I’ve seen in our previous teams. And I think that competitiveness, that dog in them, is going to get us over the hump quite a bit this year.

The Owls’ roster has a host of familiar faces while adding a couple of new players to the mix, but the philosophy has stayed the same. This team is capable of earning a spot in the NCAA tournament. 

Let’s take a look at this team to see if this is possible.

Reviewing Last Season

Temple finished last season with a 20-11 record, while going 13-5 in conference play for the fourth-best record in the American Conference. 

The Owls’ schedule saw an increase in difficulty with a variety of opponents that all played in postseason tournaments in the previous year. Some of these matchups included No. 15 West Virginia and No. 24 Cal, both of which ended in losses for Temple.  

The highlight of the non-conference schedule saw the Owls knock off cross-town rivals Villanova to win the inaugural Women’s Big 5 Classic Championship.  Despite the win, the Owls finished just 6-5 during the non-conference slate. 

The conference slate saw the Owls find some momentum, winning six of their first seven games during conference play. But from there, Temple battled inconsistency during the later part of January with a three-game losing streak.

Despite this, Richardson assured that this team was right where they needed to be, but just had to turn a couple of close games into wins. That’s exactly what the team was able to do to close the regular season, as the Owls ended the conference slate scorching hot with six straight wins and secured a bye in the American Conference Tournament. 

This success translated to the Quarterfinals of the tournament with a dominant 65-34 win over Charlotte, behind 12 points from senior forward Amaya Oliver.

Temple turned its attention to a big matchup against arguably their biggest rival the past two seasons, the Rice Owls. Rice had knocked off Temple in the 2023-2024 conference semifinals, with Temple having a chance for retribution.

Unfortunately, Temple once again faced the same fate, this time losing 67-49, in which Temple shot just 31% from the field. 

The Owls’ two leading scoring guards, Tiarra East (14 points per game) and Tarriyonna Gary (12 points per game), both exhausted their final years of eligibility, as well as Temple’s blocks and steals leader, forward Anissa Rivera (37 blocks and 52 steals on the season). 

Gary, in particular, was the Owls’ sharpshooter from behind the line, while East was the Owls’ go-to scorer in crunch time, with her ability to score in half-court scenarios. East, Gary, and Rivera, alongside Oliver, all played crucial roles for the Owls’ equal-opportunity offense, in which seven players averaged five or more points on the season.

Returners

The Owls have eight returners from last season, with three in particular set to lead this team. Amongst the biggest returners is junior forward Jaleesa Molina. Molina was primarily known for her ability to make a high-level impact on the defense with her length at six-foot-three. But the most impressive thing from her game last season was her improvement on the offensive end.

The Netherlands native averaged under four points and three rebounds her freshman year, but jumped up seven points and rebounds each on 52% from the field, while leading the team in double-doubles. Molina’s best game of the season came against Tulane, in which she dropped 17 points while grabbing 15 boards. 

Returning alongside Molina will be fellow junior Tristen Taylor. The guard from Duncanville, Texas, has been a familiar face for Temple fans the past couple of years for her playmaking ability and mid-range game. 

Taylor dictates a lot of the Owls’ pace of play and can score when necessary, despite what the numbers may say. ‘Lil Dunc, ’as she’s called by her coaches, serves as the team’s savvy veteran guard, leading the team in assists last season with 113.

Another one of the Owls’ breakout performers from last season was Kaylah Turner. Turner transferred last season from Alabama A&M, where she was fresh off a SWAC Freshman of the Year campaign. 

The speedy and fast-paced Turner was the Owls’ spark plug off the bench, averaging 10 points per game, third best on the team, while shooting 39% from the field and 34% from three. 

Turner’s performance earned her both the American Sixth Player of the Year and a spot on the American All-Newcomer Team. Turner’s elite speed alongside her shooting acumen make her an asset for the Owls, while her speed makes her great at intercepting passing lanes. 

The rest of the returners all came in as part of an exciting freshman class last season, highlighted by Maryland native and American All-Freshman team honors, guard Savannah Curry. Curry’s length made her a solid defender, while she continues to expand her offensive game. 

Guard Kelian Cedano and forward Felicia Jacobs both made strides in the latter half of the season, seeing more minutes during conference play and having decent outings. Guard Drew Alexander saw less time than her fellow freshman, playing in just 15 games for the Owls, while forward Sheyenne Swain-Price didn’t see the court.

New Faces

Despite all the returners, Richardson still felt there were some areas of improvement and added some new pieces to this roster.

“We look around and see we have a pretty solid team with depth,” said Richardson. “ I think that depth is going to help us overcome some of the things we’ve had in the past where we’ve had to play players for 35 minutes a game and kind of run them down. Now we have depth where we can sub, we can push with pace, and we can play some tough defense.”

From the transfer portal, the Owls were able to snag forwards Saniyah Craig and Khloe Miller and guard Brianna Mead.

Craig, a transfer from Jacksonville, has been described by her teammates and coaches as a dominant force on the boards. At Jacksonville, Craig set a program record 332 rebounds, finishing top 10 in the nation with 11 boards a game. Miller comes to Temple after redshirting at ECU.

Mead transferred in from LIU, where she averaged nine points per game, including a career-high 22 points against Wagner. Mead looks poised to take up Turner’s role last season as the spark-plug off the bench who can score effectively. 

Temple also brought in two freshmen with Riverdale Baptist forward Ariana Meriedy and Russian forward Anastasia Bulanova. The forward room, especially, has been internally praised as versatile.

“I think Anastasia and Khloe are like 6’3 guards, it’s crazy,” says Molina. “They can do a lot of guard stuff. And then Felicia and Ariana are post players who like to play with their backs to the basket.”

What to expect from this team

From all the talk from coaches and the players, there appears to be an immense belief that this can be the year that the Owls are finally able to overcome their previous postseason woes. 

The American Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll had the Owls finishing fourth behind South Florida, UTSA, and Rice, with Turner being the only one to make a Preseason All-Conference Team. 

The Owls certainly have continued to grow into an idealized version of what Richardson wants her team to look like, which is a team that has a variety of scorers from all across the court, with players full of length and size on the defensive end. 

Despite losing the leading scorers, East and Gary, this team’s variety on the offense will allow them to fully realize and complete Richardson’s mindset of an equal opportunity offense.

This team is full of length, as of the 13 players on this roster, just three are listed as being under 5 ‘8, with all of them still being strong defensively enough to intercept passing lanes. 

This Temple team will be in the mix come March as a top contender in the American if we see them play to their full capacity.

That journey to the top starts with a season-opener against George Mason on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center. Stay tuned throughout the season for coverage from WHIP Sports!