The Caranda Perea Coming-Out Party Leads to Temple’s Third-Consecutive Victory
Written by: Max Dinenberg
Photo by: Andrew Mayo
Temple women’s basketball (10-11, 5-4 American Athletic Conference) defeated Wichita State (13-9, 3-6 AAC) 72-59 in one of the most complete games they have played all season.
Even though the Owls had eight active players, all of them scored, leading to a balanced and complete team victory. In Saturday’s win over Central Florida (10-9, 1-6 AAC), only five players scored, and senior guard Aleah Nelson, sophomore guard Tiara East, and junior guard Tarriyonna Gary combined for 57 of the team’s 63 points.
The Temple attack was led by sophomore forward Caranda Perea who had a career-high 17 points. She came into the game averaging 3.5 points per game. Perea’s coming-out party led to the pressure being taken off Temple’s big three of Nelson, East, and Gary. Despite her mid-range jump shot being the center of her offensive game, Perea made 3 three-pointers, adding to her ability as an offensive threat.
“At the beginning of the game, my teammates were finding me,” Perea said. “I got a few open shots that made it easy and felt like the room was wide open. My point guard Aleah [Nelson], she was yelling at me all game to shoot the ball. So there was no dip in confidence and no dip in wanting to score.”
Nelson and East joined Perea in double figures as well. Nelson had 15 points with five rebounds and seven assists. East had 14 points.
Sophomore forward Ines Piper suited up for the Owls after suffering a broken nose in the win on Saturday. Piper wore a protective mask and was not limited in action. She played 26 minutes and had four points with six rebounds. With the potential of only having seven players if she didn’t play, the fact that she played at her normal rate was a huge plus for the Owls.
One of the biggest reasons for Temple’s victory was holding the Shockers’ second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, senior forward Jane Asinde, to eight points on 3-14 shooting and 12 rebounds.
This allowed the Owls to blow open the game.
Temple opened the first quarter with a 12-2 run over a 4:18 span. Temple never looked back after this run.
This led to the Owls playing one of the cleanest first half’s all season despite the Shockers shooting 11 more field goals and grabbing 10 offensive rebounds.
After leading by seven at the half, the Owls outscored Wichita State by five in the second half. Temple kept riding the Perea momentum as she had 10 of her 17 points in the third quarter.
Things did get a bit sloppy, as the Shockers fought hard in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run which cut the lead to 11. But the Owls bounced back and finished off the Shockers. The Owls finished the game off by making free throws down the stretch to get back to a double-digit and comfortable victory.
Temple avoided the one bad quarter which kept them with a comfortable lead. That has been the biggest problem with the team this year but you can see when they are consistent, good things tend to happen.
Leading the way for the Shockers was senior forward Trajata Colber with 25 points and 11 rebounds. She was the only consistent player on both ends of the court for the Shockers.
Making Wichita State one-dimensional made the job a lot easier for the Owls on defense leading to quick scores on offense.
The biggest problem in the game for Temple was the amount of second and even third chances they gave the Shockers. Wichita State had 25 offensive rebounds which allowed them to have 16 more field goal attempts than the Owls. Teams who are higher up in the AAC would have probably capitalized on those opportunities.
Moving forward, Temple head coach Diane Richardson believes the team will address the rebounding issue.
“We knew that going in, “ Richardson said about how good Wichita State is at rebounding. “Number 24 [Colbert] did a great job. We knew coming in we had to box out. We tried as much as we could but it’s their MO. We’ve got to make sure moving forward that we’re putting a body on people and pushing them back.”
The Owls are now on a three-game winning streak, their longest of the season, and will travel to face Houston (8-13, 5-3 AAC) this Saturday, Feb. 4. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.
