Turnovers Cause Temple’s Three-Game Winning Streak to Come to an End

By: Johnny Zawislak

Photo by: Andrew Mayo

Since the dismissals of Jasha Clinton and Aniya Gourdine, Temple (10-12, 5-5 American Athletic Conference) was undefeated. However, that three-game win streak came to an end as Temple fell to Houston (9-13, 6-3 AAC) 65-60 Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.

Houston played Temple hard with their full court press defense, forcing the Owls to play uncomfortably and causing the Owls to turn the ball over an uncharacteristic 26 times.

“They’ve got a full squad and they just sub in and press the entire time, and with eight players there was some fatigue setting in,” Temple head coach Dianne Richardson said. “But I’m really proud of them that they battled… we’ve just got to get better at some things, and definitely when handling the ball.”

A huge contributor in the Cougars win was the play from guard Laila Blair. The junior shot an impressive 7-19 from the field, and went 5-12 from beyond the three-point arc, for a team-high 25 points.

“She had a great game,” Richardson said about Blair’s performance. “She went 5-12 from three, we needed to be there on the catch. She had some really open looks, a couple of them she did shoot being contested, but we have got to be there on the catch on three-point shooters.”

The Owls had three players reach double digits including: sophomore guard Tiarra East leading the team with 16, senior guard Aleah Nelson with 15, and sophomore forward Carranda Perea added 10 points along with a season-high 13 rebounds, but it would not be enough to help the Owls come out with the win. 

Momentum swings

Both the Cougars and the Owls struggled to shoot the ball early on in the matchup between the two schools, as through the first 10 minutes of play the two schools were a combined 4-18 from the field.

However, the Owls went on a 13-2 run, capped off by a Perea deep three-pointer, to help propel them to a 17-11 lead through the first quarter. 

Temple was able to carry that momentum into the second quarter, as they opened up the next quarter with another run, this time being a 10-2 run.

The Cougars would not go down without a fight, as they answered back with a 13-2 run to close out the half, including two three-point baskets from Blair.

Houston continued its dominance out of the locker room into the third quarter, forcing multiple Temple turnovers, and holding the Owls scoreless for a 4:54 span in the third quarter, and giving the Cougars their first lead since the 7:30 mark of the first quarter.

Both teams would go back and forth in the fourth quarter trading shots, and every time the Cougars tried to pull away the Owls would come right back and hang with them. However, a steal by Houston junior guard Tae’Lor Purvis would seal the deal on the Owls hopes of a comeback win.

The numbers

A clear problem for the Owls was their struggle to shoot the ball efficiently from beyond the arc. The Owls went 22% from three-point range (4-18), comparatively the Cougars shot extremely well from three, going 35% from deep (8-23).

Turnovers were an extreme problem for both the Owls and the Cougars, as there were a total of 45 turnovers in the matchup. Temple turned the ball over 26 times, and Houston turned the ball over 19 times. The Cougars scored 28 points of those turnovers, and the Owls scored 21 points off the Cougars miscues. 

Both Temple and Houston were relatively even when it came to rebounding, with Temple getting 43 and Houston grabbing 41 boards. However, where the difference for the two teams was on the offensive side as the Cougars outrebounded Temple 20-15 on the offensive end leading to 19 second chance points for Houston.

The Owls struggled from the free-throw line, as they shot 56% (10-18) from the charity stripe, which was a key factor in the loss, falling to Houston by just five.

“That wasn’t a good showing from us 10-18,” Richardson said. “We realized that, and talking in the locker room we knock those down, and it’s a different ballgame.”

Up next

Temple will now travel to Greenville North Carolina to take on the Pirates (15-8, 6-4 AAC) in hopes of splitting the season series after losing the previous matchup on Wednesday at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN+.