Women’s Basketball Nabs First Win in Eight Games
By: Melissa Payavis
The Owls finally have something to cheer about after ending their seven-game losing streak against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. This was Temple’s fourth straight win over Tulsa, leading the all-time series 5-1. While the Owls’ biggest lead was 11 points, they finished the day leading by one, 76-75. Temple now increases its record to 10-12 overall and 2-7 in the conference.
“Hopefully this is a start,” Coach Tonya Cardoza said. “Maybe we needed this game to build our confidence and hopefully run from there.”
Senior guard Tanaya Atkinson notched another double-double under her belt with 30 points and 11 rebounds. With that stat, Atkinson surpassed Temple women’s basketball great Candice Dupree as the third leading scorer of all-time with 1,725 points. Dupree recently had her number retired when Temple took on South Carolina on December 21st.
“It’s a good feeling,” Atkinson said. “I feel like I put in a lot of hard work in the preseason like I always say and it just came out.”
Other players who came out strong for the Owls were freshman forward Breanna Perry and graduate guard Mykia Jones. Perry nabbed a career-high 11 boards, five of which came in the first five minutes of play. Jones was having success beyond the arc, going 3-4 and contributing 11 points.
The Owls look to continue their newfound success when they travel to Tulane on Wednesday, February 7th at 8 pm.
