Staley’s squad remains atop A-10 with win over Saint Louis

The women’s basketball team has been holding up its end of the bargain.

The Owls have won 11 of their last 12 games, including a 77-66 win against host Saint Louis Wednesday night, in the last game ever played in the Bauman-Eberhardt Center.

As well as Temple has played, the play of Atlantic Ten Conference nemesis, Xavier, has matched the Owls (18-11, 11-2 A-10). The two teams entered Wednesday tied atop the conference, but Dayton went into the Cintas Center Wednesday and defeated the Musketeers (20-8, 10-3), 68-58, to knock Xavier out of first place.

The combination of a Temple win and a Xavier loss did not give the Owls sole possession of first in the A-10 as George Washington (23-5, 11-2) defeated host Richmond Wednesday night. That result put Temple in a two-way tie with George Washington for the conference’s pole position, but since they defeated the Colonials in the two teams’ only meeting earlier in the season, the Owls control their own destiny. Temple can wrap up a No. 1 seed and a bye in the A-10 Tournament with either a win over visiting Massachusetts or a Colonials loss.

Against Saint Louis (10-18, 5-8), the story of the game was free throws. The Owls made only 58 percent of their free throw attempts, but sank a franchise high 32, while attempting a team-record 55. Senior Ashley Morris and sophomore LaKeisha Eaddy took 29 of those shots from the charity stripe, knocking down 20 of them.

The guards finished with 22 and 20 points, respectively.

Senior Lady Comfort also got to the line, but made only seven of her 15 attempts. The 6-foot-2 center still posted 11 points and eight rebounds, while forward Shenita Landry was responsible for 12 of the 14 points scored by Temple’s reserves. The junior also grabbed seven boards.

Saint Louis took its fair-share of free throws too, but converted only 22-of-37. The Billikens also shot only 36 percent from the field.

Temple will play its final home game of the season against Massachusetts at the Liacouras Center Saturday at 2 p.m. It will be the final home game for seniors Comfort, Morris, Candice Burrows and Nicole Pittman.

Jeff Appelblatt can be reached at the.jeff@temple.edu.

Read about the men’s basketball team’s win over Charlotte: “Men’s basketball team stops Goldwire, beats Charlotte”

Read about sophomore Ryan Brooks’ performance against Charlotte: “Building Brooks”

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