A look ahead

Final exams start in two days, and that means another school year is about to come to a close. Before anyone realizes, though, August will be here, and Temple Athletics will be back on the field/court for another season filled with sports.

Football
The Owls finished the 2008 season with a 5-7 record, their best record since 1990, when they finished 7-4. Yes, it’s really been 18 years since Temple football recorded at least five wins. And for the second consecutive season, the Owls also finished at .500 in the Mid-American Conference at 4-4.

Coach Al Golden and his squad should be capable of repeating that MAC record, just by looking at 2008’s opponents. The Owls recorded victories against Miami (Ohio), Akron and Ohio last season but lost to Kent State, Buffalo and Eastern Michigan. Their two remaining MAC games will come versus teams Temple did not face last year – Toledo and Ball State. The Cardinals went undefeated until a MAC Championship loss to Buffalo.

Non-conference opponents again include road contests at Penn State and Navy, as well as a home matchup with Army. Last season, the Owls lost two of those three games.

That leaves the home and season opener against city rival Villanova Sept. 3 at Lincoln Financial Field. At least if the Owls can’t beat the Wildcats on the basketball court, maybe they’ll be able to defeat a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team.

Temple lost nine starters to graduation, and all eyes will be on the quarterback battle between redshirt junior Vaughn Charlton and redshirt sophomore Chester Stewart when summer camp breaks.

Men’s Basketball
The Owls’ chances in the upcoming 2009-2010 season hinge less on opponents and more on components.

The Owls will face the typical Atlantic Ten Conference slate, although they get Dayton, Xavier and Massachusetts at home in the Liacouras Center this year. Big 5 rival Villanova, Penn State and Kansas will also travel to North Broad Street.

But the real question is who will take the place of senior guard Dionte Christmas and his 19.5 points per game.

Right now, it looks like it will have to be junior guard Ryan Brooks.

The departures of senior center Sergio Olmos and senior guard Semaj Inge are accounted for with sophomore forward Lavoy Allen and freshman guard Juan Fernandez.

That still leaves two open slots in the starting lineup, though.

Coach Fran Dunphy can choose among junior Luis Guzman, freshmen Scootie Randall and T.J. DiLeo and incoming freshman Khalif Wyatt for the backcourt.

His options in the frontcourt are a little more limited, with only incoming freshman Rahlir Jefferson and the injury-pending return of sophomore Craig Williams and freshman Micheal Eric.

So, it might be a little overly optimistic to expect a third consecutive A-10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance with the current question marks. But then again, Dunphy has until November to figure those out.

Women’s Basketball
Coach Tonya Cardoza will have one full season as a coach under her belt, and in the first one, she led a team full of players recruited by former Temple coach Dawn Staley to an NCAA Tournament berth and a regular season upset of then-No. 13 Xavier.

She lost only two seniors, forwards Shenita Landry and Shanea Cotton, to graduation and has already signed four incoming freshmen to National Letters of Intent: forwards Alyssa Bennett and Natasha Thames, point guard Tiffany Davis and center Victoria Macauley.

As a result, there’s really no reason, sans injuries, not to expect the Owls to repeat last season’s performance.

Non-revenue sports
Two fall non-revenue sports reached A-10 postseason play last year.

The field hockey team, which finished 8-12, lost senior defender Mary Catherine Kinneman, senior goalkeeper Erin Hanshue and senior forwards Liz Watto and Jamie Adams but returns otherwise intact. The Owls have made it to five straight A-10 semifinals.

The men’s soccer team also reached the A-10 semifinals, losing, 2-1, to Dayton. Junior forward J.T. Noone will lead the Owls next year, as he scored seven goals and assisted on 12 more. Only two seniors won’t return to the team, which ended the season 10-5-4 overall.

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls falter in NCAA first round vs. Florida

STORRS, CONN.–The women’s basketball team executed its game plan to the tee, as its four frontcourt players – seniors Shanea Cotton and Shenita Landry, junior Jasmine Stone and freshman Kristen McCarthy – scored 47 points combined.

But the Owls’ guards only added 10 more, and the No. 8-seeded Florida Gators (24-7) defeated the No. 9-seeded Owls, 70-57.

“Florida was putting a lot of pressure on the guards and trapping,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “As soon as we made that entry pass, they would go in and trap the ball. I just thought that we played a little scared. We definitely played a little scared. I think we hurt ourselves.”

Temple (21-10) controlled the game at the outset, as Stone, a late substitution in the starting lineup for Cotton, tipped the ball to junior guard LaKeisha Eaddy, who went in for a layup. That layup would be Eaddy’s only points of the game.

McCarthy quickly stole Florida’s inbounds pass for a 4-0 Temple lead.

But the Gators rebounded quickly thanks to senior forward Marshae Dotson, who scored nine of Florida’s first 20 points. She finished with 13 points in the game, right on her season average.

The Owls could not contain the Gators’ second-leading scorer, even though Landry, Stone and Cotton all held distinct height advantages over the 5-foot-11-inch senior. When the Owls doubled down on Dotson, that left open other Gators, including senior guard Sha Brooks.

Brooks, Florida’s leading scorer at 16.6 points per game, didn’t make her first bucket until 8:20 remained in the first half, but she quickly caught fire, contributing 10 points the remainder of the half and a game-high 18 overall.

The Gators shot 60.7 percent as a team in the first half, while the Owls shot just 36.4 percent in the first half and 39 percent for the game overall.

“We, again, had mental lapses,” Cardoza said. “We didn’t rotate over and help out, and we’re playing the zone, and we know that we need to cover the 3-point shooters, and we help in the lane instead of spreading out and covering the shooters.”

A number of Temple’s misses came on easy fastbreak opportunities.

Sophomore guard Shaqwedia Wallace and Landry both missed layups at the 14:11 mark in the first half, and Eaddy missed one herself after a steal four minutes later.

“When we got on runs, we just had mental lapses and let them get back in the game,” Landry said.

Cardoza attributed those lapses to nerves.

“I told them before the game, ‘I understand the situation that you guys are put in right now. We worked really hard to be in this position. Don’t let being nervous affect how you play. If you play nervous, you’re going to turn the ball over, miss shots, and you’re not going to be able to get yourselves out of it,’” she said. “That’s easy for me to say, but sometimes that’s hard for a young kid to do.”

Following those misses, the Gators reeled off an 11-0 run, extending their lead to as large as 12 before the Owls closed the gap to eight, 33-41, at the half.

A 6-0 run to start the second half got the Owls within four at 39-43, but that was the closest it would be the rest of the game.

With 8:30 left, Wallace and Cotton added back-to-back layups to draw within five, but Florida’s 3-point shooters quieted the crowd with back-to-back 3’s. The Owls didn’t hit a 3-pointer the entire game, going 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.

The fans who stayed following No.1-seeded Connecticut’s 104-65 drubbing of No.16-seeded Vermont clearly supported Cardoza in her first NCAA Tournament game as a head coach, giving her a standing ovation when she was introduced at the start of the game and groaning every time a call went in Florida’s favor.

But that support could not help the Owls stave off defeat in the first round for the second year in a row.

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls down G.W., clinch No. 2 seed

WASHINGTON — Step one for the NCAA Tournament hopes of the women’s basketball team was beating No.13 Xavier Wednesday night for a signature victory over a ranked opponent.

Step two came this afternoon when the Owls defeated George Washington, 59-49, to secure the No.2 seed in the Atlantic Ten Conference and a first-round bye in next weekend’s A-10 Tournament. With the victory, Temple moved to 20-8 overall and 11-3 in the A-10 and extended its winning streak to five. The Owls handed GW (17-12, 9-5 A-10) its first loss in a Senior Day game since 1992.

The first half featured a series of runs by both teams, as Temple followed a 3-0 start by the Colonials with a 10-0 run for a 10-3 lead. The Colonials quickly answered back, scoring 17 of the next 24 points before Temple tied it up at 23-23 at the four-minute mark. The Owls closed out the first 20 minutes of action with a 7-0 run to take a 30-23 lead into the locker room.

Neither team shot particularly well in the first half, as Temple connected on only 35.7 percent of its field goals, and George Washington made just 9-of-35 or 25.7 percent. The Colonials finished the game at 26.2 percent, after attempting 61 shots and hitting 16.

“All I remember is the shots they made,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “It seems like they made 1,000 offensive rebounds.”

“The basket seemed like it was extremely small and on a swivel today,” GW senior center Jessica Adair said. “The shots just weren’t falling.”

And even though they weren’t falling for the Owls either, Temple attempted 11 free throws to the Colonials’ three in the first half. Senior forward Shenita Landry made all six of her tries in the first half and nine of 10 overall. She ended the game with 15 points, tied with freshman forward Kristen McCarthy for the most in the game.

With fellow senior forward Shanea Cotton picking up two fouls seven minutes into the game, junior forward Jasmine Stone stepped up, scoring 10 points, grabbing eight rebounds and guarding George Washington’s leading scorer, Adair, who scored only six points in the first half and picked up two fouls of her own. Adair finished the game with 12 points, almost two points below her season average.

“Jas said to me before the Xavier game, ‘Coach, you need to play me more or play me and Shanea or Shenita together more,’” Cardoza said. “And she’s proved I need to play her. She’s backed up what she said. She was just as big [as Jessica Adair], not as wide but just as long. She got her into early foul trouble and pushed her off the block today.”

Landry made her first two field goals to start the second half and give the Owls their largest lead of the game, 37-26.

Eleven points was the largest the margin would be, as after Temple held a 41-30 lead with 11:53 remaining in the second half, GW went on a 14-7 run.

After an Owls shot clock violation with 4:43 left in the contest, the Colonials closed to within two points, 46-44, before Landry hit a jumper and McCarthy nailed a 3-pointer. Stone and junior point guard LaKeisha Eaddy added two layups to extend the 9-1 Temple run.

“They backed up off me, and my teammates said, ‘Shoot it,’ so I did and it went in,” McCarthy said. “I’m playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

The Colonials scored four points after that Temple run, but it ultimately wasn’t enough, as sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel and Landry hit free throws to seal the game.

“I thought we had one run left in us,” GW coach Mike Bozeman said, “because we were still so close in the game. We were only four field goals away from the 20 Temple made. It was the worst game we’ve ever played, and we were only down seven at the half. I don’t think it would’ve taken a miracle to win this one.”

With the loss, GW drops to fifth place in the A-10 Conference – the first time it’s ended the regular season below second place since the 1989-1990 season.

Temple will return to action on Saturday, March 7 in Charlotte, N.C. They will play the winner of the No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed matchup.

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls end Xavier’s perfect conference record with upset

The women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a home conference game in over three years. Xavier hasn’t lost an Atlantic Ten Conference game this season.

Something had to give.

The Owls didn’t budge as they defended their home court by upsetting Xavier 74-65 Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center.

“It was big because it keeps us alive,” first-year coach Tonya Cardoza said of her team’s upset of the No. 13 Musketeers. “We knew our backs were up against the wall. I think we put ourselves in a good position for post-season play.”

While the Owls are looking forward to playing in March, it was a bittersweet win for the Owls as two of their seniors played their last games on their home court.

It was Senior Night for forwards Shenita Landry and Shanea Cotton. Landry leads the team in scoring and rebounding while also ranking 30th in the nation in rebounding. Cotton leads the team in blocks this season.

“I don’t know if I could tell my teammates thank you enough,” Cotton, who is in her second season for the Owls, said.

Temple (19-8, 10-3 A-10) came out firing in the first half as they hit six three-pointers, shooting 50 percent behind the arc. The Musketeers made only three from behind the line and the Owls went to the locker room with a 14 point lead and upset on their minds.

Xavier (24-5, 12-1 A-10) showed why they were undefeated in the conference by not going away easily. The Musketeers opened the second half with a 13-4 run, cutting the Owls lead to five.

With the game still up in the air, sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel took over. The reserve player hit a three-pointer to put the Owls up by 12 with under ten minutes to go. Xavier cut the lead in half with 7:30 to play but it was Kimmel who again had the answer. She responded with another three-pointer to put Temple up by nine, and for good.

“They were focusing on the big guys so that left an opening for me,” said Kimmel who hit all three of her three-point attempts finishing with 9 points.

The win marks the Owls 21st straight home A-10 victory. Temple hasn’t lost a home conference game since falling to George Washington three years and a day ago. The crowd of 746 erupted in celebration as the clock struck zero and stormed the court.

“The court and home advantage is really important,” said Landry who finished with 14 points.

Landry wasn’t on the court for the final horn as she fouled out with less than four minutes remaining but she’ll gladly cheer on her teammates if it means a win.

“It really bothered me but everyone else held it together,” she said.

Landry is talking about the bench including Kimmel and junior forward Jasmine Stone who added 7 points. Sophomore guard Qwedia Wallace played 28 minutes off the bench and scored 18 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

“I thought our bench did a great job,” Cardoza said. “It’s good for them to be in this type of game.”

The Owls will be in another one of these battles Sunday afternoon when they wrap up regular season play against rival George Washington. Charlotte, who is ranked second in the conference, defeated the Colonials tonight 59-57.

That win now moves Temple into sole possession of third place in the A-10.

“It’s a definitely a game we have to win,” Cardoza said of Sunday’s contest. “I think we know that. It’s a must-win game if we want to go to post-season play.”

Pete Dorchak can be reached at pete.dorchak@temple.edu.

Midseason makeovers underway

While the rest of Temple’s 34,000-plus student body got a month off for winter break, the women’s basketball team was busy playing seven games.

And while the team went 5-2, including 4-2 on a six-game road trip, its lineup suffered some bad breaks along the way.

Junior guard Kristie Watkins-Day hasn’t seen game action since the Dec. 10 contest against Toledo, and backup point guard BJ Williams was on crutches before Wednesday’s game versus Rhode Island.
That brings the lineup rotation down to only nine players.

But luckily for the Owls, the team’s role players have picked up their games at the right time.

“A lot of teams are focusing in on Shenita [Landry] and Shanea [Cotton] now and looking to double team them because they know that’s a big part of our offense,” coach Tonya Cardoza said, “but I thought all those guys, Kristen [McCarthy], Lindsay [Kimmel] and Keisha [Eaddy] have been doing a really good job of making themselves available and knocking down open shots. Once you’re knocking down open shots, it’s going to be hard to guard us.”

Senior forwards Landry and Cotton continue to pace the offense, with Landry averaging 13 points per game to go along with Cotton’s 12.7. Earlier in the season, the two accounted for just about 40 percent of the offense. During the past seven games, however, it’s been sophomore guards Shaqwedia Wallace, Kimmel and freshman forward McCarthy who’ve picked up the slack.

In her first game back following a thumb injury, Wallace dropped 26 points in a 65-56 loss to Villanova Dec. 20. She’s also taken over the backup point guard duties while Williams is out.

Kimmel got out of her early season funk by hitting six 3-pointers versus Tulane in a 75-71 overtime win on Dec. 28. She followed up that performance with a career-high 22 points against Rhode Island on Wednesday.

“It’s about time [I did that],” Kimmel said. “I think it’s just being more consistent and following through into the game. Like Coach said, being more focused on the actual shot itself. The first few games my head wasn’t where it needed to be, but it’s A-10 now, and I’m getting focused.”

McCarthy has added 9.3 points per game and 5.5 rebounds since entering the starting lineup on Jan. 2 against Penn. She had her first career double-double on Wednesday.

“One of the biggest things we need to do, and we told Shenita and Shanea this, is that they need to try and get double-doubles,” Cardoza said. “And Kristen’s seen when Shanea isn’t able to get some rebounds or do something, and she’s gotten herself in there.”

All five starters scored in double figures in Wednesday’s Atlantic Ten home opener. Four players currently average double digits. The Owls will need that kind of scoring balance going forward in the A-10 with their lack of depth on the bench.

“We don’t want anybody to get that [title] over us,” Kimmel said. “We feel that it belongs to us, and we need to get it back. We’re still hungry because we’ve had so many close games.”

Those close games haven’t just come because of the role players’ abilities to step up on the offensive side of the ball. They’ve also picked up their defensive presence in their teammates’ absences, as opponents have averaged only 66.7 points per game during the seven-game stretch over break. That number is slightly skewed because of Temple’s 87-52 loss to No. 5 Duke on Jan. 5.

“A lot of teams have been scoring on us, and it’s more so that we’ve just allowed people to come right at us,” Cardoza said. “We needed to get back to what we were doing early on in the season, being aggressive and getting up in people’s faces and denying passes.”

If the role players can continue their progression, the women could be playing straight through another break: spring break.

“This time [of year] really sets you up for the [NCAA] Tournament,” Landry said. “And that’s our goal.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls school Rhode Island in Atlantic Ten home opener

It’s been exactly five weeks since the women’s basketball team played a game at the Liacouras Center.
And while the Owls (10-5, 2-0 A-10) went 4-2 on their recent six-game road trip, today’s home cooking was certainly nice, as they beat Rhode Island (7-9, 0-1 A-10) 95-48 in their Atlantic Ten home opener and School Day.
“It was very nice coming home, but I actually forgot that we had to go around and shake hands after the game because it’s been so long since we’ve been here,” coach Tonya Cardoza said.
Temple is now 7-0 all time on School Day.
“It’s nice to have a crowd,” sophomore guard Lindsay Kimmel said. “When we go other places and they have huge crowds, we wish we could get more people in. So when the environment is packed, it gets everybody on the team excited.”
And it showed, as the Owls started out on a roll, opening the game on an 8-0 run that lasted the first four minutes of the game. Once the Rams responded with a basket, Temple followed up with another run, this time 11-0. They closed out the half by scoring 17 of the last 19 points for a 51-18 lead.
“At halftime I just told them that it’s a new ballgame,” Cardoza said. “And we’ve been talking about playing 40 good minutes of basketball for a while now.”
The offense was fueled by seven first half 3-pointers, four by Kimmel, and 20 points in the paint, as the Owls outrebounded the Rams 26-15 in the first half and 50-29 overall.
Kimmel, freshman forward Kristen McCarthy and senior forward Shenita Landry all finished the game with new career highs, scoring 22, 19 and 19 points respectively. All five starters scored in double figures.
Temple ended the game with 11 3-pointers, one shy of the school record. Kimmel tied her personal best in the category with six.
“Lindsay has opportunities, but today I think she was a little more focused,” Cardoza said. “Sometimes she has shots and is just looking to see if it goes in, but today she shot them knowing that they were going in. Once Lindsay started making shots, they kept finding her and making sure she made even more.”
But besides the offensive barrage, the Owls’ defense held Rhode Island’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Megan Shoniker, who entered the game averaging 11.8 points per game, scoreless until 9:17 left in the game. She finished with five points.
The Rams as a whole shot under 25 percent from the field in the first half, finishing at 26.2 percent and committing 14 turnovers. Temple, on the other hand, shot lights out, connecting on almost 60 percent of its shots.
“A lot of teams have been scoring on us. It’s more just that we’ve allowed people to come right at us instead of having a defensive presence,” Cardoza said. “The last two games we were able to stop their leading scorers from scoring. We don’t want their best players to get their averages.”
The Owls built their lead to as large as 47 points and had an opportunity to go for 100 for the first time since 1994 versus Rutgers.
“When I used to be an assistant coach, whenever you had an opportunity to score 100 points we would always be like, ‘Yeah, let’s get 100,’ Cardoza said. “But as a head coach that’s something you don’t ever want to do. You don’t want to try to embarrass your opponent. I was happy that we didn’t get it. But it was still an unbelievable win for us.”
Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

Owls have liftoff

Defense and rebounding.

They’re like defense and pitching in baseball.

They’ll always keep the team in the game.

And that was the case for the women’s basketball team tonight, as it beat Toledo 73-46.

“We just wanted to be aggressive [on defense],” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “We weren’t happy with how we performed in the Florida State game and letting somebody else come into our building and dictate how we play.”

The Owls (5-3) used that aggressiveness, forcing 18 Toledo turnovers and stealing seven balls. The Rockets (3-6) didn’t make a 3-pointer until a little over four minutes were left in the game, but it didn’t matter because on multiple trips down the court, they weren’t even able to get up a shot before the shot clock fell under 10 seconds.

But the real key to the victory was Temple’s strength inside, which was largely absent versus the Seminoles on Sunday.

The Owls outrebounded the Rockets 56-21, with senior forward Shenita Landry leading the way with 12 of them. She also chipped in 13 points after having her first non-double-digit scoring game of the season on Sunday.

“I think the key was just not fouling as much,” Landry said. “But I know I came out after a low from last game, and I came out with more energy and more leadership.”

And not to be outdone was fellow senior forward Shanea Cotton, who dominated the paint, scoring a new career-high 23 points to lead the game.

“I didn’t even know it was another career high,” Cotton said.

“Don’t let her fool you,” Cardoza added. “Yes, she did know it.”

After leading 31-21 at halftime, the Owls built their lead to as large as 29 points in the second half at 60-31 and 73-44 thanks to 21 second-chance points and two long runs of 9-0 and 10-0.

But it wasn’t all smiles after the game for Cardoza, as the Owls’ 23 turnovers continued to loom large. They average 17.9 a game.

“It’s a recurring problem,” Cardoza said. “It’s not even what the other team is doing to us. It’s what we’re doing to ourselves. So many unforced turnovers. We have to be more aware. We don’t really have to force the issue. Our guard play and the turnovers have got to be corrected.”

The Owls will have 10 days to work on those problems, as they don’t return to action until Dec. 20 at Villanova. It will be the first Big 5 game of the season and Cardoza’s first ever, although she has seen the Wildcats numerous times before during her 14 years at Connecticut.

“I hate to play Villanova,” Cardoza said. “I think everyone does with Harry’s offense and the way they run around out there.”

Now finished its five-game homestand, Temple will embark on a six-game road trip, returning to the Liacouras Center on Jan. 14 to face Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ten Conference home opener.

Game Notes:

The game featured a match-up of two first-year coaches in Cardoza and Toledo’s Tricia Cullop…The Rockets record dropped to 0-5 on the road…No Toledo player scored in double figures in the first half…This was only the second time the two teams have met. The last time out, on Nov. 26, 2006, Temple won 61-51. The Owls will play four Mid-American Conference teams this season.

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.

A fresh coating in the paint

Staying strong on the inside – it’s a tactic the women’s basketball team has relied on heavily so far this season.

Senior forwards Shanea Cotton and Shenita Landry account for just about 40 percent of the Owls’ offense, averaging 25 points per game combined. Cotton leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.9 points per game. Landry is right behind her at 12.1.

“I feel as though in order for our team to be successful, I’m going to have to average double figures,” Cotton said. “I can’t continue to be just in the background. I have to step up and become more aggressive. So that’s my mindset now. If I don’t average double figures, I feel like if we lose it’s my fault.”

For Cotton, all the attention from opposing defenses is rather new.

Last year, she averaged only 6.3 points per game, starting slightly more than half of Temple’s games after transferring from Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla.

This year, she’s frequently seen double teams, especially with the way she’s picked up her game versus nationally ranked opponents, scoring 17 points against then-No. 21 Auburn and a career-high 18 against then-No. 15 Rutgers last Monday. Dartmouth even threw a triple team in her direction last Wednesday.

“I like to compete against top-ranked post players, and I feel as though if I can do it against top-ranked post players, then I should be able to do it against anybody,” Cotton said. “I get yelled at a lot because I don’t recognize the double team or triple team at first, but once I slow down and get composed, I can figure it out.”

And it’s to be expected that Cotton is still learning out there on the court. After all, she only started playing organized basketball in ninth grade.

“I had a 4-inch growth spurt my eighth-grade summer. I was a cheerleader before basketball,” Cotton said. “I had never played before, and I tried out, and I made it. I’ve stuck with it since then.”

Landry, on the other hand, might as well have been born with a basketball in her hands.

Her older brother, Carl, played power forward at Purdue University and earned All-Big Ten Conference honors his senior season. He’s now in his second year in the NBA with the Houston Rockets.

Another brother, Marcus, a senior forward at the University of Wisconsin, is the Badgers’ second leading scorer. His wife, Efueko Osagie-Landry, played basketball at Marquette University until she graduated in 2006.

“Basketball runs in my family,” Landry said. “Everybody plays basketball. One through five — my sister, my mom and my three brothers, but my mom taught us how to play. Many people don’t know that, but she’s the one who actually taught us how to play. She played in high school and got in a real bad accident when she was 21, and she really can’t play anymore, but she tells us she can beat us all, no matter who we are.”

That lengthy experience, along with Landry’s levelheadedness and composure on the court, led coach Tonya Cardoza to name her a captain before the season.

“I love Shenita’s leadership,” Cardoza said. “You know, sometimes it’s hard for a post player to be a leader and to get everybody together out there, but I think she’s been able to do it, and her teammates gravitate toward her. She’s just the hardest worker. She’ll go through a wall for you.”

Both Cotton and Landry will have to be hard workers as the new focal points of the Owls’ offense.

“Any challenge is good,” Landry said. “[It means] you’re somebody.”

But they aren’t just anybody to Cardoza.

“First-team All-A-10, that’s what I think they’re both capable of doing.”

Jennifer Reardon can be reached at jennifer.reardon@temple.edu.