TTN Slideshow: Women’s Basketball Senior Game vs George Washington

The Owls beat the Colonials 61-51 on Saturday afternoon. It was also the women’s senior game, in which all the seniors were honored before the game. Slideshow by Jazmyne Anderson

Owls shine on Senior Day

On a day in which the senior class was honored, an underclassman stole the spotlight on the court. Sophomore forward Kristen McCarthy led all scorers with 22 point as the women’s basketball team beat George Washington, 61-51.

The Owls came out of the gates hot, scoring the first 11 points of the game. The Colonials fought back, however, taking the lead at 22-21 with a little more than five minutes remaining the first half. A three-pointer and four free-throws by McCarthy helped the Owls bounce back, putting the lead at 34-26 at halftime.

George Washington closed the gap to three in the second half, but could never get closer than that. Both teams shot poorly, with the Owls making 33.9 percent of their shots while the Colonials made 32.6 percent of theirs. Both teams played sloppily, producing 32 turnovers between them.

“Today’s game wasn’t pretty whatsoever,” Temple coach Tonya Cardoza said. “We started off hot and I think we relaxed and took a step back, thinking it would be really easy. GW, their record is 6-21 but every game that I’ve watched, they fight to the very end. Their record definitely doesn’t indicate the type of team they have.”

McCarthy shot seven-of-15 from the field, including two-of-four from beyond the arc. McCarthy reached double-figure scoring for the seventh straight game. McCarthy has averaged 20.7 points per game. Despite this recent success, McCarthy’s approach hasn’t changed.

“We’re just running the offense and in the flow of things I’m just taking my shots,” McCarthy said. “Fortunately they’re going in. I just keep playing.”

Three seniors were honored before the game for their commitment to the program. Senior guard LaKeisha Eaddy had six assists and four points while senior forward Jasmine Stone scored 13 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Senior guard Kristie Watkins-Day scored five points in 28 minutes of play.

Eaddy also had a steal, giving her 237 for her career, which tied her with Pam Balogh for first on Temple’s All-Time list. Being amongst the All-Time Temple greats has yet to hit the Columbia, MD, native, she said.

“I haven’t really had a chance to think about it,” Eaddy said. “I’ve been playing and trying not to focus on breaking records. I’ve been focusing on helping my team the best I could. To actually know that I’m up there and I could possibly be number one in it is an accomplishment for me. It’s something I can look back on.”

Next up for Temple is a trip to Upper Marlboro, MD, to participate in the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament. The Owls have secured a first round bye in the tournament. The extra time off will be beneficial, Cardoza said.

“I think we all need a couple of days off away from each other,” Cardoza said. “Not that there’s anything going on, but I think sometimes you need to take a step away from the game. We’ve been going at it, without a real break, since Christmas. We definitely need a couple of days off to get our heads back on and refocus on the next chapter, and that’s the A-10.”

The Cherry and White are slated to be a #3 seed in the tournament and will play the winner of the #6/#11 match-up. Tipoff is set for Mar. 6 at 8pm.

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kgauss@gmail.com

Richmond serves as final road test

Temple faces a Spiders team that has not beaten an Atlantic Ten opponent with a winning record.

Fresh off a loss to Dayton last Saturday, Temple coach Tonya Cardoza and the women’s basketball team (20-7 overall, 9-3 Atlantic Ten Conference) travel south to face junior guard Brittani Shells and the Richmond Spiders (16-10 overall, 5-6 A-10).

Shells, an All-A-10 first-team and All-Conference defensive team selection, leads the conference with 16.5 points per game. The 5-foot-7-inch Camden, Del., native also leads Richmond with 2.3 assists per game. Her performance has not gone unnoticed, as she was recently named one of 12 finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best point guard.

Last year, Shells averaged 15.1 points per game to help lead Richmond to the A-10 Championship game, where the Spiders fell to Charlotte, 59-54. Richmond finished the season with a 24-10 record and earned a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

Two starters are gone from last year’s squad, including guard Johanna McKnight. Without McKnight, who finished second on last year’s team with 10.9 points per game, the Spiders have lacked a solid scorer to complement Shells. After Shells, no Richmond player averages in double figures. However, sophomore guard Abby Oliver has provided a consistent scoring threat off the bench for the Spiders, scoring 9.3 points per game. On the year, Oliver has shot 43.7 percent from the field, including 41.8 percent from 3-point range.

Richmond has had some impressive victories against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with one win coming at home and one on the road. After defeating Clemson, 86-67, the Spiders traveled to Wake Forest, where they defeated the Demon Deacons, 64-54.

There have also been some embarrassing losses for Richmond. The Spiders, like every other team who has faced the Connecticut Huskies this year, left Storrs, Conn., disappointed. Shells was limited to 12 points, and Connecticut rolled to an 86-37 victory. The Spiders also put up a lackluster performance against A-10 foe Dayton earlier in the season, losing to the Flyers, 83-31.

The Spiders have yet to beat a conference foe that possessed a winning record. Richmond’s A-10 wins have come against Rhode Island, La Salle, Massachusetts, Fordham and George Washington, five teams with a combined 40-93 record.

Statistically, Richmond is the A-10’s worst team when it comes to defending the 3-pointer and allows opponents to shoot 36.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Spiders live off turnovers, as they lead the league with 11.2 steals and a turnover margin of +5.04 per game.

The Spiders are a fairly large team, with six players checking in at 6-foot or taller. In spite of this, Richmond is 10th in the A-10 with a mere 2.4 blocks per game.

The last time the two teams faced off, the Owls relied on stellar shooting to defeat the Spiders, 65-52. Former Owl Shenita Landry led the way for the Cherry and White, scoring 12 points to go along with 12 rebounds. The Owls as a whole shot 49 percent from the field.

Temple leads the all-time series, 9-3, and the Owls have won four straight games and eight of the last nine meetings. Richmond last won Feb. 12, 2006.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kyle.gauss@temple.edu.

Richmond serves as final road test

Temple faces a Spiders team that has not beaten an Atlantic Ten opponent with a winning record.

Fresh off a loss to Dayton last Saturday, Temple coach Tonya Cardoza and the women’s basketball team (20-7 overall, 9-3 Atlantic Ten Conference) travel south to face junior guard Brittani Shells and the Richmond Spiders (16-10 overall, 5-6 A-10).

Shells, an All-A-10 first-team and All-Conference defensive team selection, leads the conference with 16.5 points per game. The 5-foot-7-inch Camden, Del., native also leads Richmond with 2.3 assists per game. Her performance has not gone unnoticed, as she was recently named one of 12 finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best point guard.

Last year, Shells averaged 15.1 points per game to help lead Richmond to the A-10 Championship game, where the Spiders fell to Charlotte, 59-54. Richmond finished the season with a 24-10 record and earned a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

Two starters are gone from last year’s squad, including guard Johanna McKnight. Without McKnight, who finished second on last year’s team with 10.9 points per game, the Spiders have lacked a solid scorer to complement Shells. After Shells, no Richmond player averages in double figures. However, sophomore guard Abby Oliver has provided a consistent scoring threat off the bench for the Spiders, scoring 9.3 points per game. On the year, Oliver has shot 43.7 percent from the field, including 41.8 percent from 3-point range.

Richmond has had some impressive victories against Atlantic Coast Conference teams, with one win coming at home and one on the road. After defeating Clemson, 86-67, the Spiders traveled to Wake Forest, where they defeated the Demon Deacons, 64-54.

There have also been some embarrassing losses for Richmond. The Spiders, like every other team who has faced the Connecticut Huskies this year, left Storrs, Conn., disappointed. Shells was limited to 12 points, and Connecticut rolled to an 86-37 victory. The Spiders also put up a lackluster performance against A-10 foe Dayton earlier in the season, losing to the Flyers, 83-31.

The Spiders have yet to beat a conference foe that possessed a winning record. Richmond’s A-10 wins have come against Rhode Island, La Salle, Massachusetts, Fordham and George Washington, five teams with a combined 40-93 record.

Statistically, Richmond is the A-10’s worst team when it comes to defending the 3-pointer and allows opponents to shoot 36.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Spiders live off turnovers, as they lead the league with 11.2 steals and a turnover margin of +5.04 per game.

The Spiders are a fairly large team, with six players checking in at 6-foot or taller. In spite of this, Richmond is 10th in the A-10 with a mere 2.4 blocks per game.

The last time the two teams faced off, the Owls relied on stellar shooting to defeat the Spiders, 65-52. Former Owl Shenita Landry led the way for the Cherry and White, scoring 12 points to go along with 12 rebounds. The Owls as a whole shot 49 percent from the field.

Temple leads the all-time series, 9-3, and the Owls have won four straight games and eight of the last nine meetings. Richmond last won Feb. 12, 2006.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kyle.gauss@temple.edu.

Frontcourt duo reaches for new heights: Natasha Thames

Natasha Thames never expected to start inside.

Women’s basketball coach Tonya Cardoza has increasingly asked freshman center Natasha Thames to be a significant contributor in the paint this season. Although Thames averages 18.2 minutes per game, during the past six games, her time has increased to an average of 24 minutes out on the court. Cardoza said she preferred to leave the reasoning behind trusting a freshman with that number of minutes a mystery.

“I’m very superstitious, so I’m not really going to tell you why,” Cardoza said. “I would love to at the end of the season, but I don’t want to put any bad luck on us.”

Thames and center Victoria Macaulay were two of Cardoza’s first recruits. As a senior at Holy Cross in Kensington, Md., Thames averaged a double-double and was named to the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference’s All League first team.

“I saw her over the summer, toward the latter part of [last] summer, so I wasn’t able to see a lot of her,” Cardoza said. “I had one of our assistant coaches go out and follow her once [last] September came around, and she told me I needed to go watch her play, so I went and watched.”

Thames initially did not commit to Temple in order to take time to concentrate on academics, but eventually, she joined the Cherry and White.

“The next time I went to see her, I knew that I had to have her on my team,” Cardoza said. “She was a kid that would rebound the ball at one end of the floor and go down and get the offensive rebound at the other end. She’s just nonstop hustle.”

That hustle earned Thames a spot in the starting lineup for the Owls’ season opener against Illinois.
“I really didn’t expect to start because I thought one of the taller girls would start because of the position I was playing,” Thames said. “I was really nervous. There was a lot of pressure on me because I’m new.”

Thames started off hot during the first three games, when she averaged 6.3 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. Then, during the next three games, she never scored more than two points per game and was not pulling in many rebounds, so Cardoza took her out of the starting lineup.

“I knew the plays, and I was confident with the plays, but I think too much when I’m out there, and I think that was one of my problems,” Thames said. “It was just a whole lot of emotions.”

“Coming into this year, I had a lot of confidence in her,” Cardoza said. “I thought she could be Rookie of the Year, but that might have been too much to ask for because she’s thrown in a situation where we really do need her every single night.

“She was rewarded with starting because of what she was doing in practice, and in practice, she was busting her behind and looked really good, and once the games started, I think it was a little overwhelming for her, and so to take some of the pressure off, I was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you come off the bench?’”

After returning to the bench, Thames saw her numbers begin to steadily improve. She currently averages 4.2 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game and has become a rebounding specialist off the bench while spelling either junior forward Marli Bennett or senior center Jasmine Stone.

“I’m really good at rebounding,” Thames said. “I try to do a good job at rebounding with putbacks, try to hustle, play good defense. With my offensive game, I’m not too confident right now. I don’t know why. It’s just I’m not feeling very confident, but I’m sure that it’s going to develop. It just takes time.
“I’m more of a player who scores on the run, on the go or catch-and-shoot,” she added.

Although Thames may end up with more rebounds than points in a game, like in Temple’s 52-41 win against Duquesne last Wednesday when she pulled down 11 rebounds to five points, she constantly works with assistant coach Wilnett Crockett on all aspects of her inside game. One suggestion she has received to get her offense up to par with her prowess on the glass has been to simply shoot the ball more.

“When I’m open, [Cardoza] yells at me to take more shots, and I’m too timid to shoot,” Thames said. “I can shoot, but I’m just nervous I guess.”

“Over the summer, we’re going to have to really work with her on the offensive end,” Cardoza added. “It’s not that she can’t do it. We just have to build confidence in her that she can score against anybody down there.”

One of Thames’ goals this season, along with improving her offense, is to get her first career double-double, a mark that has remained elusive during the season.

“One game I had nine points and 10 rebounds, and another I had 10 points and nine rebounds,” Thames said. “I’m like, ‘I just need one more.’ That’s definitely a goal. I need a double-double, and I know I can do it.”

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Looking to break the deadlock

The women’s basketball team plays two teams it is tied with for second place in the Atlantic Ten standings. With two wins, Temple could lock up a first-round bye for the A-10 Tournament.

The women’s basketball team (19-6 overall, 8-2 Atlantic Ten Conference) has been on a roll as of late, winning nine of its last 10 games, all against A-10 opponents. Temple’s most recent win came against the defending A-10 champs, Charlotte, last Saturday.

The 79-68 win came courtesy of a career-high 42-point effort from sophomore guard Kristen McCarthy, who set new records for most individual points by a women’s basketball player in the Liacouras Center and most individual points in a game in team history.

“I just want to keep improving. I don’t want to be satisfied with anything that I do,” McCarthy said. “My goal is to play professional basketball, and while I’m here, I just want to make my teammates better and make myself better as much as I can so that we can win the A-10 and go far in the NCAA [Tournament] .”

The Owls would put themselves in good position to possibly win the A-10 or at least earn a first-round bye in the A-10 Tournament with wins against Duquesne (18-7 overall, 8-2 A-10) and Dayton (20-5 overall, 8-2 A-10), their next two opponents. Duquesne, Dayton and the Owls are in a three-way tie for second place in the conference. Temple sits two wins behind first-place Xavier (20-3 overall, 10-0 A-10), who is ranked No. 6 in the nation.

Duquesne has played better than expected this season. The Dukes were originally picked to finish sixth in the A-10 after recording their first 20-win season in program history last year. Under third-year coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, the Dukes put themselves on the women’s basketball map after upsetting cross-town rival and then-No. 20 Pittsburgh, 72-63, back in December. Pitt has gone to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 the last two seasons.

Leading the Dukes are redshirt junior forward Samantha Pollino and senior guard Keri Pryor, who average 12.7 and 12.3 points per game, respectively. Another double-digit scorer for the Dukes is sophomore forward Alex Gensler, who averages 11.6 points per game.

While the Dukes have the third-ranked scoring offense in the A-10 and average 66.2 points per game, they rank near the bottom in scoring defense, as they allow 63.7 points per game.

Tipoff is Wednesday at noon at the Liacouras Center. It will be Temple’s School Day Game and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Pink Zone game to show support for the fight against breast cancer.

Saturday, Temple faces another high-powered offensive team on the road in Dayton. The Flyers average 71.4 points per game, just 1.7 points behind top-ranked Xavier. Dayton began its season with a 77-74 upset of then-No. 10 Michigan State and is currently riding a four-game winning streak.

Leading the Flyers are sophomore forward Justine Raterman, who averages 11.7 points per game, and junior guard Kristen Daugherty, who averages 9.6 points per game and has surpassed 1,000 career points this season.

A win against either or both of these teams could clinch Temple’s spot among the Top 4 teams in the A-10. The Top 4 teams receive a first-round bye in the A-10 Tournament.

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

Williams’ work pays off with regular playing time

After an injury to senior guard LaKeisha Eaddy, BJ Williams entered the starting lineup as the point guard for the women’s basketball team.

Despite missing about half of her freshman year, sophomore guard BJ Williams has flourished in her second year on the women’s basketball team.

Things were going well for Williams during last year’s winter break. The 5-foot-7-inch point guard from Gwynn Oak, Md., had found a spot in the starting lineup despite being in high school mere months before. Then, while playing Duke in Durham, N.C., Williams broke her foot and missed the next 16 games.

When she did return, Williams could not find her way back into the starting lineup for the season’s final two games. The Owls lost both contests, once to Charlotte in the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament and once to Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The way the season ended helped motivate Williams to work even harder during the summer.

“Last year, I was out with a broken foot, and I didn’t really get to play as much as I’d like to or show [Temple coach Tonya Cardoza] what I could do,” Williams said. “I was just trying to work hard in the offseason and trying to bring everything that she wanted so I could get some minutes this year. I just wanted to help my team out.”

“[I didn’t expect her to start] after her freshman year,” Cardoza added. “Not to say that she wasn’t talented enough, she just didn’t work as much as I thought she should. Over the summer, though, she did everything she needed to do.”

Even though Williams improved significantly during the summer by both her and her coach’s standards, she started the season coming off the bench while junior guard Shaqwedia Wallace started in her place.
Williams received a spot start against Kent State back in December and did not disappoint. She scored a career-high 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting.

When senior guard LaKeisha Eaddy went down with a broken nose, Williams started for two games in her place. When Eaddy returned, Williams remained in the starting lineup with Wallace coming off the bench.

“I wouldn’t look at it as me overcoming [Wallace] at all,” Williams said. “I would look at is as… I have no idea. I’m trying to produce as much as I can and help my team out. I just need to know my role and do as much as I can.”

On the year, Williams averages 7.1 points and 3.2 assists per game while playing 26 minutes a contest. During her freshman campaign, Williams only averaged three points and two assists per game in just less than 20 minutes a game.

Williams herself fell victim to the injury bug and has been forced to sit out the last three games. She missed the first two with a sprained calf before twisting her ankle after practice last week, which caused her to miss last Saturday’s 79-68 victory against Charlotte.

“She twisted her ankle after practice horsing around,” Cardoza said. “She just has to figure out how to tolerate the pain and get back out there and play. Right now, we’re just trying to get her as much rest as we possibly can so down the stretch she’ll be healthier than she is now.”

The injuries could prove beneficial. Sitting on the bench has forced Williams to see the game from a different perspective.

“Nobody likes to sit on the bench and watch,” Williams said. “But, at the same time, you get to see it from a different perspective and actually see what Coach is talking about in the locker room and practice. Hopefully, when I get back, I’ll be able to change some things that I’ve been doing and help my team out more.”

Prior to her injuries, Williams was leading the conference with 5.1 assists per game. When Williams is on the court, she opens up the game for other players. Williams’ role is to make things happen for her teammates. Her uncanny ability to see the floor is something that sets her apart from other players, Cardoza said.

“She’s a true point guard,” Cardoza said. “She’s a playmaker. She knows how to set everybody up. She can knock down a shot, but her main goal is to try to push the tempo as much as she possibly can and then find ways to create easy opportunities for those guys.”

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kyle.gauss@temple.edu.

TTN Slideshow: Temple Owls vs Charlotte 49ers 02/13/2010

Owls cruise past Massachusetts

Despite playing in the biggest storm of the heaviest winter in Philadelphia history, junior forward Shaqwedia Wallace and the women’s basketball team stayed hot, defeating Massachusetts, 66-54, on Wednesday night.

The Owls fell behind quickly off of a three-pointer by UMass junior guard Megan Zullo but quickly bounced back. The Cherry and White took the lead with little more than 18 minutes remaining in the first half and never trailed again.

That’s not to say the game wasn’t competitive.

Led by guard Diatema Hill’s 18 points, the Minutemen rallied to bring the score to 27-22 at halftime. Another three-pointer by Zullo 25 seconds into the second half cut the lead to two.

Sophomore forward Kristen McCarthy answered the call for the Owls, making consecutive shots from beyond the arc to give the Owls an eight point lead. Temple broke away for good with a 10-0 run halfway through the second half, putting the score at 54-34.

The Cherry and White shot 48.3 percent in the second half after shooting 38.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes. The difference between the two halves was largely intensity, Temple Coach Tonya Cardoza said.

“I thought in the second half we came out with a lot of fire,” Cardoza said. “I thought we picked up our defensive intensity to make some shots. We were able to get some wide open threes. I thought, defensively, that we really did create some easy opportunities for ourselves.”

Wallace, coming off the bench for the seventh straight game, led all scorers with 22 points while hitting four three-point attempts. Wallace’s offensive prowess is something that the Owls are going to need if they hope to stay successful, Cardoza said.

“We need that offensive weapon,” Cardoza said. “After a while if [Wallace isn't] shooting the ball or making shots, people are going to sag in and not let Jasmine [Stone] or Tasha [Thames] get shots in by the basket. It was good to see her looking to shoot the ball. She shot the ball really well.”

The Owls outrebounded UMass, 42-26. Due to their domination of the boards, the Cherry and White had 23 second chance points. The Minutemen, by comparison, had 10.

Senior guard Kristie Watkins-Day, starting in place of the injured BJ Williams, scored seven points in the win. McCarthy scored 13 points while grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out five assists.

Temple returns to the court on Saturday night against Charlotte. The 49ers eliminated the Owls in last year’s Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament. As the first half of a doubleheader, the game is set for a 1pm tipoff.

Game Notes: Williams, out with a strained calf, sat out her second consecutive game. She’s expected to return for Saturday’s game against Charlotte…The Minutemen shot 90 percent from the free-throw line…Senior forward Jasmine Stone filled up the stat sheet, scoring four points to go along with seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals in only 17 minutes of play.

Kyle Gauss can be reached at kyle.gauss@temple.edu

Owls seek revenge vs. Charlotte

The 49ers eliminated Temple in last year’s A-10 Tournament.

Last week, the women’s basketball team (17-6 overall, 6-2 Atlantic Ten Conference) rebounded from its 64-54 loss to St. Bonaventure on Jan. 30 by winning two straight games in the Big 5. Temple picked up a 58-56 win against Saint Joseph’s last Tuesday and a 55-34 win versus La Salle this past Saturday. The Owls finished 4-1 in Big 5 play, which locked them into second place behind Villanova. The Wildcats beat Temple, 44-32, back on Dec. 20.

“I didn’t realize how difficult it was going to be,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “Every game has been tough. It’s something that I’ve got to get used to. When it’s time to throw the ball up, all the Philadelphia teams want to beat the heck out of [each other], so we’ve got to make sure that we come out next year ready to fight and kill everybody to try to regain the title.”

Senior guard LaKeisha Eaddy scored the game-winning basket with 3.9 seconds left to give the Owls the win against the Hawks last Tuesday.

“With the St. Joe’s game, we fought hard, and it was a tough win, but it’s frustrating because we keep making the same mistakes,” Cardoza said.

Though the Owls have won their past two games, they have committed 20-plus turnovers in each of the contests – 23 against St. Joe’s and 21 against La Salle.

“A lot of our turnovers have nothing to do with what the defense is doing. It’s just losing our minds sometimes and not focused and not paying attention,” Cardoza said. “We just got to bear down and take care of the ball.”

Up next, the Owls begin a three-game home stretch that starts Wednesday at McGonigle Hall against Massachusetts (9-14 overall, 3-5 A-10). The Minutewomen are coming off a 60-50 win against Fordham and are led by sophomore forward Kristina Danella, who averages 13.6 points per game. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

Saturday, the Owls will face Charlotte (14-9 overall, 7-2 A-10), the squad that knocked them out of the A-10 Conference Tournament last season by beating them 70-53 in the semifinals. Both teams lost their respective leading scorers from their last matchup. Junior forward Lindsay Kimmel transferred to Villanova, while Charlotte’s Tracy Ray and Danielle Burgin graduated. Kimmel led the Owls with 10 points, while Ray scored 16 points and Burgin added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

The current leading scorer for the 49ers is junior guard Shannon McCallum, who averages 12.6 points per game. The location of this game works in the Owls’ favor, as Charlotte has struggled outside the Queen City. Eight of the team’s nine total losses this season have come on the road.

The key to victory will be limiting turnovers, as Charlotte ranks third in the A-10 in steals with 9.2 per game. Temple average 19.3 turnovers, which is more than any team in the A-10.

“We can’t have any slip-ups,” Cardoza said. “Right now, we have six games left, and all six teams are good enough to beat us, and we have to make sure we come out and play hard because if we don’t do the things that we need to, I don’t know what our future is going to look like. We put ourselves in good position early on, but we have to finish strong.”

Tipoff is at 1 p.m.

Brian Dzenis can be reached at brian.dzenis@temple.edu.

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