Following its loss to North Texas on Jan. 2, Temple Women’s Basketball hit the road for the first time in conference play to face Tulsa, hoping to recover from its poor performance against the Mean Green.
The Owls started to find a rhythm in the second half despite struggling in the first. Forward Demi Washington scored six straight points to give the Owls the spark they needed, spearheading an 11-0 run at the end of the third quarter that gave Temple its first lead since the first quarter.
Temple (8-7, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) took down Tulsa (10-4, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) 58-48 Saturday afternoon at the Donald Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In the absence of Temple guard Tiarra East, who was out due to a lower-body injury, backup point guard Tristen Taylor capitalized on an increase in minutes. The freshman guard scored an efficient 15 points on 5-9 shooting from the field, while also hitting four crucial free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Alongside Taylor, guard Aleah Nelson stepped up to fill in for East, scoring 17 points on 5-13 shooting. Nelson also pulled down six rebounds while leading the team in minutes played with 34.
It was a tale of two halves for the Temple offense. The Owls shot an abysmal 22 percent from the field in the first half, contributing to the double-digit hole they found themselves in. Temple figured things out in the second half, shooting 40 percent from the field and utilizing a 25-4 run to take command of a game that seemed well out of its reach. While the Owls shot just 30 percent from the field overall, they pulled out the win despite the poor shooting.
While the Owls offense struggled in the first half, they stayed in the game thanks to their offensive rebounding. Temple grabbed 15 first-half offensive rebounds giving its offense multiple chances and kept the game within striking distance. They finished with 24 total offensive rebounds, compared to just eight for Tulsa. Overall, the Owls outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 51-36.
Foul trouble was a problem throughout the matchup for the already short-handed Owls, especially for forward Rayne Tucker. Tucker had to play fewer minutes due to the early foul trouble.
Tucker proved her importance to Temple despite scoring just two points on 1-9 shooting, providing stout defense and energy to help the Owls maintain their second-half momentum and finished second on the team in plus/minus at +10.
The Owls once again showed their ability to force turnovers as Tulsa turned the ball over 20 times, and Temple turned them into 11 points. The defensive tenacity helped keep the Golden Hurricane to just 28 percent shooting from the field and held them to just five made field goals in the second half.
Temple remains on the road as they travel to Wichita State (5-10, 1-2 American Athletic Conference) on Jan 9. at 7 p.m.
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