After cutting Georgetown’s double-digit lead to just seven points, Temple was in striking distance midway through the third quarter. The Owls were down by nine coming out of halftime but scored four points while shutting the Hoyas’ offense down to come back into the game.
However, Georgetown ballooned its lead back up to 11 and the Owls’ shooting struggles came back to bite them. Temple didn’t hit a field goal in the final five minutes of the third quarter and the Hoyas scored 10 of the next 16 points to put the game away.
Temple (2-2, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Georgetown (2-1, 0-0 Big East Conference) 65-51 Tuesday night at McDonough Arena. The Owls hit just 17 shots, the fewest since they had 16 makes against UCF on Feb. 21, 2023.
The Owls shot 44% in the fourth quarter but were unable to shake off the 23% first-half shooting performance. Georgetown never looked back and continued its dominance to hand Temple its second loss of the season.
Temple started slow in its last game against VCU on Nov. 15 and that trend continued on Tuesday. They made just two of their first nine shot attempts and Georgetown capitalized off shots by guards Kelsey Ransom and Jayden McBride to take an early 9-5 six minutes into the game.
The Owls weren’t down long after guard Tiarra East made her first jumper of the night and forward Anissa Rivera followed it up by getting a put back after East missed a jumper. It still wasn’t enough to take a lead and Georgetown was able to maintain its upper hand. The Hoyas closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a five point lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Temple’s offense continued to sputter to open the second quarter, going 2-9 from the field to start. Georgetown extended its lead to eight after a jumper by Ransom. Temple was unable to capitalize on a Hoyas scoring drought as they didn’t make a field goal for nearly five minutes.
Georgetown extended its lead to 11 going into the half while Temple didn’t score for the final six minutes. The Owls went 0-10 from three-point range in the first half and shot just 23% from the field. To make matters worse, forward Jaleesa Molina found herself in foul trouble early, picking up three fouls before halftime. Temple was already missing forward Amaya Oliver and Molina’s struggles forced forward Felicia Jacobs to get more minutes.
Temple got off to a much better start in the second half, scoring the first six points of the third quarter to trim its deficit to just 30-25. However, the offensive spark was short-lived and Georgetown responded with a 6-0 run of its own.
From there, the Owls completely unraveled.
Temple did not make a field goal for the final five minutes of the third quarter, and at the same time, Georgetown got hot. The Hoyas made five of their last seven field goals to end the quarter. Ransom capped off the run with a three-pointer to extend the Hoyas’ lead to 13. Temple went into the fourth quarter with just one assist all night.
The Hoyas carried the momentum into the fourth quarter and broke the game open. They made three straight three-pointers to extend their lead to 22. With five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Rivera finally made Temple’s first three-pointer of the night, but it was too late to make an impact, cutting the Georgetown lead to just 21.
Temple strung together a 10-0 run as the end of the game was nearing, but were unable to put a significant dent in the Hoyas’ lead. Forward Savannah Curry made the most of her 13 minutes, scoring 12 points and getting five rebounds. Despite the late run by Temple, Georgetown cruised to a 65-51 victory.
Temple returns to The Liacouras Center for its first Big Five matchup of the season against Drexel (2-0, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.
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