After scoring just one point in the first three quarters of play, Temple guard Tiarra East finally knocked down her first bucket against Princeton by drilling a shot from beyond the arc 50 seconds into the fourth quarter.
East scored the next six Temple points to cut Princeton’s 18-point lead to just eight, but her night didn’t end there. East hit a free throw and another three, and forward Anissa Rivera was fouled on the triple and knocked down a free throw. Suddenly, Temple was within striking distance with just under two minutes left in the game.
Guard Kaylah Turner took the scoring duties while East struggled and followed her teammate up with a three of her own to make the deficit just two late in the fourth. That was the closest Temple was able to get. Guard Tristen Taylor stole the ball on the next Tiger possession but Rivera was blocked. Temple was never able to hit another shot after Turner’s make as its comeback effort fell short.
Temple (3-3, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to Princeton (5-2, 0-0 Ivy League) 62-57 Tuesday afternoon at The Liacouras Center. The Owls never led against the Tigers and trailed by as many as 18 but were able to make a comeback effort.
“It’s a tough loss to look at because we played Temple Basketball in the second half and unfortunately, we kind of set back in the first half and we’ve got to get a better start,” said head coach Diane Richardson. “[Princeton] ran their stuff and we pretty much just sat back a little bit.”
The Owls looked to shake the first quarter funk that has plagued them during games this season. Instead, they were ice cold and hit just three baskets in the first 10 minutes of action despite chucking up 14 shots. Princeton forward Parker Hill drained the first shot of the game and the Tigers went to work from there.
Princeton forward Fadima Tall added a three and the Tigers took a quick five-point lead. Temple guard Tristen Taylor drilled a three-pointer to get Temple on the board but the Owls struggled to score after that.
The Tigers piled on seven unanswered points as a rebuttal and Temple couldn’t respond. Temple forced nine first quarter turnovers but the Tigers drained 50% of their shots to take a 16-7 lead after the first quarter.
Temple continued to be a pest on the defensive end, most notably Taylor. She forced three steals in the first half and helped Temple follow up its 25 turnover performance against Drexel on Nov. 22. The efforts on the defensive end helped Temple come close to Princeton in the second quarter.
“The whole week, when we started with the Princeton scouts, [the coaches] told me that I had one job,” Taylor said. “That was to guard the girl on the other team, just to keep her contained.”
Following a Hill bucket, Rivera nailed a three-pointer and Temple mounted a comeback. Turner hit back-to-back shots and catapulted Temple within four. The Tigers’ offense had no response as Temple went on a 10-2 run in a four-minute span and found itself down just three points with five minutes until halftime.
Temple completely unraveled from there, going the rest of the half without scoring a single point. Princeton ripped off the next 12 points and was powered by forward Tabitha Amanze’s eight points to head into the locker room up by 15 points.
Temple opened up the second half in desperation mode to chip into the deficit, much like it did against Drexel a few days prior. Tigers’ guard Ashley Chea hit a three 10 seconds into the quarter and it looked as if Temple’s hopes were dashed. However, both teams traded blows with Temple scoring four quick points, but Princeton answered when guard Skye Belker scored four quick points to balloon the lead up to 18.
East struggled to find her form for most of the night, with just a single point in the first three quarters. The Owls’ leading scorer struggles forced other Owls to fill in the gap. Turner picked up the slack with 10 of Temple’s last 12 points in the third quarter.
Turner knocked down two straight shots from beyond the arc to cut the deficit to 11 with just more than a minute remaining in the third quarter. Princeton was able to recover with the quarter’s final four points to head into the final 10 minutes leading by 15.
“We knew that we had to play tougher defense and we had to make shots,” Richardson said. “We’ve had some woes shooting the ball lately, but I know always our defense turns into offense and so we had to ratchet up our defense so that it could turn offense.”
Turner was able to lead the team with 15 points, showing that the Alabama A&M transfer was as advertised. East had 14 of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to help aid a comeback. But the duo’s efforts weren’t enough and the first half struggles came back to bite them.
Temple is now 0-3 against teams that played some form of postseason basketball last season.
“Quite honestly, the games that we lost, we were close,” Richardson said. “If we can withstand this non-conference schedule, I think that will put us in a good position for conference.”
Temple will be back in action in its final Big 5 pod game against La Salle (4-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10) on Dec. 1 at 2 p.m.
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