With two minutes remaining in the game, the Owls found themselves trailing La Salle by two points and in need of a spark to pull out a win. Temple forward Anissa Rivera hauled in the rebound after La Salle guard Aryss Macktoon missed a free throw and the ball found its way into the hands of Temple guard Tarriyonna Gary in the corner.
Gary drilled the shot despite being fouled to put the Owls in front. She missed her free throw but the three-pointer gave Temple a one-point advantage.
Gary showed her clutch gene again just a minute later, this time making a one-handed running jumper to push the Owls’ lead to three with 30 seconds left. Temple made four free throws down the stretch to put the Explorers away and pull out the victory.
Temple (4-3, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) defeated La Salle (4-4, 0-0 Atlantic-10 Conference) 73-68 Sunday afternoon at John E. Glaser Arena. The Owls outscored La Salle by nine in the fourth quarter to pull out the win and will now play for the first-ever Women’s Big 5 Classic championship.
“The history of the Big 5 championship was overwhelming for me when I first got here,” said head coach Diane Richardson. “But now for us to be able to play in that championship game, it makes me feel good because our team has really worked really hard to get there.”
Temple found its rhythm first when forward Jaleesa Molina knocked down a shot just seven seconds into the game. Molina added another jumper and guard Tiarra East made a driving layup to give Temple an 8-6 lead. The Owls missed their next three field goals to keep the door open for La Salle.
The Explorers took advantage of Temple’s stagnant offense and gained the upper hand again after a three-pointer from guard Jolene Armendariz. La Salle maintained the lead for the rest of the quarter, but a jumper by Temple guard Savannah Curry with 28 seconds remaining cut it down to two. The Owls struggled from beyond the arc, missing all three of their attempts in the first 10 minutes of play.
Temple started the second quarter slowly, missing its first four field goal attempts. As the Owls went cold, Macktoon knocked down a three to extend La Salle’s lead to six. Guard Kaylah Turner found a spark and hit the next three shots for Temple to tie things up at 19.
Explorer guard Ashleigh Connor took command by snatching the lead back after scoring eight straight points to hold a 27-21 advantage. The Owls found a groove after Connor’s buckets and went on a 17-3 run to end the half and go into the locker room up 38-30. Temple’s bench was key as it contributed nine points in the span, with five coming from guard Kelian Cedano.
“We never got in our head, which allowed us to continue to keep playing the game,” Gary said. “It’s just how we respond to the adversity when it hits you and I feel like we responded every time.”
The Owls were sluggish to start once again to kick off the second half, as La Salle clawed its way back into the game. Temple started 1-4 from the field and Richardson called a timeout following a foul by East just three minutes into the third quarter. The Explorers embarked on an 11-0 run after the timeout to take a lead at 47-43.
The Owls were unable to create anything on offense as they ended the third quarter on a two-minute drought from the field. On the other hand, La Salle continued its impressive offensive play, finishing the quarter with two buckets in the final 33 seconds. Temple scored just nine points in the third quarter and went into the final 15 minutes trailing by four.
“It’s a game of runs, but we don’t want it to be like that,” Richardson said. “We wanted some more consistency. And that’s what we asked for in that third quarter and fourth quarter, we asked for consistency.”
Temple started the fourth quarter with a bang when Gary hit a three-pointer to cut La Salle’s lead to 51-50. The Owls missed their next four shots but found themselves down by just three points. East and Turner tied the game up at 58-58 five minutes into the quarter. Both teams continued to go back and forth with neither being able to break away from the other until the Explorers started fouling in an attempt to regain possession.
La Salle took back the lead following a layup by Mackatoon, but Gary immediately responded with a three-pointer to give the Owls a one-point lead. Gary scored the next four Temple points as the lead grew to 69-66. The Explorers turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions, allowing the Owls to extend their lead from the free throw line and pick up the 73-68 win.
Temple will look to win the first-ever Women’s Big 5 Classic against Villanova (5-3, 0-0 Big East Conference) on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m.
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