The Owls’ defense seemed to hold their own during the matchup against nationally ranked West Virginia. They stifled a Mountaineers offense that entered the matchup scoring 87 points per game and went into the second quarter down by three.
Temple forced 18 West Virginia turnovers and it looked like the defense could hold on to help the Owls pull off an upset. However, the offense didn’t get the memo and it vanished once the second quarter started. Temple scored just eight points in the 10-minute span and went scoreless for six minutes as the Mountaineers put the game out of reach.
West Virginia was able to put the clamps on Temple and they held the Owls to just 24% shooting. By the time the fourth quarter came around, the Mountaineers were on cruise control to notch their 10th win by 20 points or more.
Temple (5-4, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) fell to No. 15 West Virginia (10-1, 0-0 Big 12) 68-46 Sunday afternoon at The Liacouras Center. Temple held the Mountaineers to the fewest points they have scored all season, but hit just 16 shots all game to ruin any hope of an upset.
“It was a tough game against a very tough team,” said head coach Diane Richardson. “We did some things well, keeping them under their average, keeping some of the players under their average, but we didn’t shoot the ball very well today.”
Temple seemed to get off to a hot start early on as guard Tiarra East hit a three-pointer to go up 5-2. It didn’t last long as West Virginia converted two quick buckets to flip the momentum and forced Richardson to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Owls tied the game back up at seven following two made free throws by East.
The Mountaineers quickly responded with two three-pointers to retake the lead 13-9. West Virginia missed eight straight shot attempts and Temple had the oppritunity advantage of its opponents struggles, but didn’t take control of the game. The Mountaineers ended their slump with a shot from beyond the arc but a jumper by guard Kaylah Turner cut the deficit to three as the first quarter came to a close.
West Virginia extended its lead to seven after two consecutive layups to start the second quarter as the Owls ran in place. Temple struggled offensively the entire quarter, enduring a scoring drought that lasted six minutes. The Mountaineers had a dry spell as well, going scoreless for nearly four minutes, but still held the 27-15 advantage.
Temple looked hopeful going into halftime after it ended the second quarter with two three-pointers to cut West Virginia’s lead to 10. The Owls shot 3-17 from the field in the second quarter and were outrebounded 14-8. Entering the matchup, West Virginia was fifth in the nation in forcing turnovers, but Temple won the turnover battle with three less than the Mountaineers in the first half.
“It was just an off day, I’m going to keep shooting the ball, regardless of if it goes in or not,” East said. “That’s how much confidence I have in myself and my coaches have in me.”
West Virginia continued to excel at the beginning of the second half. The Mountaineers went 4-5 from the field to push its lead to 16. The Owls built momentum and made back-to-back three-pointers, but Mountaineers guard Sydney Shaw stunted their hopes of a victory when she drilled a three-pointer of her own.
The Mountaineers excelled beyond the arc in the third quarter, going 4-8. The Owls weren’t able to keep up offensively as they made just three of their final 11 shots. The Mountaineers found themselves up by 16 going into the final quarter of the night after two consecutive shots from downtown.
West Virginia forward Jordan Thomas made back-to-back layups to open the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 56-38. The Owls’ struggles from the field continued during the final 10 minutes as they made just one shot in the opening five minutes of the quarter.
Following the media timeout, West Virginia showed its abilities, going on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 24. The Mountaineers’ size advantage was too much for Temple in the second half as they were outscored 22-10 in the paint.
A consolation bucket by guard Tristen Taylor with 26 seconds remaining in the game was one of Temple’s three makes from the field in the fourth quarter. East led the Owls, scoring 15 points with four coming from free throws in the final quarter but the game was already decided as West Virginia cruised to a 68-46 victory.
“I think we didn’t execute our offense today,” Richardson said. “We’ve gotta be more cognizant of executing and running our offense. We didn’t execute and make shots that we’re used to making in that offense.”
The Owls will be back in action when they travel to Berkeley, California, to take on Xavier (4-6, 0-1 Big East) in the Raising the B.A.R. Invitational on Dec. 21 at 11 p.m.
Be the first to comment