Owen McCue - The Temple News

Guards Erica Covile and Tanaya Atkinson helped spark Temple to its first National Tournament Invitational win in three seasons Thursday.

The squad’s .500 record may not be enough to achieve its goal of getting senior Tyonna Williams one last postseason appearance.

The Owls responded from a large second-half deficit against East Carolina Saturday, but ran out of time en route to a 76-71 loss.

Junior Erica Covile paced Temple with 22 points, while senior Tyonna Williams had 13 in the team’s 79-69 victory Saturday.

Two second-half dunk connections from Will Cummings to Jaylen Bond helped ignite Temple’s 66-54 win Thursday night.

The team points to defensive effort as the biggest difference between wins and losses 28 games through the year.

Temple forced 21 turnovers in its 69-58 defeat of The Green Wave Tuesday.

After a loss to Tulane Saturday, Temple capped a two-game road trip with a 75-67 loss to Tulsa Tuesday.

The women’s basketball team has a nine-player roster, resulting in stamina problems for some later in the year.

Sophomore guard Josh Brown’s jump shot with 2.4 seconds left helped Temple salvage a 61-60 victory Saturday.