On an afternoon in which both Temple and Rhode Island had trouble putting the ball in the basket, Lady Comfort was there to clean up the mess.
The Temple senior collected 14 rebounds, nine on the offensive glass as the Owls (11-10, 4-1 A-10) left Kingston, R.I. with a sloppy 48-34 victory over the Rams (9-11, 2-3). The Owls have now won four straight games after dropping their previous four contests.
Comfort led the Owls, who out-rebounded the Rams, 44-26. Temple had 24 offensive rebounds which led to 22 second chance points.
The Owls needed those points because none of their proceeding shots were falling. Temple held a 26-18 advantage at halftime and made 18 field goals, shooting only 34.6 percent for the game. Senior guard Ashley Morris led the Owls, who did not have a single player in double digits, with 9 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Sophomore Jasmine Stone had six rebounds in only nine minutes of play. Junior Shenita Landry also had six boards to go along with eight points.
Rhode Island had an even harder time scoring. The Rams shot only 27.8 percent for the game and went on a scoreless drought for 10 minutes and 30 seconds in the second half. During that scoreless stretch, the Owls went on a 17-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Rams senior Safi Mojidi was the first player for either team to score double-digits in points, 15, with only under three minutes remaining in the game.
While Temple coach Dawn Staley may be pleased with the dominance on the glass, the Owls struggles at the free throw line must be an area of concern. The margin of victory could have been much greater except the Owls shot 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from the charity stripe.
The Owls will look to make it five in a row in a conference battle against rival St. Joseph’s (10-9, 2-2 A-10) Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center.
Pete Dorchak can be reached at pdorchak@temple.edu.
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