Temple University women’s basketball (16-15, 7-9 The American Athletic Conference) had its tournament end against Connecticut (27-3, 16-0 The AAC) in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. The Huskies took down the Owls by a score of 94-61.
Temple started the game with a 9-2 run.
“I thought that first quarter we came out and did some really good things,” coach Tonya Cardoza said.
Junior forward Mia Davis, who had 21 points on the day, had six in the opening frame on 2-of-3 shooting from the field.
“In the beginning we were communicating, making hustle plays,” Davis said.
Davis and redshirt-sophomore guard Ashley Jones were the only Owls to score in double digits. Jones had 13 points.
Despite the Owls’ strong start, the Huskies ended the first quarter with a 15-13 lead. In the second, the Huskies put a gap that the Owls were never able to close.
Huskies freshman forward Aubrey Griffin finished the game with 16 rebounds. Half of those boards came on the offensive end.
“We just stopped boxing out and communicating,” Davis said.
Cardoza felt Griffin sparked the Huskies’ run in the second quarter.
“I think she gave them the energy that they needed,” she said. “She got some offensive rebounds, got to the free throw line. And I think she was the spark that they needed.”
Griffin only shot 2-of-6 from the field but went to the free-throw line 17 times. Griffin was one of six Huskies to reach double figures on the day. Senior guard Crystal Dangerfield led the game in scoring with 22 points. She shot 6-of-9 from three-point range.
The Huskies shot 53.8 percent from behind the arc while the Owls only shot 18.5 percent on 27 attempts. Despite this, Cardoza was still pleased with the Owls’ shot selection.
“We were getting wide open shots,” Cardoza said. “We didn’t make them. They were getting those same open shots they made them.”
This was Temple’s last matchup against UConn as a member of The American. Cardoza, who spent 14 years as an assistant at UConn, is still hoping there will be matchups to come in the future.
“I want my players to play against the very best and compete against the very best,” Cardoza said.
Moving forward, the conference is wide open, Cardoza said.
“If we do what we’re supposed to do, we get in the gym and we work hard, maybe we could be the new UConn of The American,” Cardoza said.
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