Two minutes into the third quarter, it looked like Temple was in for a repeat experience of the last time it faced South Florida. On Jan. 4, the Bulls turned a three-point lead into a 17-point blowout in the blink of an eye.
The same thing happened on Saturday when the Bulls jumped out to a 13-point lead out of halftime.
The Owls’ shooting had been lackluster with guards Tiarra East and Tariyonna Gary having a combined three made field goals in the first half. Suddenly, Temple started to climb back into the game, reversing its third quarter woes. East racked up eight points in the quarter to give Temple life heading into the final period of action.
Things fell apart for Temple once the fourth quarter commenced. East played just five minutes despite only having two fouls and the Owls went nearly six minutes without scoring. When they finally picked up a bucket, the end result was already decided.
Temple (13-10, 7-5 American Athletic Conference) fell to USF (16-8, 9-2 AAC) 64-57 on Saturday afternoon at The Liacouras Center. Temple is now 0-5 against teams in the top four of the AAC and has matched its number of conference losses from last season.
“It was a tough game,” said head coach Diane Richardson. “We did some really good things and then some things that weren’t enough for us to get the win.”
USF came out the gates shooting fast, sending eight shots in the first five minutes of the first quarter. But none found the bottom of the net as the Bulls went scoreless for half of the quarter. Temple was unable to find a shooting stroke of its own, missing its first two shots before guard Tristen Taylor got the first points of the game with a layup.
Temple got another bucket from East to make it the score 4-0, before the Bulls’ offense woke up. Guard Sammie Puisis drilled back-to-back shots and from there, the slugfest turned into a full on sprint. USF took a two-point lead before Taylor and forward Anissa Rivera hit three-pointers to snatch the lead right back at 12-8.
The Bulls went on a tear after Rivera’s shot with a 10-0 run in a two minute span to take control. Temple had become lackadaisical with the ball on offense leading to USF creating six turnovers. The Bulls also found their form on offense, missing just a single shot after starting 0-8, and they went into the second quarter up 18-13.
“We didn’t do a good job of rebounding,” Gary said. “Shots weren’t falling early for us as well, so that played a big factor.”
Both teams reverted back to their former selves as the second quarter opened up. Temple leveled the score after quick buckets from Gary and guard Savannah Curry, but its offense evaporated right after. The Owls hit a single shot for the rest of the half as the Bulls remained in control.
USF pushed the lead right back up to four and the game was never tied for the rest of the half. Despite hitting just four shots in the quarter, the Bulls dominated the Owls on the glass with 15 rebounds to Temple’s eight. Puisis didn’t score in the period but guard Romi Levy hit a pair of shots and guard Raina Tomasicka connected on a three to send Temple into the locker room down 27-20.
“I thought we took some quick shots early, which didn’t allow us to get under to rebound,” Richardson said. “I also thought that we didn’t, as soon as [a] shot goes up, get into position.”
As the second half opened up, the Owls looked to gain any amount of momentum to surge back into the game. Temple had continuously opened third quarters flat and it looked like it was going to happen yet again when the Bulls drilled back-to-back three-pointers. The shots pushed the lead to 13 and Temple was in a hole.
The Owls erupted soon after, going on a 12-4 run to cut into the deficit. East, who has struggled at times this season, started to click on the court with eight of her 15 points coming in the third quarter. Puisis hit another three to end the run, but Temple continued to battle back into the game.
Taylor knocked down a jump shot with just under two minutes to go and East took control from there. She scored on a layup and then stole the ball from Bulls’ guard Mama Dembele on the next possession, taking the ball up the court for a layup. The steal was one of Temple’s four takeaways which it converted into eight points and cut the lead to just two as the third quarter came to an end.
From there, Temple went ice cold and was never able to claw back into the game. USF scored three buckets in the first four minutes but a three-pointer from guard Kaylah Turner closed the gap. Temple didn’t score another basket until there were 41 seconds left on the clock and by then, the game was out of reach.
“We were 44% and 44% from three in the fourth quarter,” Richardson said. “That’s not a bad shooting percentage for me when we’re trying to come back.”
Temple will be back in action at home when it takes on UAB (14-9, 5-6 AAC) on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m.
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