Coming out of halftime, Temple was leading by four and was looking for a way to pick up an important win against Tulane. The Owls entered the third quarter playing like a team that needed a win to move into position for a double-bye in the conference tournament.
Temple exploded out of the locker room and scored the first 15 points of the third quarter to gain complete control of the game.
The run gave Temple a comfortable lead and, despite recent issues with maintaining leads, Temple never let Tulane offer a real threat of a comeback. The Owls outscored the Green Wave by 13 points in the second half and pulled out a crucial win.
Temple (15-10, 9-5 American Athletic Conference) blew past Tulane (15-9, 8-5 AAC) 73-56 Saturday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans, Louisiana. The win moves the Owls a half game above Tulane for fourth place in the AAC.
Tulane opened the game strongly with an and-one layup just five seconds in. The foul was committed by Temple guard Tarriyonna Gary, who picked up another foul just 13 seconds later which put her on the bench for the rest of the first quarter.
The Owls’ offense struggled without Gary but their defense made life difficult for Tulane as well and through the first five minutes the two teams had more combined turnovers than points. The Green Wave’s offense finally woke up with three minutes left in the first quarter. Tulane rattled off a 9-0 run and seemingly had the upper hand with a 13-4 lead.
However, Temple immediately responded with a 9-0 run of its own which was capped off by a three from forward Anissa Rivera to send the game into the second quarter tied at 13. The Owls played nearly the entire first quarter without Gary and guard Tiarra East due to foul trouble.
Gary and East continued to be non-factors in the second quarter as they each entered halftime scoreless. With its two leading scorers putting up goose eggs, Temple’s equal opportunity offense showed what it can do. The Owls poured in 21 points in the second quarter, with 12 coming from guard Kaylah Turner.
The teams traded baskets early in the second quarter before Tulane went on an 8-0 run to take a 25-22 lead. The Owls once again responded by ending the quarter on a 12-5 run to take a 34-30 lead into halftime. Turner ended the first half with 16 points and six rebounds to lead Temple in both categories.
Temple was looking to maintain its momentum from the second quarter and gain control of the game heading into the second half. The Owls did just that as they opened the third quarter by scoring the first 15 points to push their lead to 49-30. Forward Jaleesa Molina headlined the big run with six points and three rebounds. Molina finished the night with 16 points and 15 rebounds to secure her seventh double-double of conference play.
The Green Wave started to find momentum with back-to-back three pointers to cut the Owls’ lead to 13, but Molina responded once again with a transition layup to make the score 53-38. Tulane again seemed to find a spark to end the third quarter with five straight points, cutting Temple’s lead to 57-45 entering the fourth quarter.
Temple has had major issues closing out games in recent weeks and was looking to avoid another nail-biter against Tulane in the fourth quarter. The two squads exchanged buckets for the first few minutes of the final quarter before Tulane began to make a comeback.
The Owls’ offense went cold and the Green Wave went on a 6-0 run to bring the game back to single digits at 62-53. However, once Tulane got back in striking distance, it could not stop stepping on its own toes. Tulane went on a three-minute scoring drought and had five turnovers, allowing Temple to pull away again. Temple kept Tulane at arm’s reach for the remainder of the game to come out with the victory.
Temple’s defense dominated the Green Wave’s offense by forcing 21 turnovers and holding them to just 28% shooting from the field. The Owls recorded a season-high 54 rebounds with 21 being on the offensive end and they turned those into 21 second chance points.
The Owls will return to The Liacouras Center to take on Wichita State (8-18, 2-11 AAC) on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
Be the first to comment