Senior guard Shey Peddy scores a Temple career high.
Senior guard Shey Peddy set a milestone in her career as a Temple women’s basketball player in the Owls’ game against the Auburn Tigers at the Liacouras Center last Saturday.
Peddy put on a show to the tune of 27 points, her Temple career high, leading the Owls to a 73-57 victory over the visiting Tigers. The 5-foot-7-inch guard shot lights out, connecting on 11 of 16 shots and three of five from behind the arc.
The Wright State transfer, who wore a Cherry and White jersey for the first time last season, also contributed on the defensive end, leading the game with five steals.
“I felt good. The first one went in and then the rest all started falling,” Peddy said.
The team had played six straight games on the road from Ohio, to Massachusetts, to the Bahamas among other places. So coach Tonya Cardoza stressed how much of a relief it was to not only be home, but to win after five straight losses.
“The way they came out there today says a lot,” Cardoza said. “We didn’t want to feel sorry for ourselves, we wanted to play hard, and I think for stretches we showed we can be a great basketball team.”
The lead was pushed up to 20 points early in the second half and Temple continued to pull away and refused to let Auburn make a run to get back into it. Senior Kristen McCarthy added eight points but Cardoza was more impressed with her team-leading nine rebounds.
“[McCarthy] did a great job rebounding and that says a lot since Auburn is a very good rebounding team,” Cardoza said.
The lead was extended to 23 as Peddy seemed to be scoring at will in the second half and tormenting the Auburn guards with her defense. She scored her 25th point on a deep three-pointer then quickly made a steal at half court and converted for her 27th point.
When asked what was different about this game or if there was any extra motivation, Peddy said, “We’re tired of losing. I haven’t played that well the past couple games so I wanted to make sure we didn’t lose today.”
With the lead comfortably in hand, Cardoza pulled McCarthy and Peddy and they received a loud ovation as they exited.
The next four games will be at home with visits from city-rival Villanova and nationally-ranked Duke. But Cardoza said the team is focused on its next opponent, Kent State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Liacouras Center.
“It’s good to be home and it was a good win but we’re already thinking about Kent State,” Cardoza said.
Brandon Stoneburg can be reached at brandon.stoneburg@temple.edu.
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