Temple Women’s Basketball ended its six-game win streak with its loss to Tulsa on Feb. 28 and dropped to third in the American Athletic Conference. The Owls were hungry for a win and wanted to find more momentum with just two games remaining before the conference tournament.
The team shrugged off that loss by dominating East Carolina on Sunday. Five Owls scored in double figures, and three finished with double-doubles. Guard Tiarra East led the way by dropping a career-high 28 points, and Temple cruised to its highest win total since 2016-17.
Temple (18-11, 12-5 American Athletic Conference) defeated ECU (15-13, 8-9 AAC) 81-66 on the road Sunday afternoon. The Owls remain in third place in the AAC behind Tulsa and North Texas, but they have already clinched a double-bye in the conference tournament, which starts on March 9.
“We knew that we had to move on [from losing to Tulsa],” said Temple head coach Diane Richardson. “It was a tough game that we thought we should have won. We do have bounce-back games, and we talked about moving on. They did that today.”
Temple started shooting well in the first quarter, starting the game at 54 percent from the field and using creative offense to generate easy looks. East had seven first-quarter points, but Temple had troubles on defense.
ECU guard Danae McNeal, who is 16th in the nation in points per game, was unstoppable in the first quarter. She had 14 in the first period and pushed ECU to a 20-15 lead to begin the game.
Temple’s defense stepped up the rest of the way, and East became the anchor on defense. The Owls held McNeal to seven points in the final three frames, which limited the Pirates on the offensive side.
“[East] accepted the challenge,” Richardson said. “McNeal is having a very good year. [East] knew that she would have to defend her, and she would exert a lot of energy and she did. Those two were going at it a little, but [East] prevailed.”
Temple’s offense continued to thrive in the second half, and the Owls stayed aggressive in attacking the rim and creating good shots for themselves. Their ball movement generated plenty of chances, as the team finished with 23 total assists on the day.
The Pirates shot 42 percent in the second half, but the Owls continued to respond with a cohesive attack involving every player. East and guard Tarriyonna Gary combined for 23 points in the second half as ECU could not keep up with the onslaught.
All five of Temple’s starters finished in double figures. Guard Aleah Nelson had 13 points and a career-high 11 assists, and forward Rayne Tucker finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Temple will return to The Liacouras Center for its final regular season game, hosting Florida Atlantic (11-17, 6-11 AAC) on March 6 at 7 p.m.
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