A tough shooting night and three career highs were recorded in the third
win in a row by the Temple women’s basketball team in their 61-57 win
against the Seton Hall Pirates Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Both teams came into the game with a 2-0 record, and several of the
Seton Hall starters were averaging double figures. The Owls were 23-57
from the floor and 15-27 from the foul line, but relied on their defense to
get the win.
Senior point guard Stacey Smalls continued to show signs of early
season rust, hitting only 3-14 from the floor.
“She’s probably putting too much pressure on herself,” said coach Dawn
Staley.
Though Smalls is looked to as a main source for scoring this season,
she has not been able to get into a rhythm in the past three games.
However, her struggles have not rattled the rest of the team. Three Owls
came away with career highs and the team as a whole continued to do
well on the defensive end.
Freshman center Candice Dupree found herself in early foul trouble in the
first half and only clocked six minutes of face time. The second half for
Dupree was another story, as she came away with another solid showing
finishing with a career high of 18 points, and three rebounds. This makes
the third game that the freshman has scored in double figures, giving the
Owls the consistency the need from the post.
Junior Ari Moore, who has been effective in the post in the past three
games, finished with a career high of 14 points. Sophomore guard
Khadija Bowens rounded out the career high crew, collecting seven
rebounds and adding 18 points.
Junior forward Tynecia Pam continued to give the Owls a strong presence
off the bench by crashing the boards on virtually every play she was
involved in, not to mention drawing fouls and giving Temple the
opportunity to earn points at the line. Pam had 10 rebounds and scored
three of her five points at the foul line.
It was a tough game due to the pressure defense from both teams. The
Pirates tried different looks, switching from a zone to man-to-man, in an
attempt to throw off the Owls. Seton Hall was able to force Smalls to make
hasty decisions with the ball and turned it over eight times.
Temple tried their hand slowing the opposition’s tempo by running a zone
for the first time in the game early on in the second half. Neither team was
able to capitalize fully, with missed free throws, turnovers and fouls
galore.
By the end of the game four players fouled out: Temple’s Toni Belafonte
and Chrissy Cruz and Seton Hall’s Melissa Langelier and Lanedra Brown.
Temple will now head to Palo Alto, Calif. to face the #2 ranked Kansas
State Wildcats this Friday.
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Saudia Mitchell can be reached at saudrae@hotmail.com
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