Temple Falls to Houston, Extends to Four-Game Losing Streak
Written by: Adrian Maghacot
Photo by: Mary Perez
Due in part to one of the team’s largest scoring droughts of the entire season, Temple women’s basketball (10-15, 5-8 American Athletic Conference) fell to Houston (11-14, 8-4 AAC) 56-48 at the Liacouras Center.
Houston used a full-court press the entire game, which stopped the Owls from crossing halfcourt numerous times. While Temple shot 30% from the field, Houston had a worse time shooting the ball, shooting 25% from the field.
Redshirt senior guard Britney Onyeje led the charge for the Cougars, scoring 15 points, as well as grabbing seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Temple senior guard Aleah Nelson led the team with 13 points on 4-13 shooting while grabbing seven rebounds, seven assists, and one steal.
Temple struggled in the first quarter, scoring their first point with 4:02 left after sophomore forward Caranda Perea made one of her free throws. 30 seconds later, redshirt junior Brittney Garner scored the Owls’ first field goal with a layup.
“Basketball is a game of runs, and we saw that in the first time we played Houston,” Temple head coach Diane Richardson said. “If we get down 13-0, we got to still fight.”
Houston had a scoring drought of their own, making zero field goals for the last 6:51 of the quarter, but managed to keep their 14-8 lead into the second quarter.
Despite trailing by double digits in the first quarter, Temple tied it back up at 16 with 5:28 left in the half after a euro step by Nelson. Unlike the first quarter, Houston was unable to get a rhythm going, making four field goals in the entire quarter.
However, Houston fought back and went into half with a 23-20 lead.
Similar to their first matchup, Houston had a strong third quarter, scoring 19 points with 10 of those coming from Onyeje. Temple, however, struggled and scored 11 points and trailed the Cougars by 11.
In the fourth quarter, the Owls had a few of its players foul out. With 2:18 left in the game, Garner picked up an offensive foul driving in the paint and received a technical while on the bench. Less than two minutes later, sophomore forward Ines Piper picked up her fifth with an intentional foul.
In addition to Onyeje, junior guard Laila Blair also scored 15 points, but struggled with efficiency after going 3-of-18, including 3-of-13 from beyond the arc. Blair also had five rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Graduate forward Tatyana Hill was a force on the team’s defense, grabbing 11 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks.
Temple junior guard Tarriyonna Gary scored 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting as well as grabbing seven rebounds, five steals, and two assists. Perea had her career-high in rebounds with 13 and season-high in blocks with two, respectively.
Piper had six blocks, which is the most by a Temple player since 2016. Piper also made three rebounds and three assists.
“I don’t really try to block shots and it’s just a reflex,” Piper said. “I don’t really think, ‘oh she’s attacking the basket’ and I just block her shot.”
The Owls will travel to Orlando to face off against UCF (11-13, 2-10 AAC) for a second time at Addition Financial Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
