Temple sees three-game win streak snapped; Penn handles Cornell; Drexel drops to Monmouth
A roundup of City 6 men's and women's college basketball from Saturday, Feb. 4
Despite having three in double figures, Temple dropped its first game since losing four players from the program, a 65-60 nail-biting defeat to host Houston on Saturday afternoon in American Athletic Conference action.
A tight second half played out to a final-possession scenario, where the visiting Owls (10-12, 5-5 AAC) had a chance to tie trailing, 63-60, with six seconds to go. But a steal by Houston (9-13,6-3) and two subsequent free throws sealed it.
Temple led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter before seeing that advantage cut to 29-26 at halftime.
Caranda Perea recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and a career-best 13 rebounds for the Owls. Tiarra East scored a team-high 16 points, and Aleah Nelson added 15 points and matched a game-high with five assists.
Houston had three scorers in double figures, paced by Laila Blair’s game-high 25 points.
Temple wraps up a two-game road swing at East Carolina (15-8, 6-4) on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+).
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Penn women handle Cornell, snap a two-game skid
Kayla Padilla had 23 points, Jordan Obi added 21 points, as Penn posted a dominant road win over Ivy League foe Cornell, 67-54.
The Quakers (14-8, 6-3 Ivy) led the entire way after taking a 4-3 lead, going up by as much as 24 points. Penn shot 50% from the floor (28-of-56) while holding Cornell to just 37.7% (20-of-53), including 1.7% (1-of-14) from three-point range.
Padilla accounted for a season-high seven of the Quakers’ 11 threes (29 attempts). She is now tied for second place in program history for threes made (186), 11 back of the record. Obi added a game-high seven rebounds and matched a career-best 10 field goals on 12 shots.
Cornell (9-13, 2-7) was led by Ania McNicholas and Summer Parker-Hall with 11 points each.
Penn will host Harvard (14-7, 7-2) on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) with an eye on revenge. Harvard, now in a three-way tie atop the Ivy standings, won the previous meeting between the programs, 84-60, on Jan. 28.
Drexel men can’t close out Monmouth on road
A 14-point first-half Drexel lead wouldn’t hold as the visiting Dragons came up short to Monmouth, 69-67, giving Monmouth just its fourth win of the season.
With the game knotted at 67 and 1:22 to go, Drexel (13-11, 7-5 CAA) would miss its final two shots while putting Monmouth (4-20, 3-8) at the line for the winning free throws. The Dragons saw a 42-30 lead at the break quickly erased to a 45-45 tie over the first five minutes of the second half.
Luke House had 18 points, which included shooting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc to pace four Drexel players in double figures. Amari Williams posted a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, and Lamar Oden Jr. and reserve Jamie Bergens each added 13 points.
Monmouth’s Tahron Allen led all scorers with 19 points.
Drexel is back on the road Wednesday to take on Delaware (12-13, 4-8) at 7 p.m.
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