Temple secures overtime victory over Tulane, advance to second round of American Conference tournament
Kaylah Turner led the charge with a game-high 31 points and came up clutch in extra minutes. Next up, the Owls face Texas San-Antonio in the second round on Wednesday.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Entering the fourth quarter, Temple held a 12 point lead over Tulane and looked to have a win locked in the first round of the American Conference Championship on Tuesday.
However, the Green Wave chipped away and were down by three with 17 seconds to play. Then, disaster struck as Temple turned the ball over on the inbound pass and Tulane’s Kanija Daniel hit the game-tying three to force overtime.
The Owls’ offense went quiet in the second half, but returned to form in overtime. An 11 point run gave them an 81-74 lead with 2 minutes, 5 seconds to play. Temple held on to secure an 86-77 overtime win.
» READ MORE: Temple's Kaylah Turner is named second-team all-conference
“It was a hard fought game,” said coach Diane Richardson. “This was our third game with Tulane. They play real tough, we’ve had some tough games. My hats off to [Tulane head coach] Ashley Langford and her team to battle back and get us into overtime. Then we just had to do what we do.”
Temple (15-16, 8-10) moves on to face Texas San-Antonio (14-15, 9-9) on Wednesday (3:30 p.m., ESPN+).
Statistical leaders
Kaylah Turner poured in a game-high 31 points on 10-for-26 shooting and made eight three-pointers. Forward Saniyah Craig gave the Owls energy on both ends of the court to finish with 14 points and 15 rebounds, her fifth double-double of the season. Temple overcame its 32.4% field goal shooting by making 28-for-33 free throws.
Temple forced 22 Green Wave turnovers and collected 23 offensive rebounds. Guard Mecailin Marshall led Tulane with 25 points.
What we saw
Defense took control from the opening tip.
Tulane packed the paint with defenders and forced the Owls into either contested layups or threes. They were 1-for-8 on layups in the first quarter, but also just 2-for-10 in three-pointers. Temple held a 10-8 lead after 10 minutes.
The Owls found their stroke from three in the second quarter as guard Brianna Mead made two triples and Turner made one to push their lead to 19-10. Tulane continued to struggle on offense as it went scoreless for about three minutes.
With Temple on the verge of pulling away, Turner took over. The guard made four straight field goals, three coming from beyond the arc to help send the Owls to halftime with a 35-21 lead.
Temple’s momentum evaporated in the third quarter as Tulane began to mount a comeback. The Owls shot just 4-for-17 from the field, while the Green Wave closed their deficit to 47-39 in the final two minutes of the quarter.
Tulane continued to chip away at its deficit in the fourth quarter. The Green Wave got within three points with 17 seconds to play before Daniel hit the game-tying three-pointer with 10 seconds left.
Tulane scored the first four points of overtime before Temple’s offense woke back up. Turner made a pair of threes to lead an 11-0 run, and the Owls never looked back.
“It was just like ‘We got this,’” Craig said of overtime. “We knew we could score regardless so it was just we got this and don’t let the turnovers dictate the rest of the game.”
Turner makes the difference
Turner had polar opposite performances in Temple’s first two games against Tulane. She shot 4 of 20 from the field and fouled out in Temple’s 71-58 loss on Jan. 13, but put up 27 points when the Owls defeated the Green Wave in overtime on Jan. 31.
On Tuesday, Turner shot 1 of 7 in the first quarter then turned it on in the second with 14 points, including four three-pointers.
When it mattered most, she hit back-to-back threes in overtime to give Temple a 76-74 lead.
“I was missing my shots but I just wanted to win,” Turner said. “So I told myself to keep shooting and my teammates and coaches were telling me the same thing. I just kept shooting and luckily they started going in.”