Temple women force 28 turnovers to beat Penn

Temple’s women picked up their first Big 5 win of the season Sunday with a 61-47 victory over Penn at the Liacouras Center.

The Owls defense nailed down the victory, forcing 28 Quakers turnovers that led to 27 points.

“We knew coming in from a three-point perspective, that wasn’t their forte,” Temple coach Diane Richardson said. “They run a lot of principal offense and it has so many options off of that. We knew we had to stop that.”

Temple (4-5) displayed an equal-opportunity offense as six Owls scored at least five points. Ines Piper had 16 points and 10 rebounds, her seventh double-double of the season, and Tiara East added 14 points.

Aleah Nelson picked her 500th career assist in a game in which she led Temple with five. Nelson became the third Owl ever to reach that milestone.

Stina Almqvist paced Penn (6-5) with 18 points and Mataya Gayle had 14.

The Owls led, 32-21, at the half. It wasn’t the greatest offensive performance for the Owls, but their defense allowed them to keep a comfortable lead after that.

The Owls went on an 11-0 run bridging the first and second quarters to seize a nine-point lead. The defense led the charge.

“It’s important,” Nelson said. “It was about throwing the first punch and how you respond. We didn’t want to get hit first, and that has been our weakness. So I think that was important even though we were in a standstill. The main goal of the game was to play good defense.”

Temple hosts Delaware at 7 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+). The Quakers will host Maine on Dec. 30 at 1 p.m.