Temple women put up a fight but can’t end Rice’s unbeaten run in The American
The Owls were within striking distance at halftime but could not finish the job against the conference's top team.
Temple knew it had a tall task as it welcomed Rice, undefeated in the American Conference, to The Liacouras Center Wednesday night. When an eight-point run by the home Owls trimmed the visiting Owls’ lead to five points entering halftime, an upset felt possible.
But the deficit crept back to double digits by the end of the third quarter, and Rice (25-3, 15-0) ultimately stayed unblemished in the conference with a 77-66 victory over Temple (12-15, 6-9).
“It was a tough game today,” head coach Diane Richardson said. “I think we could have done better. I think we could have shown what talents we have. But again, without the consistency, we come up on the losing end.”
What we saw
Temple and Rice traded baskets throughout most of the first quarter before poor transition defense and a stagnant offense began to plague the home team in the second quarter. Rice used an 8-0 run to take a 13-point lead with four-and a-half minutes remaining before halftime. Rice center Shelby Hayes (19 points) and guard Dominique Ennis (21 points on 8 of 13 shooting) established themselves early for the visitors.
But Temple found momentum on both sides of the ball in the final minutes before halftime. It prevented Rice from getting the open looks it was getting in the first quarter and it found cleaner looks on offense. A 10-2 run sent Temple to halftime trailing 40-35. It shot 44.4% from the field and made all 10 of its free throw attempts in the first 20 minutes.
But Temple could not build on that momentum out of the locker room, and Rice began to pull away again. Temple committed six turnovers in the frame which allowed Rice to push its lead back into double digits. It struggled to find an answer and entered the fourth quarter trailing, 61-47.
Temple never made it competitive in the final 10 minutes, only getting as close as 11 points in the closing minutes.
“This is a talented team, but you can’t let a team take your superpowers from you,” Richardson said. “So we’ve got to build that confidence up.”
Hayes dominates down low
When Temple and Rice played on Jan. 28, a 65-56 Rice win, Temple could not contain Hayes, who finished with 17 points on 7-10 shooting. Temple looked to have more success against Hayes on Wednesday, but to no avail.
Hayes routinely got behind her defender in the paint for easy layups, with her 19 points coming on 8-11 shooting. When Temple did stop Hayes down low, it required multiple defenders which then left shooters open beyond the arc for easy looks.
“One of the things in our adjustments was not overhelping,” Richardson said. “When they started to spread their offense and have the overload on [Hayes], we overhelped and then they could kick it out for a three.”
Rice was red-hot from the field and three, shooting 53.6% and 42.1%, respectively. The visitors finished with 24 assists on 30 made baskets.
Molina leads Temple’s statistical leaders
Temple did not have a bad shooting day, hitting 47.2% of its shots from the field, but went just 2 of 10 from three and committed 20 turnovers. Forward Jaleesa Molina paced Temple with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Kaylah Turner led Temple with 22 points on 10-18 shooting.
“They were switching on ball screens,” Molina said of her performance. “So I was just posting up my mismatch and that’s what it was.”
Next up
The Owls will hit the road to take on Alabama-Birmingham (10-16, 3-11) on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+).