Temple women got their offense in gear, but defense sputtered during a 1-1 road trip

Temple sought to regain momentum with a two-game road trip after an ugly 50-47 loss to Texas-San Antonio in its American Conference women’s basketball opener on Jan. 3. It was successful at first.

The Owls cruised by Wichita State, 70-50, on Jan. 6 for their first conference victory. However, against a potential contender in Tulsa on Friday, Temple faltered in a 94-82 loss, allowing the most points in a conference game since the 2018-19 season.

Temple (7-8) is 1-2 in the American, but both losses have come to unbeaten teams in conference play. The Owls offense seems to be trending in the right direction, but questions remain about their depth.

Next, the Owls will host Tulane (6-10, 1-3) on Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN+).

Offensive inconsistency defined Temple’s nonconference slate. The Owls struggled to knock down open shots and had turnover problems. They started games slowly, forcing quick shots and not letting the offense come to them.

The struggles reached a pinnacle against UTSA, when Temple shot just 20.5% through three quarters and scored just 47 points.

But the offense improved on the road trip. The Owls scored 70 and 82 points against Wichita State and Tulsa, respectively, and shot better than 40% from the field in both matchups. Temple used a strong offensive second half against Wichita State to turn a nine-point halftime lead into a comfortable 20-point win.

Against Tulsa, the Owls sank 10 threes and put up 80 points for the first time in four games. Guard Kaylah Turner scored 31 points and made five triples, but the efforts on offense were spoiled by poor defense.

Against Wichita State, Temple forced 25 turnovers and held the Shockers to just 50 points. That defense took a big step backward against Tulsa, the top-scoring offense in the conference.

The Golden Hurricane led by as many as 21 points in the first half, thanks to their 60% shooting clip from the field and an even better 81.8% from beyond the arc. Tulsa scored 53 first-half points.

» READ MORE: Despite sluggish second half, Temple prevails over East Carolina to extend winning streak

The defense improved slightly for the Owls in the second half as they trimmed their deficit to six points in the fourth quarter. But Temple could not come up with enough stops as Tulsa made eight of its final nine shots to pull away.

Despite the Owls’ 19 forced turnovers, they allowed the hosts to shoot 58.9% from the field and 76.5% from three. Tulsa guard Mady Cartwright scored a career-high 31 points on 5-for-5 shooting from three.

Last season, Temple had strong bench production from Turner, who was named the conference’s Sixth Player of the Year, and forward Anissa Rivera. Turner moved to the starting lineup and Rivera graduated, leaving coach Diane Richardson needing a new spark off the bench.

That need is still apparent. In the Owls’ loss to Tulsa, their reserves scored just one point.

Guard Drew Alexander seemed to be that spark early in the season, but she has moved into the starting lineup, initially replacing Tristen Taylor and now in place of Savannah Curry, who is out with an undisclosed injury.

Alexander poured in 27 points against Tulsa. Now Temple needs someone to step up in reserve. No bench player is averaging more than four points.

With Curry expected to be out for the foreseeable future, Temple is going to need better production out of players like Kelian Cedano or Brianna Mead.