Temple leans on a scoring committee to get the best of Big 5 rival La Salle

Temple and La Salle were deadlocked through the first 15 minutes on Friday at the Liacouras Center, before the Owls found their groove.

A 16-4 run gave Temple a 10-point halftime lead and kept La Salle from coming back. The Owls (3-1) never trailed in the second half, pushing their lead to as many as 20 points.

By the time the dust settled, the Owls walked away with a 75-54 win in their first Big 5 Classic victory. Four players scored in double figures, led by guard Kaylah Turner with 12 points.

Forwards Jaleesa Molina and Saniyah Craig each recorded double-digit rebounds with 11 and 12, respectively. The Owls’ defense held La Salle (3-1) to shoot 32.3% from the field, including 1-for-15 from three.

“It was a hard core game,” said coach Diane Richardson. “La Salle came in here on a hot streak and they came out firing in the first quarter. We had to take some time to adjust, but ended up winning the game, playing Temple basketball.”

Next, Temple will play at Richmond on Nov. 18 (6 p.m., ESPN+)

Temple’s offense has struggled to find its groove in the first quarter this season, and that was apparent against La Salle.

Temple shot 33.3% from the field through the first 10 minutes and missed all four of its three-point attempts. The Owls looked out of sync. They were missing easy shots near the rim or taking heavily contested jumpers.

However, their first-quarter performance Friday was an improvement compared to their last two games.

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Temple shot 11.8% and had six turnovers in the first quarter of its 86-50 win against George Washington on Nov. 7 and 28.6% with six turnovers in the first quarter of its 89-61 loss to West Virginia on Nov. 11.

“I think we need to be more patient and execute it,” Richardson said. “We have started games slow because we are taking quick shots and not executing our offense to get us better shots. We’ve got to work on that.”

The Owls rebounded from their slow start and shot 57.1% from the field in the second quarter to finish with 39.7% (27 of 68 attempts) for the game.

Richardson wanted to improve her team’s rebounding in the offseason and those efforts were on display against the Explorers.

The Owls crushed La Salle on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 54-34. Temple used its rebounding efforts to maintain a comfortable second-half lead, grabbing 31 rebounds in the final 30 minutes.

The Owls found success on the offensive glass as well, with converting 18 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points.

Craig recorded 12 boards, marking the third time in four games she had double-digit rebounds. Four different players had at least five rebounds for the Owls.

“We know that La Salle, from the guards to the bigs, likes to rebound,” Craig said. “So we just focused on rebounding, and that’s what we did today.”

Temple’s bench only had six points in its loss against West Virginia, after recording at least 20 points in its first two games. Against La Salle, the Owls reserves got their scoring touch going .

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Temple’s bench scored 31 points, with every player off the bench scoring at least one basket except forward Ariana Meriedy. Guard Kelian Cedano led the way in relief with 11 points and guard Brianna Mead added six points, including a buzzer-beating floater to end the third quarter.

“Our second team came in and you saw the energy there, you saw them in their confidence and they scored,” Richardson said. “That’s what we need throughout this whole season is to be able to have an equal opportunity offense all the way through.”