Tiarra East’s buzzer-beater seals Temple’s victory over Wichita State

A buzzer-beater from Tiarra East sealed Temple’s second consecutive win with a 66-65 victory over Wichita State, moving the Owls inside the top five of the American Athletic Conference standings.

A week ago against Southern Methodist, East also connected on a three as the clock expired which would have given them the win. But after review, the basket didn’t count, handing the Owls a 68-66 loss. East got her redemption and finished as the team’s leading scorer with 15 points Wednesday.

“I just knew I had to knock it down,” East said. “People were telling me I would hit another one so I took that with me and I got that opportunity today.”

The Owls (12-9, 6-3AAC) defeated the Shockers with a 23 point win on Jan. 9 but this time around, it was a battle. Three minutes in,Temple got off to a 12-2 run. Wichita State(6-16, 2-8 AAC) then matched Temple’s level of play and made it a war.

Rayne Tucker was dominant for the Owls as she finished with nine points to go with 11 rebounds. She was in a battle with Shockers’ Daniela Abies all night, who finished with a team-high 19 points. Tucker was also physical on both ends.

After they turned the ball over nine times against Tulane on Jan. 28, the Owls forced 19 turnovers and 13 of those were in the first half Wednesday.

The Owls will hit the road Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN+) to take on Charlotte (12-9, 5-4 AAC).