Temple showed resilience in historic comeback victory over Charlotte

Temple’s hopes of beating Charlotte on Saturday seemed lost in the third quarter’s closing seconds. The Owls were trailing by 26 points, and they looked far from the team that had beaten South Florida just four days earlier.

But something changed. A technical foul against Charlotte guard Princess Anderson with 17 seconds left in the third quarter seemed to be the catalyst of the Owls finding some momentum.

Temple coach Diane Richardson found a lineup that worked and stuck with it through the final frame as the Owls mounted a furious comeback. They chipped away at the 49ers’ lead and were within one possession in the final three minutes. Temple took its first, and only, lead with three seconds remaining, when guard Tristen Taylor made two free throws to put her team up, 83-82.

Charlotte’s halfcourt heave at the buzzer fell short, giving Temple (9-10, 3-4 American Conference) a spot in history. The Owls’ 26-point comeback was the largest in program history and tied for third-largest in NCAA women’s basketball history.

“It showed the resilience we had; it showed we weren’t giving up,” Richardson said. “They just rallied together, not looking at the score, and executed. I’m really proud of them.”

The Owls also showed resilience in their previous game against South Florida on Jan. 20, when they overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to snap a three-game skid.

Aside from a much larger deficit vs. Charlotte, Temple looked disengaged on defense and was getting outworked for rebounds. The energy that helped push the Owls past South Florida was nonexistent for 30 minutes on Saturday — until their fourth-quarter lineup took the court.

Richardson played Taylor, guards Kaylah Turner, Savannah Curry, and forward Saniyah Craig for all 10 minutes and forward Felicia Jacobs for nine minutes. Those five ignited spark the Owls’ comeback.

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Jacobs and Curry came off the bench and made an impact, which Richardson has been wanting to see in conference play. Jacobs recorded three rebounds and was a team-best plus-23 in her minutes, while Curry made two three-pointers.

“That’s why you saw subs,” Richardson said. “The people on the bench have to fight for minutes and they’ve got to show some kind of impact when they get in there to prove they are worthy of the minutes. They’ve been doing that all week.”

While Jacobs and Curry made an impact, the comeback was powered by Taylor, who had the best game of her career.

Taylor was playing well before the fourth quarter. She had 15 points and three assists through 30 minutes, but she took her game to another level in the final 10 minutes.

Taylor poured in 17 points and made all six of her field-goal attempts, three of which were three-pointers. She also assisted on three of the other four made baskets in the quarter. When Temple needed her most, Taylor stepped up in the final minutes.

She scored the Owls’ final 10 points and made the biggest play of the game to set herself up for the go-ahead free throws. Turner missed a jump shot, but Taylor soared in for the offensive rebound and was fouled on her putback attempt. Taylor made both free throws to close out Charlotte and finished with a career-high 32 points on 10-for-13 shooting from the field.

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“I think I went 50% from the free-throw line last game,” Taylor said. “I’ve been in the gym shooting free throws a lot this week, and I feel like when I stepped up there, I didn’t have any nerves just from practicing and being confident all week.”

Despite winning, the Owls failed to play a complete game through four quarters, and it nearly cost them against Charlotte. Next up, Temple has a road test on Wednesday night (8 p.m., ESPN+) against first-place Rice (17-3, 9-0).

Richardson knows her team can’t wait until the fourth quarter to play.

“They’re playing really great basketball, but I think we’re playing good basketball right now, too,” Richardson said. “So we’ve got to go in there on their home court, and we’ve got to play Temple basketball from the top to the finish.”