College Basketball | Owls' women set Big Five mark

Temple made Big Five women's basketball history last night in a 65-40 win over Penn at the Liacouras Center.

The victory gave the Owls a record 16-game winning streak in the local round-robin.

Ashley Morris, a Central High School graduate, put up 18 points for the Owls (7-6, 2-0 Big Five), while Shenita Landry scored 11 and Lady Comfort 10.

"It was a total team effort," Morris said. "When we lock in, when we execute the game plan, we can do anything."

Carrie Biemer had a team high of nine points for Penn (3-7, 0-3).

Temple had tied St. Joseph's record winning streak with a victory over Villanova, also at home, on Friday.

"I think it's a great win," said Temple coach Dawn Staley, who grew up in North Philadelphia but played at Virginia. "Just growing up around the Big Five, you love the bragging rights of being the city's best.

"But we want to continue on and win the Big Five - just to keep it going for the tradition we're trying to build here and for the former players who put their hearts and soul into it as well."

The Owls have won three consecutive Big Five titles with 4-0 records. None of the local teams has won four straight outright crowns since the City Series for women began in 1979-80.

Temple is halfway to another sweep, with St. Joseph's ahead on Jan. 30 and La Salle on Feb. 2.

The Owls will face a nationally ranked opponent on Sunday when they travel to sixth-ranked Rutgers (8-2).

"It's another opportunity to play a top-10 team," Staley said. "We've fared pretty well against most of the top-10 teams. Rutgers is a rival, and we've had some success against them. Hopefully, we'll catch them on a bad day. They haven't played for a while, so maybe they're a little rusty."

Last night, the Owls forced the Quakers into 23 turnovers while committing 15.

"I've only been back to the city the last 31/2 years," Penn coach Pat Knapp said. "But they have the best athletes in the city. And when you play hard, that's going to work. So they usually disrupt most people that they play."

North Carolina 106, Nevada 70 -

Tyler Hansbrough scored 26 points and Wayne Ellington added a career high of 23 to help top-ranked North Carolina (12-0) rout Nevada (7-5) in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Ty Lawson had 16 points and a career best of 10 assists for the Tar Heels, who ran off 19 straight points spanning halftime to gain the latest in a series of lopsided victories.

North Carolina is off to its best start since winning 17 straight to open the 1997-98 season.

Since a tough 72-68 win against Davidson to open the season, the Tar Heels' closest game was an 86-77 victory at Kentucky on Dec. 1. They have also scored at least 100 points in five games.

Armon Johnson scored 23 points to lead the Wolf Pack, who had won five straight games, and hung close with the Tar Heels until late in the first half. But that was before Lawson, a speedy sophomore, kicked North Carolina's offense into high gear.

The news wasn't all good for the Tar Heels. Reserve guard Bobby Frasor tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he landed awkwardly on the sideline while making a steal midway through the second half.

School spokesman Steve Kirschner said Frasor would be out for the season and would have surgery.

North Carolina shot 54 percent for the game, hitting nine of 18 shots from behind the arc, while holding a 45-33 rebounding advantage.