Temple women fall in A-10 tourney

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - Temple shrugged off a terrible start and raced to a thrilling finish in last night's Atlantic Ten Conference women's basketball championship.

However, the Owls fell just short in overtime against fifth-ranked Xavier in a 57-55 loss at the Show Place Arena.

Temple had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but Qwedia Wallace's short shot from the edge of the paint bounced off the rim.

"Our guys played a hell of a game and deserved to win," Temple coach Tonya Cardoza said of her team's recovery from a 14-0 deficit at the outset. "They gave everything they had and left everything out on the floor."

The winning Musketeers (27-3), who went unbeaten in the conference, earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Temple (24-8) is expected to receive an at-large bid when the 64-team NCAA field is announced on Monday night at 7 on ESPN. The Owls have been to six straight NCAA tournaments.

Amber Harris was named the A-10 tournament's most outstanding player after scoring 23 points for Xavier last night.

The Musketeers' 6-foot-6 junior center, Ta'Shia Phillips, dominated the boards with 21 rebounds. Special Jennings scored 12 points for Xavier.

Wallace scored 18 points for the Owls, while teammate Kristen McCarthy scored 17 and LaKeshia Eaddy added 11. Jasmine Stone grabbed 17 rebounds for the Owls.

Temple missed its first 11 shots of the game and was trailing by 32-20 at the half.

However, the Owls forced Xavier into seven turnovers the first seven minutes of the second half and began to rally.

"We didn't start the second half with the same intensity," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said.

McCarthy and Eaddy made the all-tournament team along with Phillips, Harris and Dayton's Justine Raterman.