City Six recap: Temple men and women lose to Tulane; Hannah Nihill scores winner for Drexel

Hustle plays usually reveal which team is playing with a greater sense of urgency. They also often reveal which team will win, which was the case Sunday afternoon when Temple hosted a Tulane team the Owls had beaten two weeks earlier in New Orleans.

Late in the first half, the ball was poked away from Temple guard Damian Dunn near midcourt. The ball bounced to his left and started rolling behind him. Dunn casually chased after it and Tulane’s Jordan Walker aggressively reached out and knocked the ball forward. Walker raced ahead and got an easy transition layup in the Green Wave’s 81-64 victory at the Liacouras Center.

Tulane (7-5, 2-5 American Athletic Conference) didn’t shoot lights-out early or play elite defense. But it was the better team on hustle plays and 50-50 balls, and that effort carried over to the offense in the second half as Temple fell to 4-5, 3-5.

“We came out as a team with a selfish approach,” Owls senior forward J.P. Moorman said. “We weren’t our normal selfless selves. I don’t know what today was, but moving forward I think all we can do is learn from it.”

Temple had gotten off to a good start, though, by attacking Tulane’s matchup zone. The Owls constantly fired the ball to the middle and let Jake Forrester work. Forrester scored six straight points to help Temple build a 14-8 lead. He finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes.

But while Forrester was providing a boost offensively, Tulane’s quick guards were attacking and giving him a hard time in pick-and-roll coverage. Owls coach Aaron McKie opted to play a small-ball lineup that could switch more easily to slow down the Green Wave. One lineup featured De’Vondre Perry at center and the other had Moorman there. The other four players were Jeremiah Williams, Dunn, Khalif Battle, and Brendan Barry.

Those lineups didn’t have much more success. Tulane had five players scoring in double figures and shot 66.7% in the second half, including 13-for-16 on two-point shots. It also outrebounded Temple, 43-28.

“We threw some zone out there. None of it worked,” McKie said. “They had our number today. We just didn’t do a good job of guarding them.”

Williams had 11 rebounds and nine assists. Dunn tied Forrester for the team lead with 15 points. The Owls shot 40% overall and a season-low 22% from three-point range (6-for-27). McKie blamed the three-point percentage on bad shot selection.

The Owls next host Cincinnati on Thursday night.

Whether it was men or women, Tulane just wasn’t a good opponent for Temple this weekend. The women dropped back-to-back games against the Green Wave, including Sunday’s 71-69 road contest.

Just like Saturday, the Owls gained an early lead before two big Tulane quarters. However, this time Temple (5-7, 5-4) fought back in the fourth. Temple trailed 68-59 with less than two minutes remaining. A 7-1 run followed that got Temple within three. But Tulane (10-5, 6-4) sealed the win with free throws down the stretch.

Mia Davis led Temple with 22 points. Jasha Clinton added 17 and Alexa Williamson had 15.

Add another highlight to Hannah Nihill’s breakout senior season. She entered this season with a career-high of 17 points. She’s topped that number seven times already this season.

She had 19 points Sunday, and the last two came when she took the inbound pass and scored the game-winner with 1.6 seconds left in Drexel’s 58-56 victory to complete a weekend sweep at Northeastern.

Maura Hendrixson (15 points) joined Nihill in double figures for the Dragons (9-4, 6-2 Colonial Athletic Association).

Nihill is a four-year starter who never averaged more than 6.2 points per game before this season. Now she’s Drexel’s top scoring option and sixth in the conference in scoring (15.5 points per game).

Kayla Spruill scored 21 points and Claire Jacobs had 16 as La Salle beat UMass, 69-63. The road win was the Explorers’ first victory over UMass (10-5, 6-4 Atlantic 10) since 2016-17. La Salle is 9-8, 5-5 after avenging its 17-point home loss when the teams met a month ago.

UMass star Sam Breen was held to 5-for-17 shooting en route to 15 points as well as 11 rebounds.

The Explorers’ Molly Masciantonio didn’t make a field goal, but she had four steals, six assists and finished a team-high plus-13 in 27 minutes.

The Villanova women’s team wasted little time with Butler (1-12, 1-11 Big East). The Wildcats (10-3, 5-3) scored 30 points in the first quarter and won each period on their way to a 90-53 road win at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

A season-high 14 three-pointers by eight Wildcats contributed to the offensive eruption. Eight Wildcats (10-3, 5-3) made threes.

Freshman Lior Garzon continues to emerge as an offensive weapon. She made five threes and scored 19 points in 22 minutes. Maddy Siegrist led the way with 26 points and 10 rebounds.