#5 East Carolina 77 #4 Temple 71 – The Owls fell behind and made a comeback, but fell short losing in the quarterfinal round of the American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament in Uncasville, CT. East Carolina moves on the semifinal round while Temple (16 – 16) will hope for a bid to the WNIT.
ECU got off to a good start with a 19 – 4 lead. The Owls made many comebacks getting to within striking distance, but the Pirates would have the answers. Temple got to within 7 points at 42 – 35, but a 20 – 9 run gave East Carolina a 62 – 44 edge with 8:47 to play. The Cherry and White made another charge scoring 10 unanswered points. The Owls got closer making the score 70 – 65 with 1:19 on the clock on a traditional three-point play by by Tyonna Williams, but got co closer.
“This is a tough loss to swallow, and a lot of it had to do with the way we started the game,” said Temple Coach Tonya Cardoza. “We dug ourselves in a hole that was great, but I felt like my players – once they got comfortable – they competed and they tried to fight to the finish, but the way we started the game is the reason why we lost.”
Temple had four players in double figures led by Erica Coville with 19 points and pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds. Tyonna Williams added 16 points. Feyonda Fitzgerald contributed 13, and Alliya Butts scored 11 points. Jada Payne scored a game-high 22 points for East Carolina. I’Tiana Taylor registered a double-double with 11 points and rebounds.
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