The Owls Outscore the Bearcats 20 – 13 in Fourth Quarter
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1/26/2022 –
Much like the men’s basketball team did in winning over Cincinnati the previous day, the Temple women’s team completed a second half rally to win 68 – 64 at McGonigle Hall. The Owls sweep the season series against the Bearcats and find themselves winning three of their last four games. That loss was in overtime to USF.
Temple was behind by as many as 15 points in the first half. A slow but sure rally started and the Owls trailed 36 – 28 at halftime. The team was sure they would compete harder in the latter twenty minutes.
“There was a feeling and we knew there was no way we were going to lose this game,” said Owls forward Caranda Perea. “At no point did I think we were going to lose. At halftime everybody was in it and saying ‘we got it, we got it’. It was just the way we stayed together. There was no way we were going to lose.”
After three quarters the deficit had dwindled to three points. In the final ten minutes the Owls found the value of stops holding the Bearcats who missed 10 of 12 shots late in the game. Defense would open the door as the Owls stepped through it.
“We had to get shots at the basket, but more importantly, we had to defend,” said Temple Coach Tonya Cardona. “We had to make sure we were getting stops, boxing out and not giving them second chance opportunities. We did that. We sat down and we defended them. We held them to 13 points in that fourth quarter. That was their lowest output. We beared down when we had to and we were able to capitalize on the other side too.”
Scoring 22 points Mia Davis led all scorers, and most of the points came from the foul line as she hit 12 of 14 free throw attempts. Davis kept the team focused.
“They way they were playing, they were not going to let Mia get touches where she wanted get touches,” Cardoza said. “But she found a way to be aggressive and put the ball on the floor. And they were fouling her. She kept moving, didn’t get frustrated, and trusted her teammates, making extra passes. She was the one who kept them together. And made sure those younger guys know exactly what we needed to get done. She kept communicating. That’s what great players do.”
In the game Temple had nine players score. Jasha Clinton added 14 points while Caranda Perea broke double digits getting 10 points. Aniya Gourdine would hand out a game-high 7 assists and took down 7 rebounds.
Jillian Hayes recorded a double-double scoring 16 points and grabbed 10 caroms for Cincinnati (9 – 10, 2 – 5). Caitlyn Wilson and Arame Niang each added 12 points.
The Owls rise to two games above .500 at 9 – 7 and stand at 4 – 1 in the American, a half game behind leaders UCF and USF. Temple travels to Memphis on Saturday.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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