Temple Gets First Big Five Win of the Diane Richardson Era
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 12/5/2022 –
The Owls turned up the defense when they needed to and got their initial Big Five win of the season, and the first for Diane Richardson defeating La Salle 70 – 56 at the Liacouras Center. La Salle crawled back from a 16-point deficit to tie the game. Then the Cherry and White behind guard Tiarra East went on a 15 – 0 run to take control and glide to the win.
“It was a great win for us,” said Richardson. “A Big Five win. Those are important in Philly. I think we did a great job defensively. We banded together. There were a couple of times when we lulled a little bit, but we bounced back.”
East Leads the Charge
La Salle erased a Temple lead to tie the game at 50 with 9:12 to play in the fourth quarter on a layup by Mia Jacobs. The Owls answered right back starting with a three-point play by East. In the run she would score 7 points, assist twice and get a steal.
For the game East scored a career-high 25 points, the most points by any Temple player this season. She also set a collegiate-best in assists with 4 and 5 steals.
Richardson wants the team to play fast, create turnovers, and score in transition. And that is how they won the game.
“We knew our speed was going to be the key,” Richardson said. “If we could hold them and get stops, we could get out in transition. Tiarra East did a great job with 5 steals and turning us back around and getting out in transition and score in transition.”
“She carps all the time on defense in practice, getting defensive rebounds, and pushing it in transition which makes our offense go,” said East.
La Salle Went Cold at the End
While Temple was on their run, La Salle could not answer on offense being held without a point from when it was tied over the next four minutes. The Explorers got only two field goals for the rest of the game.
“That’s a good recipe to lose a game when you tie the game, crawl all the way back, then give up a turnover for a layup, then back-to-back threes,” said La Salle Coach Mountain MacGillivray. “The next thing you know you’re back to the deficit at halftime.”
Temple Got Defensive
The Explorers were held to 31.1% shooting (19 of 61) and made 7 of 27 from the three-point line. It was turnovers that hurt as La Salle gave up 22 which gave Temple 16 points off turnovers, but also allowed for fast break baskets. The Cherry and White put up 27 fast break points, and stole the ball 11 times.
Still, La Salle would get back into contention when they converted some three-pointers. Two in the third quarter. But not enough.
“We just weren’t getting enough attempts,” MacGillivray said. “We were turning the ball over. And them getting extra attempts with 14 offensive rebounds hurts.”
What the Numbers Say
Temple guard Jasha Clinton scored 12 points and took down 11 rebounds, which is a career-best.
Claire Jacobs headed the Explorers with 13 points while Charity Shears added 12 markers and 3 steals.
Up Next
La Salle is 6 – 4 for the year and 0 – 2 in the Big Five. The Explorers will have a quick turn around playing Monmouth on Wednesday.
The Owls improve to 4 – 5 on the season and are 1 – 2 in the city series. Temple goes to University City on Sunday to play Penn in their final Big Five game of the season. Another meaningful game for the Owls.
“The Big Five, it’s huge,” Richardson said. “It’s like playing a postseason tournament. The pressure was on for us to get a win. We knew we had to be tuned in and focused for us to get a win and a Big Five win.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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