A Special Celebration for Temple As They Defeat Rice 83 – 63
PHILADELPHIA, PA 2/28/2025 –
Senior Night is always an emotional time for the student athletes. This one was special as Temple guard Tiarra East set a career-high scoring 33 points and took down 8 rebounds in the Temple Owls 83 – 63 win over the Rice Owls at the Liacouras Center. A moment to remember.
“We’re (the seniors) are going to remember this forever,” said East. “You only get one senior night in college and it felt good. I’ve been here Coach Rich since she got here. It feels good to get back from the Rice game from last year semifinals, being together and doing it once in your life.”
Fellow celebrant Tarriyonna Gary scored 18 points and handed out a team-best 4 assists. Her sentiments were similar, but had an eye toward the immediate future.
“It felt really good to get this win,” Gary said. “Like T said we’re going to remember this forever. We knew we wanted this game, especially since Rice knocked us out of the semifinals last year. But we’re not done yet. Just because we’re done here doesn’t mean we’re done.”
With the win Temple captures the fourth seed in the upcoming American postseason tournament. It is the second consecutive year that the Cherry and White will be a top four seed, and go directly to the quarterfinal round. They achieved a team goal.
“It helps us looking forward to have a double bye,” said Temple Coach Diane Richardson. “It helps us in terms of rest not having to play back to back to back games. We knew that was our goal for this year, as it was last year as well. They came to play and got it done.”
Defense, Defense, Defense
Rice runs a crisp offense and likes to get out on the fast break. They moved the ball well and led 38 – 33 at halftime. In the second half Temple wanted to up the defensive pressure and did so limiting Rice to 25 second half points. What was the reason?
“Pressure,” Richardson said. “We had to put pressure on the ball handler. Force them to take quick shots. Speed them up, that’s what we wanted to do. Kayla (Turner) and Tristan (Taylor) put pressure on them. Pressure, pressure, pressure, and it bothered them. In the second half our defensive pressure was turned up a notch.”
Rice turned the ball over 15 times which gave Temple a 21 – 5 advantage in points off turnovers.
Key Run of the Game
Temple took the lead in the third quarter behind 8 consecutive points by East moving in front 55 – 51. The game went firmly in the direction of the Cherry and White with a 15 – 2 run over the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. During the run East set her career-best at that time of 29 points, and added to that total before leaving to an ovation late in the game.
What the Numbers Say
Fellow Senior Night celebrants Amaya Oliver and Anissa Rivera added 7 points and 5 points. Oliver took down a game-high tying 8 rebounds and had an assist and a steal. Rivera grabbed 5 caroms and dished an assist. Kaylah Turner broke double-figures with 11 points.
Rice had two players break double-digits. Aniah Alexis scored 15 points and forward Sussy Ngulefac had 10 points. Victoria Flores had 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Up Next
Temple (18 – 10, 12 – 5) has a game at Charlotte before heading to Fort Worth for the conference tournament. The Cherry and White are riding a five-game winning streak playing their best basketball at the right time.
“We wanted to be consistent this year,” Richardson said. “To win these five in a row, it shows we are on an uptick right now and hopefully carry that on next week and to the tournament.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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