Women’s Basketball Holds off Penn in Big 5 Action, 59-51

Wednesday, January 23

Philadelphia, Pa.

7:00 PM

Temple University

(8-10, 1-1B5)

Penn

(7-8, 1-3B5)

Temple

Penn

Victoria Macaulay led the Owls with 15 points

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Women’s Basketball Holds off Penn in Big 5 Action, 59-51

1.23.13 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA (The Palestra) – After building up a 24-point lead in the second half, Temple women's basketball was able to hold off a rally by Penn (7-8) and defeat the Quakers on their home court, 59-51. The win improved the Owls' record to 8-10 overall and 1-1 in the Big 5, while Penn finishes the city series with a record of 1-3.

Victoria Macaulay led three Temple players in double figures with 15 points, nearly making it a double-double with a game-high nine rebounds. Tyonna Williams scored 13 points, and Sally Kabengano finished with 10 for the Owls.

“It feels good (to get the win),” said head coach Tonya Cardoza, after the Owls lost back-to-back Atlantic 10 contests last week. “The first 30 minutes of the basketball game, that's what we've been looking for, where defensively we're not giving them anything and then we're scoring and taking care of the basketball.

“The team you saw in the last 10 minutes, that's the team that's been showing up way too often. We have to try to get rid of that team and make sure we're doing the things that make us look like the team from the first 30 minutes…I think we got lax (in the last 10 minutes). We're young, and it's like they look at the scoreboard and think they can take a break. We took way too many breaks that gave them life.”

Much like the start at Duquesne last weekend, the Owls were ice cold from the field early on. Fortunately for Temple, the defense was solid and the Quakers were unable to jump out to much of a lead.

Penn led 6-0 as the Owls went 0-for-8 from the field until Williams hit her first three-pointer near the 13-minute mark to get Temple on the board. She was the only player to score for the Owls in the first 11 minutes of the contest, and twice got Temple within a point of Penn.

Eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of action limited the Owls' opportunities to even the score, but things began to turn around after the midway point of the first half.

May Dayan's jumper at 9:26 started a 10-0 run for Temple, with eight of those points coming from Macaulay. The Owls held Penn without a point for over five minutes, and would allow the Quakers only two buckets in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

The 10-0 run became a 25-4 run for the Owls in the latter part of the first half, and Temple took a 32-14 lead into the break after Dayan hit a three-pointer on an inbounds pass with .08 seconds on the clock.

Macaulay led all players with 11 points at halftime, while Dayan had eight off the bench. The Owls committed only one turnover in the final nine minutes of the half.

Kabengano quickly gave Temple a 20-point lead in the second half with back-to-back layups. Temple's largest lead of 24 came at the midway point on a layup from Macaulay to put the Owls ahead 51-27.

The Quakers began to put the pressure on down the stretch, using an 18-4 run to close the gap to 10, 55-45 at 3:03. Temple scored just twice over an eight and a half-minute span, and with just over a minute remaining the Quakers were able to narrow the margin to single digits.

With a pair of free throws near the one-minute mark, Penn's Katy Allen put her team within eight, 57-49. The next two attempts from the field were misses for the Quakers, who were forced to foul.

Williams hit 2-of-2 at the line with 20 seconds remaining for a 10-point cushion, and Penn was able to get just two free throws for the final tally of 59-51.

The Owls will be back in action on Sunday, Jan. 27, facing La Salle in McGonigle Hall at 2:00 p.m.