Temple University Athletics
Temple University
7-10, 3-1Amer.
USF
13-3, 4-0Amer.
USF Tops Women's Basketball in Battle of Unbeaten American Teams
1.11.15 | Women's Basketball
Owl freshman Alliya Butts had a career-day, recording 24 points, including knocking down 5-8 from three-point range. Sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald also had good day from the field, picking up 17 points. Freshman Tanaya Atkinson had seven points and four boards, while junior Erica Covile pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Rounding out the Temple action, junior Mama Traore had five points and five boards.
USF kept Temple off the board for the first four and a half minutes, with a Fitzgerald drive to the basket the first points for the Owls. The Bulls, meanwhile, built a 15-7 lead at the 12-minute mark, backed by six points each from Courtney Williams and Alisia Jenkins.
Temple's Fitzgerald brought the lead back down to six points with a fast-break jumper at 10:31, but USF, scored five-straight, to take their largest lead of the half, at 22-11. Temple got hot from beyond-the-arc towards the end of the half, as threes from Atkinson and Butts, brought the USF lead down to eight, but USF's Williams converted a three-point play, to push their edge back to 11, at 32-21 with 2:30 to play.
Another five points from Butts, brought the USF advantage back down to eight, as the Owls closed the gap to 32-24. The Bulls, however, surged right before the break, scoring seven straight in the final 1:48, to grow their lead to 39-24 heading into the locker room.
USF's Courtney Williams led all players with 15 points, while Temple was paced by eight each from Butts and Fitzgerald. Each team had six turnovers at the break, but USF out-shot the Owls, 53.6% to 29.4%, accounting for the score differential.
Though Temple hit the first shot of the half, another Butts three, USF rattled off 11-straight points to grow their lead to 22 (49-27) with 16:45 to play. Temple cut the deficit down to 16 points with 14 to play, as Butts and Safiya Martin connected for the cherry and white to make it a 56-40 game.
Despite Temple heating up from beyond-the-arc, USF kept up their lights-out shooting, pushing their lead back to lead back to 22. The Bulls scored six-straight points to make it 62-40 with 10:36 to play.
Temple then made a run, out-scoring USF 16-6 over the next seven minutes to cut the lead to just 10 at 68-58 with 3:04 to play. USF pushed it back to 12 with a Williams' jumper at 2:49, but that proved to be the last points for either team, as the Bulls held on for the 70-58 victory.
USF was led by Courtney Williams who recorded a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Alisia Jenkins had 14 points and Laura Ferreira added 10. Katelyn Weber finished with eight points and 11 rebounds, as the Bulls out-rebounded Temple, 42-37.
The Owls continue conference play on Wednesday, traveling to No. 2/2 UConn for a 7 p.m. American Athletic Conference clash.
Box Score (PDF)
