Balanced Scoring Attack Leads Women's Basketball Over UCF

Tuesday, January 27

Orlando, Fla.

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-11, 6-2

UCF

7-13, 3-6

TEMPLE

UCF

Erica Covile scored 17 points for the Owls

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Balanced Scoring Attack Leads Women's Basketball Over UCF

1.27.15 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. — Five players scored in double figures as the Temple women's basketball team picked up a 71-54 victory over UCF in American Athletic Conference action. The Owls have now won three in a row, moving to 6-2 in conference play, 10-11 overall. The Knights fall to 7-13 overall, 3-6 in the American.

Junior Erica Covile led the way with team highs of 17 points and eight rebounds, while rounding out her stat line with four steals, three assists, and two blocks. Senior Tyonna Williams had 13 points, including three from beyond-the-arc, helping Temple to a 41.7% effort from three-point range. Freshman Tanaya Atkinson contributed 12 points, while classmate Alliya Butts and sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald each had 11. Rookie Khadijah Berger (six points) and junior Mama Traore (five rebounds) bolstered the box score for Temple.

UCF had the early edge, converting on two early steals to race out to a 7-2 lead. Temple battled back with a 10-4 run to take over the lead, 12-11, into the first media timeout. The Owls then increased their advantage to 16-11 with back-to-back buckets from Covile and Fitzgerald.

The hosts kept things close, however, and then used an 8-3 surge to knot the contest at 19-19 with a pair of free throws at 8:47. Butts hit another three for Temple to put the Owls up 22-19, but UCF's Zykira Lewis answered back with a three of her own to tie the game once again, 22-22, with 7:35 remaining.

Temple struck for a 15-4 run to go up by 11 with under a minutes to play, as Williams had five during the stretch and Covile added four, making it 39-28 Owls. UCF added a bucket on their final possession of the half, while a half court shot from Williams rattled in and out as time expired, setting the score to 39-30, in favor of Temple.

At the break, Covile led all players with 13 points, while also adding five rebounds. Fitzgerald and Butts each had seven to pace an Owls' offense, that saw the team shoot 41.9% to UCF's 29.4%. For the Knights, Yanique Gordon had nine points, while Aliyah Gregory added seven.

UCF opened the second half on an 8-3 run, cutting the Owl edge to 42-38 early. The Owls quelled the UCF surge with one of their own, scoring 12-straight points to open their largest lead of the game, 54-38, with 12:44 to play.

Following a UCF bucket, Temple netted 10 unanswered, including a pair of threes from Berger, making it 62-40 with 6:26 remaining. The Owl surge was part of a 22-2 Temple run that spanned nearly 11 minutes of action. UCF's Lewis got hot down the stretch, scoring the final seven points for the Knights, but Temple closed out the 71-54 win.

Lewis finished with a game-high 20 points, while Gregory added 12 and Brittni Montgomery had 10 points and eight boards.

Up next for the Owls, No. 2/2 UConn is coming to town on Sunday. Temple will battle the Huskies at 2 p.m. at McGonigle Hall with ESPN2 on hand to broadcast the game.

Box Score (PDF)