Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball Defeats Iona In OT
12.20.99 | Women's Basketball
New Rochelle, N.Y. (December 19) -- The Temple women's basketball team beat Iona, 69-67, in an overtime thriller in New Rochelle, N.Y.
The Owls were led by Lisa Jakubowicz (Levittown, Pa./Conwell Egan) who scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds, both team-highs. Junior Ieesha Turnage (Linden, N.J./Elizabeth) scored a career-high 17 points and had four assists and four steals. Sophomore Melissa Eagles (Providence, R.I./The Wheeler School) also reached a career-high in points by scoring 14.
It was a tale of two halves as the Owls scored only 19 points in the first half shooting 30 percent from the field. Conversely, Iona shot a solid 56 percent from the floor and scored 34 first-half points en route to a 34-19 halftime lead.
Both teams traded baskets for much of the second half until the Owls were able to chip away at the Iona lead. The Owls were trailing, 48-37, with 7:39 remaining before they went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 52-50 with 2:33 remaining. Iona's Karen Shutz hit a running jumper to extend the Lady Gaels' lead to 54-50. On the ensuing possession, Nicole Chaszar (Brackney, Pa./Montrose Area) made her only basket of the game a big one as she nailed a three-pointer to cut the Iona lead to one point. Turnage made a steal on the next Iona possession and got fouled. She converted one of the two free throws to tie the game, 54-54, with 28.4 seconds remaining. Each team committed a turnover in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Iona took an early advantage as Karen Culbertson hit a three-pointer to put the Lady Gaels up 59-56. Eagles answered with a driving layup to bring the Owls to within one in the overtime period. After the teams traded baskets, Culbertson hit two free throws to put Iona up 67-65 with 54.2 seconds remaining. Once again, Eagles answered with a driving layup to tie the game, 67-67, with 39.5 seconds remaining. Following an Iona miss, Jakubowicz hit a layup with 5.8 seconds remaining to put the Owls up 69-67. Iona's last second shot was off the mark and the Owls held on to win the game.
With the win Temple improves to 4-4 on the season. Iona drops to 2-6. Up next, the Owls will face Rider on Dec. 21 at The Forum at The Apollo of Temple with tip-off slated for 5:00 p.m.
