Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball Loses Heartbreaker to Fordham
1.13.00 | Women's Basketball
Philadelphia (January 13) -- Despite a valiant comeback effort, the Temple women's basketball team lost to Fordham, 79-78, tonight at the Apollo.
Temple trailed Fordham by 18 points with 12:34 remaining in the contest. The Owls mounted a furious attack and began chipping away at the Ram lead. The Owls were able to cut the lead to eight points with 5:17 remaining thanks to a three-pointer by freshman Regan Apo. However, Fordham answered right back with a three-point shot of their own. Things looked grim for the Owls as they fell behind, 76-65, with 3:44 remaining. However, there was still some life left in the Owls as they mounted a 10-2 scoring run to cut the lead to 77-75 with :32 seconds left. Following a Fordham missed free throw, freshman Stacey Smalls marched the length of the floor, hit a driving lay-up, and got fouled to tie the contest, 77-77, with :17 remaining. Smalls calmly nailed the free throw to give the Owls their first lead since very early in the game. However, Fordham's Nailah Wallace got open and hit a lay up with six seconds remaining to put Fordham up, 79-78. The Owls went to Smalls once again but this time the shot was just long at the buzzer and Forham held on for the one-point victory.
The Owls were led by Lisa Jakubowicz who scored a team-high 20 points. Smalls added 13 points and four assists. Apo notched a career-high 12 points in the loss.
Temple's defense had 14 steals and forced 26 Fordham turnovers. However, it was the hot shooting of Fordham that helped win the game for the Rams. Fordham shot a solid 60 percent from the floor and an even more impressive 71.4 percent from beyond the arc. Fordham's Kady Kanoute scored 24 points, including a scorching 6-for-7 from beyond the arc.
With the loss the Owls drop to 5-10 on the season and 0-4 in the Atlantic 10. Up next for the Owls is a trip to Washington, D.C. to face George Washington on Jan 16.
