Temple University Athletics
Temple Falls to Villanova for First Loss of the Season
12.2.00 | Women's Basketball
Villanova, Pa. - The Temple women's basketball team lost its first game of the season to Villanova 60-55. The game marked Wildcats coach Harry Perretta's 400th career victory and the first loss for the Owls in the Dawn Staley era. Temple is now 3-1 on the season.
Leading the way for Temple was junior center Lisa Jakubowicz with 16 points and six rebounds. Fellow junior Athena Christoforakis (13 points, five rebounds) was the only other Temple player to reach double figures in the scoring column.
The Owls trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half before trailing 29-23 at halftime. Temple led briefly in the second half and made a game of it until the final seconds but the Owls could not overcome the hot shooting of the Wildcats from beyond the arc and their own poor shooting from the field. For the game, Temple shot just 34.8 percent from the field and only 16.8 percent from the three point line. The Owls kept the game close mainly due to their rebounding where they held a 40-33 edge over the Wildcats. Although not thrilled with the loss coach Staley seemed to be able to put it and Harry Perreta's milestone in perspective. "It's awesome to be a part of 400 victories and I congratulated him. He's spent a lot of time in women's basketball. Unfortunately I was on the losing part of his 400 but hopefully he stays in it long enough where I get a chance to win my 400th against him."
Temple returns to action on Saturday, December 9 at 12:00 noon to face Pennsylvania in their second Big Five city series contest of the season.
