Temple University Athletics
#24/23 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SETS A-10 STREAK RECORD WITH 77-69 WIN OVER CHARLOTTE
1.6.06 | Women's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- The #24/23 Temple women's basketball team has clearly made its mark in Atlantic 10 history by winning three of the last four conference championships. But after winning their record-setting 23rd consecutive A-10 game with today's 77-69 win over Charlotte, the Owls truly can stake claim to having one of the best stretches in the conference's 24-year history.
Temple (9-3, 1-0) has not lost an Atlantic 10 game since February 29, 2004 at George Washington and has strung together 23 wins and a pair of A-10 titles. Ironically, the Colonials held the previous mark of 22 straight victories from February 25, 1996 to March 2, 1997.
With a crowd of 2,603 in attendance for the fourth annual Dawn Staley Day, the Owls treated local school children to a day of education both on and off the court. Sophomore center Lady Comfort posted her first double-double with career highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds and junior Kamesha Hairston also had 18. Senior Jennifer Owens also posted career-highs of 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Staley should look into playing all of her games at high noon, as her team torched the nets by shooting a Liacouras Center record 62.2% from the field and approached the 70% mark midway through the second half. Luckily for the hosts, the torrid shooting offset 25 turnovers against the 49ers' (8-5, 1-1) pressure defense.
"We shot the ball extremely well today," Staley said. "When the inside game is going well, it really opens up shots for our perimeter plays."
Charlotte focused much of its defense on senior All-America candidate Candice Dupree, clamping down with double and triple teams. The strategy worked well, limiting Dupree to season-lows of eight points and four rebounds, but allowed the rest of the squad to become involved in the offense.
"The fact that they had to double and triple team her, it allowed some of our other players to reap the benefits," Staley said.
Comfort benefited underneath, flying under the radar in the paint, and shot 5-for-7 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the line.
Senior Jennifer Owens connected on 4-for-5 from behind the arc in her best performance of the season as the collapsing defense could not recover off trapping Dupree. Classmate Khadija Bowens was the fourth Owl to reach double-figures with ten points.
The 49ers, which knocked off perennial A-10 contender Xavier earlier in the week, did not lead after the 18:17 mark of the first half. But that's not to say that Charlotte did not make things interesting. The visitors rallied back from an 18-point deficit midway through the second half, cutting the Temple lead to just seven with 1:20 to play. The Owls held on for the victory in just the second meeting against the former Conference USA member.
"We were a little too content with the 18-point lead," Hairston said.
Sakellie Daniels led all scorers with 20 points, while Andrea Davidson added 13 and six steals for Charlotte.
TU, which has been ranked for 17 consecutive weeks in the Associated Press poll, needs to stay in the rankings for just one more week to break the city record, set by Saint Joseph's during the 1989-90 season.
Temple will visit city rival La Salle on Sunday in an Atlantic 10 and Big 5 clash. The game tips-off at 2 p.m. and will be televised on CN8.
"We never play well against La Salle," Staley said. "We're ready for a hard-fought game."
