Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball Suffers Second Half Meltdown And Falls To #4 Stanford 63-54
11.25.07 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2007
St. Thomas, USVI- The fourth-ranked Stanford Cardinal (5-1) used a 19-0 second-half run to claw back from a 39-22 halftime deficit and the Temple Owls (2-4) suffered a complete offensive shutdown, allowing Stanford to earn a 63-54 win in the third place game of the 2007 Paradise Jam on Sunday night. Temple made just five field goals in the second stanza, while Stanford shot 46.4% from the field to finish with a 39.3% shooting percentage.
Lady Comfort and Ashley Morris were unstoppable in the first half, with the scoring tandem combined for 27 of the Owls' 39 first stanza points. Comfort had 14 points, her game total, while Morris scored 13, including nine from long range, finishing with 19 points. The second half was a completely different story, Temple was unable to keep pace with the national powerhouse Cardinals.Morris was voted to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts.
Morris started off the game with a jumper at 19:16 and sparking a 4-0 Temple run. Stanford made its first field goal at 17:31, but the Owls continued to roll, taking a 10-4 lead at 15:26. The Cardinal came roaring back, however, putting together a 7-0 run to take their first lead (11-10) at 13:30. A Comfort lay-up tied the game at 12 at 13:27, a score that would hold for the next two minutes. An off-balance trey by Morris sparked a 5-0 TU run that broke the deadlock and made it 17-12 with 10 minutes remaining. The Cardinal broke its scoring drought at 9:53, but it was a brief hiccup as Temple went on a 16-4 run to take a 12-point lead, with three minutes remaining. The Cherry and White hit four treys during that stretch, two by Morris and two by freshman sharp-shooter Lindsay Kimmel. Temple extended its lead to as much as 19 points (39-20) but a lay-up by Candice Wiggins with 10 seconds remaining got Stanford within 17, 39-22, going into the break. Temple shot a season-high 55.6% from the field, while Stanford was just 9-for-28.
The Cardinal came out of the locker room a lot more aggressive than it had gone in, forcing four straight Temple turnovers and going on an incredible 19-0 run to take a 41-39 lead at 12:45. The Owls seemed lost, unable to get any sort of offense going, while Stanford smoothly gave itself its first lead. Morris finally got Temple on the second-half board with a jumper at 12:21 to tie the game at 41 and spark a 7-0 run to take back the lead (46-41) at 9:42. Stanford wasn't about to dig itself a hole again, scoring 11 straight points to take back the lead, 52-47 with 4:30 to play. A three-point play by Shenita Landry with 4:23 remaining got Temple to within two points (52-50) and two Shanea Cotton free throws tied the game yet again, this time at 52 with 3:38 remaining. Candice Wiggins hit four straight free throws to put Stanford back on top and spark an 11-0 Cardinal run to make it 63-52 with a minute to play. Landry hit a jumper with 30 seconds left but it was too little too late, as Stanford rolled to the 63-54 win.
Jillian Harmon had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Wiggins finished with 22 points, while Jayne Appel had 16.
Temple returns home to face MAC opponent Ball State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
