Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball Returns Home To Face Ball State
11.27.07 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2007
PHILADELPHIA- Women's basketball (2-4) will hope to get its third win of the year, after facing three straight Top 25 opponents, when it hosts Ball State (3-2) on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Liacouras Center. This is the first meeting between Temple and Ball State. The Owls are 5-1 against Mid-American Conference teams, with its only loss coming at the hands of Bowling Green on November 24, 2006.
Lady Comfort earned a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds and Ashley Morris added 19 more but the Temple women's basketball team could not overcome a poor shooting day and 26 turnovers, falling 59-49 to Georgia Tech (3-0) on Sunday afternoon. Comfort scored 12 points in the second half to spark a late Temple rally but TU could get no closer than six points. Morris was four-of-six from long range and dished a game-high four assists as Temple drops to 1-2 on the season.The Owls finished with 26 turnovers and just a 37.8 shooting percentage. They were also edged, 36-34, on the boards. LaKeisha Eaddy had a game-high four steals.
Morris leads Temple in scoring and assists, averaging 16.3 ppg and dishing 22 assists. She also leads Temple in three-point shooting, making 39% of her attempts. Comfort is tops in rebounding, grabbing an average of 9.7 rpg, and second in scoring (12.7 ppg). Shanea Cotton is second in boards with 7.3 rpg and LaKeisha Eaddy has a team-high nine steals.
Ball State is coming off two straight wins in the Northern Arizona Thanksgiving Tournament. The Cardinals defeated Vermont, 83-67, on Nov. 23 and then bested host N. Arizona, 76-61, on the 24th. Julie DeMuth earned MVP honors, while Porchia Green was named to the All-Tournament Team.
DeMuth leads Ball State in scoring and rebounding with 16 ppg and 7.6 rpg, while Green is second, averaging 12.8 ppg. Audrey McDonald is chipping in with 11.4 ppg and Lisa Rushche rounds out double figure scorers with 10.4 ppg. Kiley Jarrett has dished 22 assists thus far this season.
November Madness
Leave it to Temple to not wait until March to play NCAA Tournament-calibur competition. The Owls just finished a five-game road trip that included five powerhouse opponents. Temple began its test at #8/10 Georgia (11/16) and faced Georgia Tech (11/18) before traveling to the Virgin Islands to take on #8/9 Duke (11/23), #22/20 Purdue (11/24) and #4 Stanford (11/25) in the Paradise Jam.
Woman on A Mission
In the tradition of senior captains in the early part of Temple's schedule, Ashley Morris has been a one-woman scoring maching, keeping her team in every game. Against Cent.Michigan (11/12), she had a game-high 15 points and then followed that up with a career and game-high 21 points, including 17 in the second half, against #8/10 Georgia (11/16). Vs. Georgia Tech (11/18), she led the Owls with 19 points. In the Paradise Jam, she had a team-high 19 pts. vs. #22/20 Purdue and then scored another 19 pts., including 13 in the first half, against #4 Stanford. Morris was named to the Paradise Jam's All-Tournament Team for her outstanding effort.
Island Living
The island surf and sun must have agreed with freshman Dawnnae Roberts. In three games at the Paradise Jam, the rookie made nearly 50% of her shots from long range. Against Duke, Roberts hit two straight treys to get the Owls within four points with just over three minutes to play.
