Temple University Athletics
Women's Basketball Looks For 2-0 Big Five Start When It Hosts Penn On Thursday
12.24.07 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 24, 2007
PHILADELPHIA-Temple (6-6) looks to continue its winning ways and earn a 2-0 Big Five mark when it hosts Penn (3-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Penn is 0-2 in the Big Five after dropping games to Saint Joseph's and Villanova. The Owls are 1-0 in city series play and have won a record tying 15 consecutive Big Five games.
Temple opened Big Five play with a 54-46 win over Villanova on Friday. The victory was a record-tying 15th consecutive Big Five win for the Owls, a feat accomplished just one other time in history. The Saint Joseph's Hawks won 15 straight city series games between the 1991-92 season and the 1995-96 seasons. Point guard Ashley Morris led the Owls with 13 points and five assists. Junior Shenita Landry followed with a season-high 12 points, including shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Junior Shanea Cotton came off the bench for 10 points. Senior Lady Comfort grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, including 10 defensive.
Morris leads Temple in scoring and assists, averaging 16.5 ppg and dishing 40 assists. She also leads Temple in three-point shooting, making 36.1% of her attempts. Comfort is averaging 9.2 ppg and a team-high 9.1 rpg. LaKeisha Eaddy has a team-high 20 steals.
After heading into the locker rooms tied at 26, the Dragons' defense smothered the Penn women's basketball team in the second half and handed the Quakers a 60-41 loss on December 20. Sara Bucar led the Quakers in both points (10) and rebounds (8) and set a career-high in boards. Anca Popovici tied her career high five assists. She also brought down six boards, as did Maggie Burgess. As a team, the Quakers dominated the Dragons, out-rebounding them 39-22 including a season-high 15 offensive boards.
Carrie Biemer is the lone Quaker in double figures, averaging 14.9 ppg. Popovici is tops in rebounding, averaging 5.0 rpg, while Bucar is the team leader in assists (28).
This is the 61st meeting between the Temple Owls and the Penn Quakers. The Owls lead the Big Five series, 43-17, which dates back to the 1925 season. In the teams' last meeting on Dec. 29, 2006, Temple defeated Penn, 68-49.
We Built This City
After topping Villanova, 54-46, on Friday, the Owls are on their way to capturing their fourth straight Big Five title. Since round robin play began in the 1979-80 season, no team has won four straight titles. If that occurs, seniors Ashley Morris, Lady Comfort, Nicole Pittman and Candice Borrows with become the first players to win all of their Big Five games.
