Temple University Athletics
Temple Stays Perfect After 64-52 Win Over Richmond
2.9.07 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - Behind a game-high 21 points from junior center Lady Comfort, Temple (19-5, 9-0) remains unbeaten in Atlantic 10 play following a 64-52 win over Richmond (10-14, 4-5) Friday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. In front of a crowd of 2,832 for the fifth annual Dawn Staley School Day, the Owls shot an even 50 percent from the field en route to their 14th victory in 15 outings.
After dropping a team-high 14 points in the first half, senior All-America candidate and the Atlantic 10's top scorer (20.4 ppg) Kamesha Hairston finished with 17 points, on seven-for-16 shooting, while grabbing five rebounds. Fellow classmate Fatima Maddox shot four-for-seven from the field, and five-for six from the charity stripe, en route to 14 points and four assists.
Richmond, plagued by a 16.7 percent shooting clip in the first half and after trailing by as much as 26 points early in the second half, crawled back to within 12 with just over nine minutes remaining, but would get no closer. In a reserve role, freshman guard Danielle Bell led all Spider scorers with 12 points on three-for-six shooting while redshirt-junior and the team's leading scorer (10.2 ppg) Christina Campion tallied 11 points and collected six rebounds.
The Cherry and White jumped out to an early 9-0 advantage, just four and a half minutes into the contest, before the Spiders could even get on the scoreboard. As the Temple lead grew to as much as 21 points, Hairston, Comfort and Maddox led the charges offensively.
Early on, the Spiders could do nothing to contain the low-post presence of Comfort, as the junior scored nine points while grabbing a team-high five rebounds. In reaching the 20-point plateau for the seventh time this season and while averaging 13.4 points per contest, the Pensacola, Fla. native has really come into her own as one of the conference's premiere post-players and another scoring threat for seventh-year head coach Dawn Staley.
As the Owls carried a 40-20 halftime lead into intermission, Staley had to be pleased as her troops, enter today's contest, were winners of 12 games in 14 tries while leading at halftime. The Cherry and White 20-point cushion was credited to a 22-8 points in the paint advantage, on the back of Comfort, and a Richmond field goal drought that spanned nearly nine minutes.
However, second-year head coach Michael Shafer and his troops had different intentions as a 9-0 run, spear-headed by a host of Spiders, with slightly less than 12 minutes on the clock brought the visitors back to within striking distance. After a Sarah Williams lay-in, two Erin Hawkins free throws and another free throw from Campion, the Temple lead was now at 52-40 with 9:01 remaining.
The Owls, despite shooting a paltry eight-for-19 from the foul line in the second stanza, responded following a thirty-second timeout and put the Spiders away with a 9-2 run behind Comfort and Maddox as the lead was pushed back to 20 points and nary threatened again.
The Cherry and White look to remain unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 and also capture their third consecutive outright Big 5 title Monday evening at the Liacouras Center against cross-city rival La Salle. The Owls and Explorers will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.
