Temple University Athletics
Temple Edges Nebraska, 64-61, For NCAA Tournament First Round Victory
3.19.07 | Women's Basketball
March 19, 2007
RALEIGH, N.C.-Fatima Maddox made four free throws in the final minute of the game to give Temple (25-7) a 64-61 win over Nebraska (22-10) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday night at the RBC Center. Maddox netted a team-high 18 points while leading three Owls in double figures to lift Temple to its third trip to the NCAA Second Round. Maddox also dished a game-high five assists. Lady Comfort added 15 points and Kamesha Hairston had 12 points and a game-high three steals. The Cherry and White will face top-seeded Duke on Tuesday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.
After building a 12-point lead (27-15) midway through the first half, Temple failed to make a field goal in the last seven minutes of the stanza, and trailed 30-29 at the break. Regional American Hairston was a frigid one-for-eight from the field, forcing Maddox and Comfort to shoulder most of the scoring load. Temple used a 9-4 run in the final two and a half minutes of the game to earn the victory.
"We played possession by possession," said Temple head coach Dawn Staley. "We tried to make shots when we needed them and tried to get scores when we needed them. We were really resilient. A lot of things didn't go our way. Yes, they were frustrating but we kept our composure and took the hits and kept moving.
There were plenty of times we could have broken and let the situation get the best of us, but we withstood it and put ourselves in a position to win the basketball game. We are trying to break down doors and open our program up to the national scene. What we are doing is teaching our kids some great life skills through basketball. I thought they got repaid tonight for what they put in this particular season."
Ashley Morris and Shenita Landry also came up big for Temple, with Morris dishing four assists and scoring seven points and Landry totaling nine points, thanks to a five-for-eight performance from the charity stripe. Each contributed five boards to give TU a 42-32 rebounding edge.
Hairston got the Owls started with a basket at 19:53 but a 5-0 Nebraska run gave the Huskers an early lead. Comfort finally broke the two-minute scoring drought with a highly contested lay-up at 17:21 which began a 9-2 run, giving Temple a 11-7 lead with 15:17 to play. Nebraska turned up the defensive pressure, forcing the Owls to take off-balance shots and commit turnovers. The Temple defense buckled down as well during this stretch, however, which kept the score locked at 14-11 for over two minutes. Maddox finally broke the scoreless stretch with a jumper at 10:51 and Morris added two more to make it 18-11 at the 10 minute mark. Comfort and Maddox continued to work hard for the Cherry and White, sparking a 10-3 run to make it 27-15 at 7:10. Then everything began to fall apart.
Keira Hardy got the Huskers to within eight (27-19) at 6:14, ending their three-minute field goal drought. That was the beginning of a 13-0 run that gave Nebraska a 28-27 lead with just over two minutes to play. A free throw by Landry at 1:57 gave the Owls their first point in over five minutes, but the Huskers were able to end the half with a narrow 30-29 lead.
The momentum continued to be in Nebraska's favor to start the second half, as the Huskers extended their lead to as many as seven points. The officials didn't help matters, as they whistled the Owls for 14 fouls by five-minute mark of the period. Nebraska had just four fouls at that juncture. Hardy began the half with a trey, extending the Huskers' lead to four (33-29) at 19:30. LaKeisha Eaddy finally got Temple on the second-half board with a lay-up at 18:31, but the Owls continued to look slow and lethargic and failed to score for over five minutes. A 4-0 Hairston run at 11:37 cut the Huskers' lead to just two points (43-41), a differential that the Owls were able to maintain until a Maddox lay-up tied the score at 47 with 8:27 remaining. Two free throws by Morris at 7:43 gave Temple a 49-47 lead, its first since midway through the first stanza.
The game remained tied for the next few minutes until a 4-0 Husker run made it 59-55 at 2:35. Temple the scored five unanswered points to take the lead for good at 60-59 with just 1:37 to play. Maddox's two free throws with 56 seconds to play made it 62-59, but Nebraska answered with a lay-up with 32.4 left to again cut the margin to one at 62-61. With the clock just about to strike midnight, Maddox's final two free throws made sure that the Owls would remain Cinderella for at least one more round.
Hardy scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Huskers, while Kelsey Griffin added 11 points.
