Temple University Athletics
Turnovers Prove Costly as Temple Women's Basketball Falls 95-76 At #21/20 Auburn
11.17.08 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2008
Auburn, Ala.- All-American candidate DeWanna Bonner netted 29 points to lead four players in double figures as the #21/20 Auburn Tigers defeated the visiting Temple womens basketball team, 95-76, on Monday night. Down just 37-34 at the break, the Owls could not capitalize on a 50% shooting clip, thanks to 29 total turnovers. Shaqwedia Wallace netted a career-high 21 points and dished five assists to lead TU, who drops to 1-1 on the season.
It has been nearly 10 years since an opponent has scored 95 points against Temple. Then #5 Duke netted 112 in a drubbing of Temple, on December 12, 1998.
Shanea Cotton was also in double figures with 17 points and a team-high six rebounds. Shenita Landry came on strong in the second half, finishing with 13 points and six rebounds.
The first half was extremely tight, as it featured nine ties and 11 lead changes. Just when the Tigers thought that they had the game under control, the Owls turned up the defensive pressure and came battling back to either tie or take the lead. Shanea Cotton and Shaqwedia Wallace were nearly unstoppable on offense, combining for 23 of TU's 34 total first stanza points. The Owls shot nearly 52% from the field but committed 16 turnovers to hinder their progress. The visitors were able to take care of the ball a little better in the second half but could not find an answer for Auburns Alli Smalley, who netted 16 second-half points to lead her team to victory.
Shenita Landry got the Owls started with a three-point play at 19:14 but after two quick Temple turnovers, the Tigers took a 5-3 advantage just a minute later. That would be the last points that Auburn would score for over three minutes, however, as the Owls clamped down on defense and put together a 4-0 run that made it 7-5 at 16:45. Auburn came storming back with a run of its own but the scrappy Owls refused to back down and reclaimed the lead (16-14) at 10:48. Wallace scored five points during that stretch to pace the Owl offense. The teams traded the lead for the next few minutes until a 7-0 TU run gave the Owls a 29-24 lead at 4:38, their largest lead of the contest. The blistering hot Owls went cold, however, and the Tigers the put together an 11-0 run, to take back the lead, 33-29. Temple scored five quick points to get back on top, 34-33 at 1:46 but Auburn put together a 4-0 run in the final minute of the half to take a 37-34 lead going into the break.
It seemed that the Owls magic was all used up as Auburn came out of the break with a 12-1 run that made it 49-35 at 17:17. Temple began the half with three straight turnovers and failed to score a point until Landry made the second half of a two shot foul at 17:59. Temples luck suddenly changed with the insertion of Alabama native Alesha Harris, whose three-point play at 16:51, gave the Owls their first field goal of the half. TU continued to fight, led by Landry and Wallace, and made it a seven point game (66-59) at 9:27. After an Auburn offensive surge, the Owls were yet again able to get within seven points with just over five minutes to play but the Tigers proved to be too strong down the stretch. Wallace, Landry and Kristen McCarthy all fouled out in the final three minutes of the contest, giving Auburn the 95-76 win.
Sherrell Hobbs had 20 points. Smalley finished with 18 and Whitney Boddie rounded out double figure scorers with 11 points and seven assists.
Temple next travels to Illinois for a game against the Fighting Illini on Sunday, November 23 at 8:30 EST.
