Temple University Athletics
Landry and Eaddy Star as Temple Women's Basketball Posts a 66-47 Win at Illinois
11.23.08 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2008
Champaign, Illi. -LaKeisha Eaddy and Shenita Landry each netted in double figures as the Temple womens basketball team (2-1) posted a commanding 66-47 win over Illinois (3-1) on Sunday night. Eaddy nearly had a triple double with 17 points and career-highs of nine rebounds and eight assists, while Landry earned her second double-double of the season with14 points and 11 boards. Leading by just six points at halftime, the Owls clamped down on defense and used a 56% shooting clip in the second half to knock off the previously unbeaten Illini.
Shanea Cotton rounded out double figure scorers with 10 points, while Kristen McCarthy had another strong game, contributing four points, two boards, two assists and a game-high three steals. Landry and Eaddy were dominant from the first whistle, combining for 17 of the Owls 29 points in the first half. The Cherry and White were also dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Illini, 41-34
Landry got Temple started with a basket at 19:30 and kept her team offense going with strong play off the glass. The Owl defense kept the Illini without a basket until 17:02 but its offense could not capitalize, allowing Illinois to keep the contest close. The home team hit a trey at 11:32 to take a 14-12 lead but Lindsay Kimmel answered with a trey to give Temple back the lead and spark a 7-0 run to make it 19-14 at the seven minute mark. Temple began to get sloppy with the ball, however, committing six straight turnovers and Illinois took full advantage. Smith gave the Illini their first basket in five minutes to start a 8-0 Illini run that gave the home team a 23-19 lead with just over three minutes to play. Landry finally broke the five minute TU scoring drought with a three-point play to make it a one point game (23-22) at 2:20. That seemed to give the Owls just the boost that they needed as Eaddy put together a 4-0 run to put TU on top 26-23 with just over one minute to play. Shaqwedia Wallaces trey with 40 seconds remaining gave the Owls a 29-23 advantage going into the break.
Temple came racing out of the gate with an 11-2 run that gave them a 15 point lead (40-25) with just over 17 minutes to play. Just when it seemed that the Owls were going to run away with the game, the Cherry and White got into foul trouble, allowing Illinois to close the gap a bit. Luckily for the Owls, its offense picked up the slack, with Landry, Eaddy and Kristen McCarthy all surging to give Temple as much as a 23-point lead (61-38) lead with seven and a half minutes left to play. The Illini started to apply full court pressure and cut the lead to 17 (63-46) at the three minute mark but that would be as close as it get as the Owls got their first-ever win over Illinois.
All-America candidate Jenna Smith had a double-double for the Illini with 17 points and 12 boards, while Lydia McCully had 13 points. Fabiola Josil contributed 13 points.
Temple returns home to host Hampton on Saturday at 2 p.m.
