Temple University Athletics
Temple Women's Basketball Earns A-10 Regular-Season Championship With 64-46 Win over UMass
3.1.08 | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Owls won a share of the 2008 Atlantic 10 regular-season championship and captured the tourney's No. 1 seed with a 64-46 win over Massachusetts in the regular-season finale at the Liacouras Center on Saturday afternoon.
Temple finished the regular season at 19-11 overall and 12-2 in A-10 action, good for a first-place tie with George Washington. The Owls won the tourney's tie-breaker for the No. 1 seed over GW from a 68-66 win in mid-January. Massachusetts fell to 13-16 overall and 5-9 in the A-10.
Predicted to finish fourth in the conference's preseason poll, the top-seeded Temple Owls will receive a first-round bye and begin play in quarterfinal action on Saturday, March 8. Saint Joseph's will host the 2008 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship on March 7-10. The complete bracket will be announced following the conclusion of regular-season play later tonight.
"I'm very proud of my basketball team for fighting through a tough non-conference schedule which paid off down the road in the Atlantic 10," TU head coach Dawn Staley said. "We took our hits, but we got better. Everyone improved, and we finished better than expected."
The teams started out of the gates slowly, tallying just four points each over the first six minutes of play. Freshman Lindsay Kimmel began a 7-2 run with her signature three pointer. The Owls led by six, 18-12, before UMass battled back and came within one, 18-17. Temple closed out the stanza with a 13-9 run to take a five-point edge into the locker room, 31-26.
In the second half, TU built its lead to eight, 36-28, on a trey from sophomore LaKeisha Eaddy. She nailed another bucket from long range to give the Owls a 10-point advantage, 48-38 with 7:47 to go. TU closed out the game with a 16-6 run to win by 18, its largest lead.
Eaddy led the Owls with 16 points, while senior Lady Comfort finished with her sixth double-double on the year with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Freshman Shaqwedia Wallace came off the bench for 10 points, nine in the first half alone. Senior point guard Ashley Morris added eight points and a career-high 11 assists in her final home game.
"We don't have an All-American, only players who want to win," Morris said of her teammates. "Being the underdog helped us."
"I don't know who the A-10 Player of the Year will be, but I'm voting for Ashley," Staley said. "You take her off our team, and we're nothing."
Pam Rosanio led UMass with 15 points. Kate Mills followed with 13 points and a team-best seven boards,
Overall, Temple out-rebounded UMass, 42-29. The Owls shot 42.6 percent from the field (23-54), while holding UMass to 32 percent (16-50).
"We feel great," Staley said about entering the A-10 tourney. "We're not over-confident. This team surprised a lot of people. We have to take it one game at a time like we have all season."
