Temple University Athletics
Temple Women's Basketball Suffers First A-10 Loss, a 68-57 Defeat At Duquesne
1.18.09 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2009
PITTSBURGH- Kristi Little scored 30 points and notched eight steals to lead the Duquesne womens basketball team (11-6, 1-1 A-10) to a 68-57 win over Temple (10-6, 2-1) on Sunday afternoon. Shenita Landry led the Owls with a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds, while LaKeisha Eaddy and Shaqwedia Wallace chipped in with 13 a piece but it was not enough to offset 26 TU turnovers.
Kristen McCarthy rounded out double figure scorers with 11 points. Landry and Cotton combined for nine blocks, with Cotton compiling a career-high five, and Eaddy dished five assists.
The first half was tight, featuring five ties and five lead changes. The Dukes shot a dismal 31% from the field but were kept in the game but a strong offensive rebounding performance and 17 first half points by point guard Kristi Little. The Owls made 13-of-28 from the field but relied heavily on their defense to force the Dukes into long scoreless stretches. Shenita Landry posted a double-double in the first half with 10 points and 11 of TU's 23 total boards. The Owls could not seem to take care of the basketball in the second half, going just 10-for-30 from the field and adding 10 more turnovers.
Eaddy got the Owls started with on a 4-0 run and, though the Temple defense held the Dukes without a basket until the 17:33 mark, Duquesne pounded the offensive boards and responded with a 4-0 run of its own to tie the game. The Owls got back on track with a 6-0 run to make it 10-4 with just over 12 minutes remaining but began to fall apart, allowing the Dukes to go on an 8-0 run to take a 14-12 lead, their first of the game. Landry finally broke the five minute scoring drought with a 5-0 run to give Temple back the lead, a 17-14 advantage at the eight minute mark. Temple continued to lead but Duquesne refused to back down and battled back to take a 28-26 lead with just over two minutes to play. Little scored five straight points in the final minute and a half to give the Dukes a 33-30 lead going into the break.
Duquesne extended its lead to five (37-32) just a minute into the second half but failed to score for the next six minutes, allowing the Owls to tie the game with a Kristen McCarthy lay-up at 14:30. Shaqwedia Wallace made four straight to give TU its first lead (41-37) since late in the first half. Little sank a trey at 12:20 to give the Dukes their first field goal since the 19 minute mark and six straight Temple turnovers allowed Duquesne to take a 48-43 lead with nine and a half minutes left. Two huge blocks by Shanea Cotton sparked a 5-1 Temple run to get the Owls within one point (49-48) at the eight minute mark but the Owls failed to take care of the basketball and soon found themselves down by five points (58-53) with four minutes left to play. That would be as close as Temple could get, however, as Duquesne sank seven free throws in the final minute to earn the 68-57 win
Keri Pryor chipped in with 13 points.
Temple returns home on Wednesday to host La Salle, wrapping up Big Five play at 7 p.m.
