Temple University Athletics
Temple Women's Basketball Escapes St. Bonaventure, 67-63 In Atlantic 10 Quarterfinal
3.7.09 | Women's Basketball
March 7, 2009
CHARLOTTE- LaKeisha Eaddy scored a career-high 26 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead the Temple women's basketball team (21-8) to a 67-53 win over Saint Bonaventure (21-10) in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Tournament on Saturday evening. Jasmine Stone chipped in with career-highs 12 points and five assists, which Shaqwedia Wallace had 12 first-half points.
Eaddy added five assists and a game-high five steals, while Stone grabbed a game-high eight boards. The junior duo put on a show in the second half to hold off a late Bonaventure run.
The victory is Temple's sixth straight and advances the Owls to the A-10 semifinals, facing the winner of the Duquesne/Charlotte game on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on CBS College Sports Television.
The Bonnies got off to a hot start but Temple countered with a 16-0 run, which enabled it to take an eight-point lead going into halftime. Wallace was on fire, scoring 12 first-half points, including a perfect 3-for-3 performance from long range. Stone and Eaddy took over in the second half, accounting for 26 of the Owls' 31 second stanza points.
The Bonnies opened up the game with a 7-1 run, with all seven coming from Dana Mitchell. Temple was without a field goal until Shanea Cotton's lay-up at 16:15 made it 7-3. That would be the Owls' only field goal until Eaddy sank a three-pointer at 13:52, sparking a 16-0 TU run to put the Owls on top, 21-12 at 10:26. Shaqwedia Wallace came up big during that stretch, scoring eight points and forcing Mitchell to commit her second foul. The Bonnies weren't far behind for long, however, and ended their five minute scoring drought with a 6-0 run to make it 21-19 with just over eight minutes to go. The game remained tight for the next few minutes until Wallace sank her third trey of the half at 4:31 to spark an 8-2 run to give the Owls a 34-25 lead at 2:39. Temple continued to play well down the stretch and took a 36-28 lead at the break. Both teams shot 40% from the field but Temple won the rebounding battle, 21-17.
The Bonnies struck first in the second half but Kristen McCarthy answered with a jumper at 17:56 to begin a 7-0 TU run to make it 43-30 with just under 17 minutes to play. St. Bonaventure continued to go at the Cherry and White, forcing multiple turnovers and putting together an 8-0 run to cut TU's lead to just five (40-45) with 13 minutes remaining. The Bonnies began to cool off a bit, however, allowing Temple to extend its lead back up to nine points (53-44) with just over six minutes to play. Mitchell refused to let her team go down without a fight, however, and used a three-point play with a minute and a half left to make it a four point game, 63-59. Just when it seemed that Temple would walk away with the win, Mitchell made a lay-up with four seconds remaining to make it a two-point differential. Eaddy iced two free throws with three seconds to go to give Temple the 67-63 victory.
Mitchell led three Bonnies in double figures with 24 points, while Megan Van Tatenhove scored 17. Priscilla Edwards chipped in with 12 points.
