Women’s Basketball Lets a Big Lead Slip Away in 61-58 Loss at Howard

Friday, January 4

Washington, D.C.

7:00 PM

Temple University

5-8

Howard

6-6

Temple

Howard

Natasha Thames scored 19 points to lead the Owls

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Women’s Basketball Lets a Big Lead Slip Away in 61-58 Loss at Howard

1.4.13 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Howard's Saadia Doyle scored more than half of her team's points, many of which helped erase a 17-point lead for Temple women's basketball. Doyle's 32 points led all players as the Owls (5-8) suffered a 61-58 loss, which was their sixth straight. The Bison (6-6) gave Temple a chance with three missed free throws in their final four attempts, but the Owls could not find the basket to tie the game.

Temple's 17-point lead came with 13:28 remaining in the game, but the Owls would score just one field goal the rest of the way.

Natasha Thames scored a career-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting to lead Temple. Tyonna Williams scored 14 points including 7-of-8 at the line, while also dishing a game-high five assists. Rateska Brown and Sally Kabengano scored nine points apiece.

The first half was back and forth most of the way with six ties and 10 lead changes. Howard's largest lead was 8-4 near the 14-minute mark, but Temple soon tied the game at 8-8 and went on to take a slim lead.

After Thames hit a free throw for a five-point, 22-17 Temple lead, the Bison used a 6-0 run to pull back ahead. Doyle provided almost half of her team's points in the first half, scoring 13 and keeping Howard in the game.

The sixth and final tie of the half came at 28-28, but it was all Owls the rest of the way.

Williams and Thames combined for the final eight points over the last two minutes to send Temple into halftime with a 36-28 advantage. Williams stole the show in the final second with a buzzer-beater three-pointer from well behind the arc.

With a nearly perfect first half, Thames was tied for the scoring lead at the break with 13 points. She hit 5-of-5 from the field and 3-of-5 from the line. Williams had 10 at the half. As a team, the Owls out-shot Howard 59 percent to 36.4 percent from the field.

Temple opened the second half with an 8-2 run, and after a three-point play from Howard's Doyle, Brown's third trey of the game at 15:55 started a 7-1 run for a 17-point lead. That would prove to be the Owls' largest lead of the game.

Things started to unravel for Temple as the turnovers piled up and the Bison also took advantage of numerous trips to the line. With 5:52 left in the game, a 16-3 Howard run had put the Bison within three points, 54-51.

The Owls went without a field goal for a full eight minutes, until a layup from Erica Covile at 5:30 put Temple ahead by five, but it would be the last field goal of the game for the Owls. The Bison hit their next four attempts at the line, which, combined with a trey from Doyle, gave them a 58-56 lead with 2:28 remaining.

Thames came back down and hit two at the line for Temple to tie the game with two minutes left, but on Howard's next possession the Bison managed two offensive rebounds and Doyle eventually hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:21 remaining.

The Owls took four shots in the final minute but missed them all. Howard hit just one of four free throw attempts in the final 24 seconds, but the Owls could not get a clean shot off on their final possession.

Temple committed 21 turnovers in the contest to Howard's 10, leading to 24 points for the Bison. Offensive rebounds given up were also costly, as Howard pulled down 16 to Temple's nine.

Temple will finally return home for its next game, a 7:00 p.m. contest against Western Michigan in the Liacouras Center on Monday, Jan. 7.