Women’s Basketball Falls 59-55 at Butler Despite a Big Night for Victoria Macaulay

Wednesday, February 27

Indianapolis, Ind.

7:00 PM

Temple University

12-16, 5-8 A-10

Butler

17-11, 8-5 A-10

Temple

Butler

Victoria Macaulay notched a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Women’s Basketball Falls 59-55 at Butler Despite a Big Night for Victoria Macaulay

2.27.13 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Despite a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds by Victoria Macaulay, Temple women's basketball suffered its fourth straight loss at the hands of Butler (17-11, 8-5) by a score of 59-55. The Owls (12-16, 5-8) were dominant on the glass with 51 rebounds to Butler's 35, but gave up a few key buckets in the final minutes.

An 8-0 Butler run put the Bulldogs ahead by seven with 45 seconds left. Temple hit a three-pointer and a layup in a furious rally attempt, but could not close the gap to fewer than three.

Macaulay added five blocks to her impressive stat line, as well as four assists. The Owls suffered a blow with two minutes remaining when she fouled out of the contest. Rateska Brown came off the bench for 12 points including 4-of-9 from behind the arc. Natasha Thames grabbed 10 boards, and Tyonna Williams dished a game-high six assists.

The Owls trailed by a slim margin for the first 15 minutes of the contest. The scoring was low for most of the first half with both teams struggling from the field, but the pace picked up in the last five minutes.

Macaulay hit a pair of free throws with 4:38 remaining, with the first tying the game at 17-17 and the second giving Temple its first lead of the game. She would go on to score six more points to close out the half. Butler led 25-20 with 1:45 left before back-to-back layups by Macaulay narrowed the margin to a point.

Taylor Schippers hit a trey with a few seconds on the clock to give Butler a 28-24 lead at the break. Macaulay finished the half leading all players with 12 points and four blocks, three of which came on a single Butler possession early in the half.

Schippers struck again early in the second half, scoring five points in the first two minutes to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of eight, 33-25. Macaulay answered with a jumper and a layup that were the beginning of an 11-2 run for the Owls. The final bucket of the run by Thames gave Temple a 36-35 lead at 12:44.

Three ties followed in the next seven minutes with the game staying neck-and-neck. Temple had a 50-49 lead on a three-pointer by Meghan Roxas with 3:21 remaining, but Butler then used an 8-0 run to take the lead for good.

Schippers finished with 19 points to lead Butler, as well as eight rebounds. Daress McClung scored 15 points for the Bulldogs including 3-of-4 three-pointers.

Temple will play its final game of the regular season against Fordham at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, in McGonigle Hall. The Owls will celebrate Senior Day and honor their lone senior Victoria Macaulay prior to tip-off.