Temple University Athletics
Temple University
2-2
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Kansas
3-1
Hot Start from Kansas Dooms Women's Basketball
11.22.14 | Women's Basketball
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Temple women's basketball team couldn't overcome a hot start from Kansas, falling 76-56 to the Jayhawks on their home court in Saturday's Hall of Fame Challenge Tournament game. The Owls' season mark is now 2-2, while KU improves to 3-1.
Freshman Alliya Butts led Temple with 19 points, adding three steals and three boards. Classmate Tanaya Atkinson picked up 12 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Safiya Martin led Temple with nine rebounds, also adding five points. Rounding out the stat line, sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald had six points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Kansas lead 15-2 early, as the Jayhawks connected on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to hold the edge after six minutes of play. Temple cut the lead to 17-8 with buckets from Butts and junior Erica Covile, but more hot shooting from outside put KU up 22-8 with 9:51 on the clock.
The hosts extended their lead by forcing a pair of Temple turnovers and hitting another three to go up 29-10 with 7:10 to play in the half. Temple climbed back on several occasions, but KU kept its hot streak from deep, hitting eight total threes in the first half to lead 48-20 at the break.
"Coming of a great win against Georgetown, we came in here on Kansas' home court and they took it to us right from the very start," explained head coach Tonya Cardoza. "We knew we were going to have problems guarding Gardner, so we tried to pack it in and their guards showed up and knocked down shots."
Butts led Temple with eight points at the half, while Fitzgerald and Atkinson each had four. KU's Lauren Aldridge led all players with 11 first half points, including going 3-for-3 from three point range.
KU stretched its advantage to a game-best 30 points at 54-24, before Temple put together a 12-3 run, including seven-straight from Butts to cut the lead to 57-34 with 11:50 to play. Temple continued to surge, whittling the lead to under 20 points with a pair of free throws and a lay-up from sophomore Taylor Robinson, before a conventional three-point play from Chelsea Gardner pushed the KU lead back to 22 at 62-40 with under nine to play.
Another Owl run, this time 7-2, brought the lead back down to 16 on an Atkinson lay-up and a Fitzgerald jumper. That proved to be as close as Temple would come, however, as KU closed out the 76-56 win.
Temple held KU to just 28 second half points on 11-of-30 from the field, but the first-half deficit was too much to overcome. Gardner finished with 22 points for KU, while Aldridge and Chayla Cheadle each chipped in with 13.
"I felt like in the second half our approach was a little bit different, we were a little more hungry," said Cardoza. "We found ways to get out in transition, but they just scored way too much early on for us to come back. It's a learning experience for us and I hope we'll take something away from this."
The Owls close out this weekend's three game slate with a 12:30 p.m. match-up tomorrow against Alabama.
Box Score (PDF) | Post-Game Interviews
