Women's Basketball Hosts SMU on Tuesday

Tuesday, December 30

McGonigle Hall

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

SMU

Tyonna Williams is coming off a 16-point performance at Memphis

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Women's Basketball Hosts SMU on Tuesday

12.29.14 | Women's Basketball

PHILADELPHIA -- The Temple women's basketball team continues its American Athletic Conference schedule on Tuesday, hosting SMU at McGonigle Hall at 7 p.m. The Owls are 5-8 overall, with a 1-0 mark in The American, while the Mustangs come to Philadelphia with a 4-8 overall mark, 0-1 in The American.

Temple started the American Athletic Conference season 1-0 for the second-straight year. The Owls are coming off a thrilling 58-57 victory at Memphis on Sunday. Temple rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit, led by sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald, who scored all 14 of her points in the second half. Memphis had led for over 34 minutes before Temple finally went ahead on a pair of Fitzgerald free throws. The Owls later got a huge insurance three from junior Erica Covile and held on for the win.

Senior Tyonna Williams had a team-high 16 points, including a pair of free throws down the stretch to help seal the victory. Fitzgerald added a pair of steals to her 14 points, while Covile had her second-straight double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Rounding out the numbers for the Owls, freshmen Alliya Butts (six points, three assists, two steals), Tanaya Atkinson (nine rebounds, five points), and Khadijah Berger (game-high four assists), all helped bolster the Temple box score.

For the season, Atkinson leads the Owls in scoring, with 12.2 points per game, while also adding 6.8 boards per contest. Sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald (12.1) and senior Tyonna Williams (10.5) also average double-figures in scoring, while combining for 6.4 assists per game. Freshman Alliya Butts has chipped in with 9.5 points per game with a team-high 25 steals, while Covile has been hot on both ends of the court, averaging 9.4 points and a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per outing.

SMU opened the league slate on the road at No. 2/2 UConn, falling 96-45 to the Huskies on Saturday. The Mustangs fell behind early and could not mount a comeback against a stingy Connecticut defense, as the Huskies recorded the wire-to-wire victory. Three SMU players, Alicia Froling, Keely Froling and Raven Short, all netted a team-high seven points.

On the season, freshman Alicia Froling (10.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and junior Destynee Hives-McCray (10.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg) each average over 10 points and seven boards for the Mustangs. Junior Gabrielle Wilkins has chipped in with 8.7 points per outing, while sophomore Kiara Perry has averaged 8.2 points per game with a team-best 23 steals on the season. Also for the Mustangs, sophomore Morgan Bolton has a team-high 32 total assists this year.

SMU averages 56.8 points per game, but gives up 64.2. The Mustangs are shooting 36.1% from the field, but struggle from beyond-the-arc, connecting on just 24.0% from three-point range. SMU is out-rebounding its opponents by a significant margin, averaging 44.7 boards per game, while allowing an average of just 37.6 rebounds from opponents.

Last season, SMU tied with Temple for fifth place in the American, with matching 8-10 conference records. The Mustangs bowed out in the first round of the conference tournament, falling to Rutgers, but advanced to the second round of the WNIT to finish 18-14 overall.

The teams split a pair of American Athletic Conference meetings last season, with each team winning their home contest. Temple took the opener, an 80-66 victory at McGonigle Hall in January, but SMU won the February match-up, an 85-75 win at Moody Coliseum. Last year's America schedule accounted for the only two meetings between the programs in the all-time series.

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