Career Night for Covile Lifts Women's Basketball over SMU

Tuesday, December 30

McGonigle Hall

7:00 p.m.

Temple University

6-8, 2-0Amer.

SMU

4-9, 0-2Amer.

SMU

Temple

Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University

Career Night for Covile Lifts Women's Basketball over SMU

12.30.14 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA — Junior Erica Covile exploded for a career-high 24 points and tied a career-high with 13 rebounds, as the Temple women's basketball team picked up its second-straight American Athletic Conference victory, a 77-64 buzzer-to-buzzer win against SMU at home. The Owls improve to 2-0 in the conference, 6-8 overall, while the Mustangs fall to 0-2 in the American, 4-9 overall.

Covile went 8-15 from the field, wrapping up her third-straight double-double, and her fourth in the last five games. Prior to Covile, the last time a Temple player had double-doubles in three consecutive contests was February of 2009 when Shenita Landry accomplished the feat in games against Fordham, St. Louis, and UMass. Covile's heroics helped Temple stomp a strong second half by SMU that saw the Mustangs shoot over 48% from the field.

Bolstering Covile's career-game, sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald had her second-straight double-digit scoring performance, dropping 22 points and connecting on 12-14 from the free-throw line. Fitzgerald also tied a team-high with four assists in the game. Freshman Alliya Butts started her second-straight game, finishing with nine points, four assists and three steals in the win. Rounding out the Temple box score, senior Tyonna Williams had seven points, while sophomore Taylor Robinson added five.

The Temple offense clicked early, led by Covile who sunk her first five attempts from the field. The Owls jumped out to a 9-0 lead, holding the Mustangs scoreless for over five minutes of play. A jumper from Alicia Froling at the 14:48 mark broke the SMU drought, but Temple extended its lead, as a steal and fast break lay-up from Butts gave Temple a 24-7 advantage with 10:02 to play.

SMU was able to climb back into the game with a 7-4 run, cutting the lead to 28-14 with 7:04 to play. Temple kept rolling, however, as an 8-2 surge, including a four-point play from Fitzgerald, pushed the Temple advantage to 20 at 36-16 with 5:10 to play.

Following the Temple run, SMU battled back with a 10-1 run of its own, cutting the Temple lead to just 10 (37-27) at 2:39, with four-straight free throws from Alicia Froling. The Owls responded with seven-straight, including a last-second pull-up jumper from Butts to send Temple into the locker room with a 17-point advantage at 44-27.

At the break, Covile had 14 points and five boards, while Fitzgerald had 12 points and three assists for the Owls, who shot 42.9% from the field. SMU was paced by Alicia Froling's 10 first-half points.

SMU closed the gap early in the second half, using a 10-3 run to narrow the lead to 10 at 47-37 with 16:15 to play. Temple then went on a 12-5 run of its own, going back up by 17 at 59-42 with under 10 to play.

The Mustangs wouldn't go away, outscoring Temple 11-3 over the next four minutes, to whittle the lead down to nine, at 62-53 with 5:45 to play. The Owls did not relinquish the lead, however, pushing their advantage back to double-figures with a minute left to play. Temple then closed out the win with a 5-1 run, with all five points coming on Fitzgerald free throws to seal the 77-64 victory.

SMU's Alicia Froling led three Mustangs in double figures with 20 points, while Kiara Perry and Destynee Hives-McCray each chipped in with 13.

Temple out-did the league's second-best rebounding team, pulling down 51 total boards to the Mustangs' 34. SMU out-shot Temple 40.4% to 35.3%, but only connected on 7% of its shots from beyond the arc, while the Owls shot 35.3% from the same range.

Temple continues its American Athletic Conference slate on the road on Saturday. The Owls will travel to Cincinnati for a 2 p.m. start.

Box Score (PDF) | Post-Game Press Conference