Women's Basketball Tops Villanova, 61-55

Wednesday, December 2

McGonigle Hall

5:00 p.m.

Temple University

3-3

Villanova

4-2

Villanova

Temple

Photo by: Rejean Wilson

Women's Basketball Tops Villanova, 61-55

12.2.15 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA -- The Temple women's basketball team built a 20-point lead after two quarters of play and then held off a late charge from visiting Villanova to top the Wildcats, 61-55, at McGonigle Hall on Wednesday night. The win was the first for Temple over Villanova since 2010, as the Owls move to 3-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big 5. Villanova falls to 4-2 overall, 1-1 in Big 5 play.

Junior Feyonda Fitzgerald led all players with 23 points, while three other Owls hit double-figures in scoring. Senior Erica Covile notched her 10th career double-double, with 10 points and a season and game-high 13 boards. Sophomore Alliya Butts had 13 points and a pair of steals, while classmate Donnaizha Fountain hit career highs at Temple with 10 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Tanaya Atkinson pulled down 12 rebounds in the game, contributing to a 50-37 advantage for Temple on the glass.

Temple had a huge first quarter, shooting 53% from the field, while holding Villanova to just 18%. The Owls opened with a 7-0 lead and quickly pushed it to 12-2 after a Butts three. A pair of free throws from Fountain padded the Owl advantage to 15-2 with 3:49 on the clock, before a three from Villanova's Adrianna Hahn cut the lead to 10. Temple closed out the frame with buckets from Fitzgerald and Atkinson to make it a 14-point lead at the break, 21-7.

The teams traded baskets to open the second quarter, before a three from Villanova made it 25-12 with 7:46 to play. From there, the Owls scored six unanswered points, opening up their largest lead of the game thus far, a 31-12 cushion with 5:34 on the clock. A Villanova lay-up temporarily halted the Temple run, but the Owls responded with five-straight from Butts and two from Fitzgerald to push the lead to 22 points (38-16) with just over a minute to play. Over the final minute of the quarter, Temple sandwiched a Fitzgerald bucket between lay-ups from each of Villanova's Coyer sisters to take a 40-20 lead into the locker room.

After an offensive display in the first two quarters, defense was the star of the third, as the teams combined for just 15 total points. Villanova picked up its first back-to-back buckets of the game, and used an 11-4 run to come to within 13 points of the Owls at 44-31.

Temple opened the fourth quarter with a 5-2 run to push its advantage back to 15 at 51-36. From there, Villanova used a 13-2 run covering over five minutes of play to cut the Owl lead to just five at 51-46 with 49 seconds left to play. Temple was able to stall the Wildcats surge, increasing the lead back to seven on a pair of free throws from Covile to make it, 53-46 with 47 seconds to play.

Forced to foul, Villanova and Temple traded the same scenario on four-straight possessions. The Wildcats drove to the basket, made a lay-up to cut it to three, then fouled a Temple player, who hit both free throws to go back up by five. That back-and-forth run took the game clock down to just 16 seconds, with the Owls up 60-55. On the next trip down the court, Villanova couldn't connect on the lay-up and Temple sophomore Khadijah Berger came up with the defensive rebound. Berger than made a free throw, and Fitzgerald corralled the rebound on a desperation three from Villanova, ending the game at 61-55 in the Owls' favor.

The win snapped Temple's three-game losing streak and also Villanova's four-game winning streak.

Temple is back in action this weekend, traveling to Florida State to play the 14th-ranked Seminoles on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

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