Women's Basketball Advances in WNIT with Win over Penn

Sunday, March 22

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

18-16, 12-6AAC

Penn

21-9, 11-3Ivy

Temple

Penn

The Owls advanced to the WNIT Round of 16 with a win over Penn

Photo by: Julia Martin

Women's Basketball Advances in WNIT with Win over Penn

3.22.15 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Freshman Alliya Butts hit a go-ahead three with 3:04 to play and sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald scored the final 10 points of the game, as the Temple women's basketball team avenged an earlier loss to Penn, topping the Quakers 61-56, in the second round of the WNIT on Sunday afternoon at the Palestra. The win improves the Owls to 18-16 overall, sending the team to the WNIT round of 16 for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Penn sees its season come to an end at 21-9.

Fitzgerald finished the game with a team-high 16 points, calming sinking 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final minute of play. The sophomore also added four assists and four rebounds to bolster her stat line. Butts ended with 12 points, while junior Erica Covile had nine points and a team-high 13 rebounds, while also adding five steals and three assists. Sophomore Taylor Robinson had nine points in just 10 minutes of action, going 4-for-4 from the field, while also sinking her only free throw.

Owls senior Tyonna Williams posted seven points, including making a pair of threes, that give her the all-time program record with 164 in her career. She also added a game-high five assists. Rounding out the Owl box score, freshman Tanaya Atkinson had six points and six boards, while Safiya Martin had three blocks in the win.

The first half featured four ties and four lead changes, but it was Penn that jumped out to an early lead. The Quakers scored the first five points of the game, en-route to a 7-2 advantage with 12:40 on the clock. Temple responded with a 10-2 run, including threes from Covile and Butts to take its first lead of the game, 12-9, at the 10:22 mark.

The Quakers took advantage of foul trouble by the Owls, going 5-of-6 from the line and adding another field goal to re-gain the lead and build back an 18-12 advantage with 6:16 to play in the half. A Traore bucket from Temple interrupted Penn's 9-0 run, and sparked a 10-2 surge that gave the Owls a 22-20 lead with 1:56 to play.

Penn tied things up with a Sydney Stipanovich bucket, before five-straight from Kathleen Roche gave the Quakers a 27-22 lead with 28 seconds left in the stanza. Temple's Robinson then closed out the half with a lay-up, setting the halftime score to 27-24 in favor of Penn.

After starting 0-for-7 from the field, Temple rebounded to out-shoot Penn, 32.1% to 29.6% in the half. Both teams turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, but Penn held a 23-16 advantage on the glass. Robinson led the Owls with seven first-half points, while Butts added six, and Covile had five points and six rebounds. Penn was led by nine points from Michelle Nwokedi, eight from Stipanovich, and seven from Roche.

Temple opened the second half with back-to-back threes from Butts and Williams, taking a 30-27 lead with 16:53 to play. Penn scored five-straight to go up 32-30, but Temple responded with four unanswered to regain a 34-32 edge with 12:35 to play.

Penn then put together 9-0 run to match its largest lead of the game at 41-34 with 8:07 to play. Ross scored five during the surge, while the Owls committed three turnovers at the other end of the floor. A deep three from Temple's Fitzgerald and then another from Williams in transition got the Owls back within one point (41-40) with 6:32 on the clock.

The teams traded buckets over the next two minutes, with Penn taking a 46-42 lead on a conventional three-point play from Stipanovich, before back-to-back buckets from Atkinson tied the contest at 46-46 with 5:09 on the clock. Both teams had a chance to take the lead on their next possession, with Penn missing a pair of free throws and the Owls missing a lay-up, but Robinson got a block and a rebound at the Penn end of the court, and Butts nailed a three to give the Owls a 49-46 lead that they held for good.

Penn kept things close, cutting the lead to just one (53-52) on a three-point play from Kady Allen with 1:16 to play. However, Temple's Fitzgerald iced the game by going 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final minute of play to send the Owls to the WNIT Round of 16. Fitzgerald scored the final 10 points of the game for the Owls, racking up all but six of her game-high 16 points in the final two minutes of play.

Temple out-shot the Quakers 39.6% to 35.7%, with the Owls converting on 12-of-25 (48%) from beyond the arc. The Owls had a slight edge on turnovers, forcing 14, while giving up 13, with Penn holding a 41-31 advantage on the glass. Temple was able to get work done from the free throw line, going 11-of-13 (84.6%), while Penn hit just 13-of-20 (65%).

For the Quakers, Nwokedi notched a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, also adding three blocks and three assists. Stipanovich finished with 13 points, but just five in the second half, while also adding five boards and five assists. Rounding out the Penn scoring, Ross had 10 points in the loss.

Temple's win today avenged an earlier loss to Penn at the Palestra, as the Quakers won a 52-50 nail-biter in Philadelphia Big 5 action on January 5.

The Owls now move on to play NC State, who recorded a come-from-behind win over East Carolina. The game will be at home on Thursday at McGonigle Hall at 7:00 p.m. Tickets will be on sale starting Monday at 10:00 a.m. for $6. Fans can purchase them at http://www.owlstix.com or by calling 215-204-8499.

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