Second-Half Defense Pushes Women's Basketball Over Cincinnati, 74-51

Sunday, January 10

McGonigle Hall

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-5, 4-1

Cincinnati

5-10, 1-3

Cincinnati

Temple

Photo by: Julia Martin

Second-Half Defense Pushes Women's Basketball Over Cincinnati, 74-51

1.10.16 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA -- Playing its second game in three days, the Temple women's basketball team allowed just 17 second half points to finish off Cincinnati, 74-51, on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The Owls move to 10-5 overall, 4-1 The American, while the Bearcats fall to 5-10, 1-3 in conference play.

Temple fell behind by as many as eight points in the second quarter, but a late-surge, capped by a buzzer-beater three from sophomore Khadijah Berger tied the game at 34-34 at the break. From there, it was all Temple, as the Owls out-scored Cincinnati, 40-17 in the second half to earn the victory.

Sophomore Alliya Butts led all players with 24 points and three steals, while classmate Tanaya Atkinson had 19 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore transfer Donnaizha Fountain notched her first career double-double with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, helping the Owls to a slim 49-46 advantage on the boards. Junior Feyonda Fitzgerald tied a career-high with nine rebounds, also adding nine points and five assists, while graduate student Ugo Nwaigwe had five rebounds and three blocks.

Cincinnati scored the first bucket of the game, before Temple hit back-to-back threes to take a 6-2 lead. From there, the lead changed hands twice, until it was 14-13 Owls with 3:20 left in the frame. Temple was able to make the final surge of the quarter, closing out with a 12-4 run to make it 22-15 after one.

The Bearcats opened the second quarter with an 11-0 run, quickly taking a 26-22 lead. Cincinnati held the Owls scoreless until a free throw from Nwaigwe with 5:19 on the clock, broke the Temple drought, and made it 26-23. A conventional three-point play from Butts later cut the Temple deficit to two points, before six-straight from Cincinnati made it 34-26 with 2:32 left in the frame. Temple erased the Bearcat lead by closing the half on an 8-0 run, Berger's buzzer-beating three, knotting the score at 34-34.

At the break, Atkinson led the Owls with 10 points and five rebounds, while Butts had nine points and Fountain, six. Cincinnati's Alyesha Lovett led all players with 20 first half points.

Temple opened the third quarter with an 11-4 run to open up a 45-38 lead. Cincinnati scored the next five to get the Temple lead down to two, but the Owls scored eight-straight to end the half with their largest lead of the game, 53-43.

Lovett drained a three to open the fourth quarter for the Bearcats, but from there it was all Owls, as Temple responded with a 21-5 run. Butts had 10 fourth quarter points for the Owls, who allowed Cincinnati just two more field goals the rest of the way.

Lovett finished with 23 points to lead Cincinnati, but just three in the second half. Jasmine Whitfield had six points and a team-high reight rebounds, while Shelbi Chandler also finished with six points for the Bearcats.

Temple hits the road for two games next week, first heading to Orlando to play UCF on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Owls will then play at #1 UConn on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Box Score (PDF) | Post-Game Press Conference | Video Highlights | Photo Gallery