Women's Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker at SMU

Wednesday, February 20

Dallas, Texas

8:00 PM

Temple University

SMU

Temple

SMU

Photo by: Josh McCoy

Women's Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker at SMU

2.20.19 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

DALLAS — The Temple women's basketball team rallied all the way back from a 19-point deficit to lead by 10, but allowed a 12-1 closing run from SMU to drop a 53-52 heartbreaker on the road. The Owls fall to 9-16 overall, 5-7 in conference play, while the Mustangs improve to 9-17 overall (3-10 AAC).

Keys to the Game
> Temple trailed by as many as 17 points, before a massive 25-2 run gave the Owls a 51-41 lead with under two minutes to play.
> From there, SMU put together a 12-1 closing surge, including a game-tying three with 16 seconds left.
> An Owls free throw made it 52-51, but SMU got a driving lay-up to get the win.
> Temple shot just 21.4% in the first half, going 6-28 from the field and 2-13 from three.
> SMU racked up a 26-16 advantage on the glass in the first 20 minutes.
> For the game, the hosts finished with a slight edge shooting (37.9% to 34.6%) and also held a slim 37-35 lead on the glass.

Individual Highlights
> Sophomore Mia Davis led the Owls with 20 points and nine rebounds.
> Graduate Alliya Butts finished with eight points, seven assists, and five steals.
> Freshman Marissa Mackins and senior Lena Niang each added nine points in the loss.

First Quarter
> Temple's offense was cold to start the game, as the Owls shot just 25% from the field, including an 0-6 start.
> SMU jumped out to an 11-2 advantage, and led 16-5 with 4:38 on the clock.
> The Owls cut it to 16-10 on five straight points from Davis, before SMU pushed it to 20-10 after 10.

Second Quarter
> An 8-2 SMU run pushed the advantage up to 28-12 midway through the second.
> Temple broke a scoring drought with a Niang three that cut it to 28-15, but the Mustangs scored four of the final six points to lead 32-17 at the break.

Third Quarter
> Two quick baskets from SMU pushed it to their largest lead of the game at 36-17 before Temple began to chip away.
> Eight unanswered points, including threes from Niang and Mackins closed it to 36-25 before an SMU and-one made it 39-25.
> From there, the Owls scored seven straight to close the quarter, cutting the lead to seven at 39-32.

Fourth Quarter
> Temple opened the frame on an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game on a Mackins three with 8:05 to play.
> Though SMU scored to make it 41-40, Temple continued to surge, as an 11-0 run put the Owls up 51-41 with under two minutes to play.
> The Mustangs answered with their game-changing run, forcing four turnovers in the final two minutes and knotting things up at 51-51 on a three with 16 seconds to play.
> Temple had a pair of free throws, but could only convert one, setting up a driving lay-up from Ariana Whitfield that put SMU up 53-52 with eight seconds left.
> The Owls then turned the ball over on their final chance, sealing the win for SMU.

Up Next:
> Temple continues its road stretch on Saturday, playing at UCF at 2:00 p.m.