Women’s Basketball falls at the Buzzer to SMU, 68-66

Wednesday, January 24

Dallas, Texas

8:00 PM EST

Temple University

10-9,4-3AAC

SMU

9-10,3-5AAC

Temple

SMU

Photo by: Tim McCall

Women’s Basketball falls at the Buzzer to SMU, 68-66

1.24.24 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

DALLAS, Texas – The Temple women's basketball team (10-9, 4-3 AAC) fell at Moody Coliseum to the SMU Mustangs (9-10, 3-5 AAC), 68-66. The Owls had not lost a true road game since November. The Owls trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half but stormed back to take a late lead. SMU scored 10 of the last 14 points to take the contest. Tiarra East appeared to have a game winning three pointer as time expired, but the shot was called back.

Demi Washington and Tarriyonna Gary impressed, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively.

First Quarter: Temple 14, SMU 15
> SMU scored on the first possession of the contest to go up 2-0. Washington knocked down a pair of free throws to knot things up at two with 8:25 remaining in the first.
> Temple scored six straight points to build an early 6-2 advantage. The Mustangs responded with five straight to retake the lead, 7-6.
> The Owls scored the next four to go up 10-7 going into the first media timeout.
> SMU scored eight of the next 12 points to lead 15-14.
> Washington led the Owls in points with six. Rayne Tucker and Tiarra East pulled down three rebounds each.

Second Quarter: Temple 27, SMU 37
> SMU stayed hot to start the second frame, with nine of the first eleven points (24-16, SMU). Aleah Nelson hit a runner to end the run.
> Demi Washington hit a timely turnaround jumper out of the media timeout to spark a run. The Owls' parlayed the momentum from a forced shot clock violation into a pair of free throws on the other end to cut the lead to three (25-22, SMU).
> The Mustangs countered with a 12-2 run. Gary hit a late three to trim the lead to 10 going into the break.
> Washington led Temple with eight points. Tucker scored four points to go with five rebounds.

Third Quarter: Temple 49 SMU 49
> The teams traded points in the first few minutes of the second half (41-31, SMU).
> Strong defense kept the game within striking distance, with the Owls keeping SMU off the board for 3:23 of gametime.
> Temple caught fire, with Washington scoring four straight and Gary hitting three to sandwich
an SMU bucket and cut the team to five (45-40, SMU).
> Gary hit another three to bring the game within two for the first time since the first quarter with 2:44 left in the period.
>Temple took the lead for the time since it was 14-13 off an East jumper, 47-46. The teams' traded baskets as the quarter expired.
> The Owls' outscored SMU 22-12 in the third. Gary led all scorers with six points, seven different Temple players found the bottom of the net.

Fourth Quarter: Temple 66, SMU 68
> Temple exploded out of the intermission, scoring the first three points (52-49, TU). SMU threw a counter punch via a three pointer to re-tie the game.
> With the teams knotted at 54, Gary bombed in a key three to take a three-point advantage. East followed it up a mid-range jumper to extend the lead to five with 5:30 left on the clock, a Piper jumper took the lead to seven.
> After SMU scored four straight to cut the Owls' lead back to three, Washington scored a key and-one to secure a six point advantage with 2:42 left on the clock. (64-58, TU).
> Taylor pulled off a steal and score to put the Cherry & White 66-60. SMU found the basket for the next five points to put Temple up one, 66-65 with 58 seconds left on the board.
> SMU's Tiarra Young scored a driving layup to give SMU the lead back with 27 seconds left (67-66, SMU).
> Washington fired off a fading jumper from the paint with five seconds left on the board that hit off the front of the rim. SMU knocked down the first free throw, but missed the second to put the Mustangs up 68-66 with two seconds left.
> East appeared to have won the game as time expired, but the shot was not released in time.

Game Notes
> Barring a postseason battle, this was Temple and SMU's final battle as members of the AAC. The Owls hold an 10-7 advantage over the Mustangs.
> Today's game marks a homecoming for freshman guard Tristen Taylor, who hails from Duncanville, Texas. Located roughly 20 miles from SMU. Over 60 friends and family were in attendance to watch her.

Statistically Speaking
> Demi Washington scored in double-figures (17) for the first time since scoring a career-high 20 against Wichita State three games ago. She also tied her season-high in rebounds (7).
> Rayne Tucker grabbed double-figure rebounds for the second time in three games and seventh time this season. Tucker also tied the team season-high in blocks (3).
> Tarriyonna Gary scored 16 points, her most since tying her career-high of 23 at La Salle in December. 13 of her points were scored in the second half.
> Jaleesa Molina set a new career-high in steals with four.
> Tiarra East has now scored in double-figures in ten of the last 11 games she has played in.

Up Next
> Temple will face the Tulane Green Wave on Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will stream on ESPN+ and The Varsity Network App.