Owls Suffer Home Loss to South Florida

Saturday, February 8

Philadelphia, Pa.

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

13-10,7-5AAC

South Florida

16-8,9-2AAC

South Fla.

Temple

Photo by: Tim McCall

Owls Suffer Home Loss to South Florida

2.8.25 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Temple women's basketball (13-10, 7-5 AAC) fell to USF (16-8, 9-2 AAC), 64-57, in front of 1,505 fans Saturday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. Leading scorer Tiarra East recorded 15 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

Both teams exchanged missed baskets early in the first period before Tristen Taylor made a jumper at the 7:19 mark.
On the next possession, Tiarra East had a steal and a layup, giving the Owls a four-point lead, 4-0, with 6:56 to play.
USF's Sammie Puisis responded with a three-pointer and drew a foul before the 4:19 media timeout, cutting Temple's lead to one, 6-5.
Out of the media timeout, Kaylah Turner and Anissa Rivera made back-to-back threes, regaining the lead, 12-8, with 2:42 left in the period.
The Bulls responded with a 10-0 run to put them up by six, 18-12, led by Carla Britto and Sammie Puisis, each scoring three points.
Turner ended the quarter making one of two free throws, and the Owls trailed by five, 18-13.

Second Quarter

Savannah Curry opened the quarter with a layup after a steal and an assist by Jaleesa Molina, making it 18-15 at the 8:24 mark.
Temple's defense started the half strong with a big block by Amaya Oliver, a forced turnover, and a pair of defensive rebounds to hold the Bulls from scoring for the first four minutes of the quarter.
After a two-and-a-half-minute scoring drought, Taylor made a jumper, with USF leading, 21-20, with 4:13 remaining in the half.
USF ended the quarter on a 6-0 run, taking a seven-point lead, 27-20.

Third Quarter

The Bulls opened the second half with a 6-0 run within the first minute, including two scores from behind the arc by guards Vittoria Blasigh and Sammie Puisis.
After exchanging baskets, Temple responded with a 6-0 run of its own, featuring a layup and jumper from Oliver and East. On the next possession, East forced a turnover and made a layup, cutting the Bulls' lead to seven, 35-28, with 6:15 in the quarter.
Out of the 4:47 media timeout, Gary converted a three-point play, making it 37-31.
Taylor snapped a two-minute scoring drought for the Owls with a mid-range jumper, cutting the margin to seven with under two minutes to play in the quarter.
East reached double-digit points (10) after recording two steals and a score on back-to-back possessions in the final minute of the quarter, cutting the Bulls' lead to two, 41-39.

Fourth Quarter

South Florida came away with the first points of the final quarter after a battle in the paint ended with L'or Mputu scoring two.
On their eighth steal of the game, Rivera made a fast-break layup, putting the Owls within two, 43-41, with just under eight minutes to play.
Turner, within 10 seconds of subbing in, drained a corner three to counter a 5-2 run from the Bulls, keeping the score within two points.
South Florida consecutively scored on its last four possessions, extending its lead to six, 52-46, before the 4:27 media timeout.
Smothering defenses from both teams led to no points being scored over the next three-plus minutes.
Mama Dembele broke the drought after sinking a free throw for USF with 1:22 left, extending its lead to seven, 53-46.
In the fourth quarter, Temple shot 7-of-16 from the field and was outscored by USF, 23-18, leading to a 64-57 final score. The Bulls pushed their lead to 10 points with 0:24 seconds left, but two threes from Temple closed the gap.

INSIDE THE BOX

USF scored 14 of 27 points in the paint in the first half.
Temple had 10 bench points to USF's six.
Temple scored a season-low seven points in the second quarter. USF's nine points tied for the lowest point total Temple has allowed in the second quarter. Temple went 3-of-14 (21.4%), while USF went 2-of-7 (28.6%).
Temple forced USF into six turnovers in the third quarter, scoring eight points off them.
Temple had 21 fast-break points.
Gary scored 11 points, marking her ninth straight game in double digits. She went 2-of-10 from behind the arc, extending her streak of games with a made three-pointer to 12.
USF outscored Temple 23-18 in the fourth quarter, marking the fifth straight game the Owls have allowed a 20-plus point quarter in the second half.
Tiarra East was the leading scorer, going 7-of-13 from the field and scoring 15 points.

UP NEXT

The Owls continue their homestand against UAB on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.