Facing a difficult two game stretch against the top teams in the American Athletic Conference, head coach Diane Richardson and her squad hoped to start their road trip on a positive note at North Texas Wednesday night.
It was an ideal start for the Owls, who took a 13-point lead into halftime after leading by as many as 19. Maintaining leads has been difficult for the Owls this season, but the hope was that the previous games had prepared them to close out what could be a big win.
That proved to be a challenge, as the Mean Green marched back and shot 58% in the second half to pin a 70-67 loss on the Owls.
After UNT (16-5, 8-1) came back to take a two-point lead with two minutes remaining, Temple’s offense continued to struggle, with a free-throw extending the Mean Green’s lead with 12 seconds left. Temple turned to guard Tarriyonna Gary, who missed a three-point shot. But as the ball traveled out of bounds, it touched a North Texas player, giving the Owls one last shot with four seconds on the clock.
After inbounding the ball to Jaleesa Molina at the top of the key, Molina handed it off to Tiarra East, who threw up a deep three attempt to tie the game that fell short. And for the second game in a row, the Owls loss at the buzzer, this time at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas.
Temple (12-8, 6-3 American Athletic Conference) was led by forward Anissa Rivera’s 16 points, with the Towson transfer going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. Guard Tristen Taylor had one of her better offensive performances with 14 points, while Gary scored 13 points.
East’s shooting struggles continued into this matchup, with Temple’s leading scorer totaling just two points on 1-of-10 shooting, including 0-for-3 from deep.
Forward Tommisha Lampkin guided UNT, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Kyla Deck scored 16 points and knocked down a pair of threes as the Mean Green moved into a tie in first place with UTSA.
The Owls will play their second game of their Texas road trip at UTSA Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.
Front page photo by Tim McCall.