After having one of the more disappointing losses in the Diane Richardson era, Temple was in search of a bounce-back win Wednesday night against Saint Joseph’s at the Liacouras Center to get back on track.
Despite leading by one point with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation, a turnover on an inbound pass by Temple freshman guard Tristen Taylor led to a foul and gave Hawks guard Chloe Welch the opportunity to force overtime at the foul line, which she did.
From there, the Owls fell 67-65 in the extra period to their Big 5 rivals. Their third loss in a row dropped them to 2-4, while the Hawks remained unbeaten at 5-0.
“It was a disappointing loss,” Richardson said. “We showed that we have fight, but again, we start our games slow in the beginning and then we have to fight. We won every quarter fighting back. As I look at the stats, we won in every statistical category. It’s just that we started slow.”
Slow starts have been a theme for Temple so far, and the Owls found themselves in a 17-point deficit early in the second quarter. In its last five games, Temple has been outscored by 36 points in the first quarter.
“We’ve got to have that mentality where we have to jump out first,” Richardson said. “I think we’ve been just in chill mode and chill in the first quarter. That’s been our Achilles’ heel the entire season. If they didn’t know before, they know now that we have got to start out firing in the first quarter.”
Hawks forward Laura Ziegler and guard Gabby Casey led the way for Saint Joe’s offensively. Ziegler finished with 21 points on 7 of 20 shooting, while Casey finished with 15 points on an efficient 6 of 7 shooting.
Aside from the turnover in the fourth quarter, Taylor had her best performance of the season for the Owls, finishing with a career-high in points and rebounds, with 21 points on 8 of 14 shooting to go with seven rebounds.
“The coaches just give me confidence every day to just keep shooting,” Taylor said. “I know I have a great jump shot, so they just tell me to keep shooting, and today I just did what they asked me to do.”
Temple guard Aleah Nelson finished with 16 points, paired with a team-high eight assists in the loss.
After finding themselves trailing 28-11 at the nine-minute mark of the second quarter, the Owls began their comeback.
While they struggled to find consistency on the offensive end, the Owls found ways to combat their offensive struggles with defensive success. Temple pushed the pace after steals or St. Joes misses, leading to 15 fastbreak points.
Slowly, the Owls clawed their way back into the game, and a Taylor steal and score layup put the Owls ahead at 59-57 for their first lead of the game with a little less than two minutes remaining.
Then came Taylor’s turnover and the overtime loss.
“I like the resiliency,” Richardson said. “They were up 17 points and we came back and fought. I liked the fight in them. I’m proud of them for that, but again, we got to start faster.”
Paint success
Following Temple’s loss at Villanova Sunday, Richardson was adamant that the Owls needed to be better at boxing out and grabbing rebounds.
Against St. Joe’s, they did just that. The Owls outrebounded the Hawks, 48-36, and scored 34 of their 65 points in the paint. Temple forward Rayne Tucker finished with a team-high 12 rebounds.
“Yeah, giving up 18 to one person was a lot,” Tucker said of the Owls allowing Villanova’s Christina Dalce to get 18 rebounds. “Their big (Ziegler) averaged a double-double, so I took it as a personal challenge to not let her get her average.”
Foul trouble
Temple outpaced St. Joe’s in nearly every stat on the score sheet, except when it came to fouls. The Owls out-fouled the Hawks 25-10, and they took advantage of it by shooting 18-of-23 from the line, while the Owls had just nine attempts and made eight of them.
The free throws proved to be a pivotal factor in the game, as all eight of the Hawks’ points in overtime came from the foul line. Richardson expressed her frustration after the game.
“In overtime, free throws killed us,” Richardson said. “I don’t understand how we can play a physical team and we shoot nine free throws and they shoot 23.”
Up next
Temple will have a nine-day break before it travels to Tempe, Arizona, for the Briann January Classic. The Owls will take on Xavier on Dec. 1 in the first of two games in Arizona, and tip off is set for 7 p.m.
You can watch Wednesday night's postgame press conference here.
