After winning its first two American Athletic Conference games, league win No. 3 was in sight for Temple Saturday night at USF, a program that has been picked in preseason polls to win the conference for five consecutive seasons.

The Owls trailed the Bulls by just three at halftime, but there was work to be done after head coach Diane Richardson’s team had shot just 30% from the field.

Instead, USF dominated the third quarter, held Temple without a field goal the first nine minutes of the quarter, and never let the Owl build any momentum. Temple’s offense picked up in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as USF handed the Owls their first loss of conference play, 65-56, at the Yuengling Center in Tampa.

It was a rough shooting night for Temple (8-6, 2-1 American Athletic Conference), which shot 36% from the field as a team and a poor 4-for-17 from three-point range. Despite the loss, forward Anissa Rivera led the team with a season-high 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting and grabbed five rebounds along the way.

Guard Tarriyonna Gary finished with 12 points but shot just 3-for-11, while Temple’s leading scorer Tiarra East was held to just six points on 2 of 10 shooting.

Guard Sammie Puisis led the way for the USF (10-6, 3-0 AAC) with a season-high 26 points and accounted for all of the Bulls’ three-pointers, going 6 of 11 from deep. Forward Carla Brito scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season as the Bulls picked up their fifth straight win.

A recurring issue for Temple this season has been rebounding, and it plagued the Owls again in this loss. USF enjoyed a 41-25 rebounding margin Saturday night, with the Bulls grabbing 15 offensive rebounds and 13 second-chance points.

The Owls will remain in Florida for their next matchup, this time traveling to Boca Raton to play FAU Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Front page phot by Tim McCall, Temple Athletics.