After missing 10 shots three days earlier, Tiarra East responded with a big game Friday night when her Temple teammates needed her to come through on the road.

In a game the Owls trailed for 25 minutes, East tied her career high of 28 points as Temple grabbed a 59-55 win at VCU to improve to 2-1 on the season.

East, who was held to nine points in the Owls’ win at Delaware Tuesday, looked the part of Temple’s best player against VCU. She shot 11 of 20 from the floor and scored six of Temple’s last eight points in the game’s final three minutes. She hit a free throw to tie the game at 52 with three minutes to go, put the Owls ahead for good at 54-52 on a layup with 2:22 left, and later iced the game with three more foul shots in the final 20 seconds.

Temple overcame 32% shooting from the floor with a strong defensive performance that included 15 steals. VCU (2-1), a program that advanced to the WBIT last season, committed 28 turnovers, and the Owls scored 17 points off those turnovers.

Another slow start plagued the Owls, who shot just 4 of 18 as a team in the first quarter with East and Tarriyonna Gary combining for eight points. VCU went through similar struggles in the first period as well. The Rams shot just 5 of 15, but four points from Timaya Lewis-Eutsey tied the game at 10 after one quarter.

After trailing by 28-22 at halftime, Temple did something it has been prone to doing and came out of the half with a newfound sense of energy. East found creative ways to score nine points in the midrange, and the aggression drew attention and created good looks for her teammates.

VCU didn’t back down in part to Mary-Anna Asara, who shot a perfect 3-for-3 in the third quarter with seven points, and the game was tied at 43 heading into the fourth quarter.

Neither team could find any momentum to start the final period, with Temple and VCU combining for six turnovers and 0-for-6 shooting in the early portion of the quarter. VCU’s Lućia Sotelo finally scored on a layup after four minutes.

When East boxed out her defender and scored on the putback layup with 2:22 remaining that put Temple ahead for good at 54-52, it marked the Owls’ first lead since the 8:22 mark of the second quarter.

Asare’s 19 points and six rebounds weren’t enough to pull out a win, in part due to the Rams’ abysmal 4 of 15 free-throw shooting. Lewis-Eutsey also chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.

The Owls shot under 40% for the second consecutive game and still got the victory thanks in part to East’s 20 second-half points. Towson transfer Anissa Rivera added 12 points off the bench and dominated the glass with a career- high 16 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.

Temple will finish a three-game road trip when the Owls play at Georgetown Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN+.

Front page photo by Tim McCall, Temple Athletics.