Four days after dropping into third place in the American Athletic Conference, Temple responded with an 81-66 road victory Sunday at ECU.

The Owls, who improved to 18-11 overall, share a 12-5 conference record with North Texas and Tulsa, but sit in third place at the moment because of a tiebreaker that is derived from each team’s combined record against the two others.

Temple has nonetheless guaranteed itself a double-bye in the upcoming conference tournament and a regular-season finish of no worse than third. To win the American regular season title, the Owls would need to beat FAU Wednesday at home and hope for North Texas to lose to Memphis and Tulsa to fall to Tulane on Tuesday.

Tiarra East’s career-high 28 points led five double-figure scorers. The 5-foot-10 junior shot 10-for-19 overall and 4 of 8 from three-point range and also set another career-high by swiping 13 rebounds. Senior Aleah Nelson added 13 points and tied a career-high with 11 assists, while Tarriyonna Gary added 16 points and Demi Washington contributed 12. Rayne Tucker also posted a double-double, chipping in 10 points and a season-best 15 rebounds.

Temple made 12 of its 23 three-point attempts, a result that pleased head coach Diane Richardson.

“When you see a couple of them go in, it gives you that confidence and they just let it go,” Richardson said after the game. “For us to shoot 52% from three, that’s our game. So again, they were letting it go. Now if it would’ve been different, I would’ve told them to stop shooting threes.”

Temple also continued its dominance on the glass, out-rebounding ECU 45-29, with 20 coming on the offensive end.

ECU (15-13, 8-9) jumped out to a 20-15 lead at the end of the first quarter, led by 14 points from fifth-year guard Danae McNeal. She shot 5-of-7 from the field, knocking down her lone three-pointer, and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. ECU shot 41.2% from the field as a team.

On the flip side, the Owls shot 54.5% from the field, but they turned the ball over 10 times.

“They push up really really high (defensively) and we didn’t take that into consideration and get in the gaps,” Richardson said. “So they turned us over stepping into the passing lanes, and we had those turnovers early.”

The game shifted in the second quarter when Temple started to turn things around defensively. The Owls held the Pirates to just 13 points on 33.3% shooting (5-of-15).

The improved defense didn't go to waste, as Temple took advantage by scoring 23 points on 57.1% shooting (8-of-14). In the quarter, the Owls secured four offensive rebounds, scored six points off four forced turnovers, and scored six second-chance points.

“Just understanding what they were doing defensively so we could get into gaps,” Richardson said of her team's turnaround starting in the second quarter. “We had more movement. We talked about movement and they were moving in and out of their zone, and we were able to get some good looks. Once we started moving, they had to defend us and then we started getting two-on-ones.”

Temple's solid defense continued in the third quarter for the most part. The Owls allowed 18 points, but 11 of them came from the hot shooting of ECU guard Khia Miller. The freshman drained four of her five shot attempts and went 1-for-2 from the foul line.

The Owls balanced out the quarter, however, by sharing the ball and getting everyone involved. Six Owls scored in the quarter for a total of 23 points. The trio of Gary (seven points), Washington (six points) and East (five points) were the catalysts.

Like the third quarter, Temple managed to win the fourth by five points, outscoring ECU, 20-15. As she did in the second quarter, East scored a team-high eight points.

Temple’s Wednesday night regular-season finale will mark senior day at the Liacouras Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Listen to the postgame press conference with Diane Richardson here.

Front page photo by Tim McCall.