PHILADELPHIA – After opening the second half with a 17-4 run it was smooth-sailing the rest of the way for the Temple women’s basketball team in a 69-51 defeat of Fordham on Saturday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. Shey Peddy led the Owls (14-8, 7-1) to their seventh-straight win with a game-high 21 points along with a career-high 11 assists and four steals.
Victoria Macaulay had another strong outing for Temple with 18 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Kristen McCarthy scored eight points along with dishing three assists, and Rateska Brown came off the bench to score a career-high seven points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field including a three-pointer.
For Peddy, who currently ranks second in the Atlantic 10 at 17.0 points per game, it was her third straight game scoring 20 or more points.
Arielle Collins and Abigail Corning led Fordham (11-13, 2-7) with 15 points apiece.
Fordham took an early lead by as many as six at 14-8 before the Owls got into a rhythm, and 10 early points from Macaulay helped the Owls take their first lead before the midway point of the first half.
With under eight minutes to go in the half, both teams were still shooting over 50 percent from the field. Temple led by as many as three at 21-18, but the game saw its second tie at 23-23. McCarthy drained a long jumper at 6:45 to give the Owls a four-point, 27-23 lead and cap a 6-0 Temple run.
After the Rams hit a pair of free throws to narrow the margin back to two, the Owls closed the half on a 9-2 run with seven of those points coming from Peddy. She led all players at halftime with 14 points while Macaulay finished with 10 as the Owls took a 36-27 lead into the break.
Temple stormed out of the gate in the second half for eight unanswered points which turned into a 17-4 run that gave the Owls a 22-point, 53-31 lead seven minutes into the half.
Fordham was able to come within no fewer than 17 points the rest of the way thanks to solid shooting and strong ball-handling by the Owls who finished with a season-low nine turnovers. Temple scored 15 points off 11 second-half turnovers by the Rams, who finished the game with 17 total turnovers.
The Owls take to the road for their next game, traveling to Saint Louis for an 8:00 p.m. (EST) contest on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
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