PHILADELPHIA – Five players scored in double figures for the first time this season as Temple women’s basketball cruised to a 77-50 win against Massachusetts (6-19, 1-9) at the Liacouras Center on Saturday evening. The win was the ninth straight for the Owls (16-8, 9-1) who were led by Victoria Macaulay with 18 points and Brittany Lewis with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.
BJ Williams scored 13 points and continued to add to her Atlantic 10 lead in assists, dishing out six of them for game-high honors. Shey Peddy scored 12 points while also recording five assists and a game-best five steals. Kristen McCarthy scored 12 points and grabbed eight boards.
Macaulay shot 8-of-12 from the field en route to her game-high 18 points, also pulling down seven rebounds. Both Macaulay and Lewis led the team with three blocks.
UMass got 13 points and six boards from Jasmine Watson, while Shakia Robinson also scored in double figures with 10.
Temple broke open a 12-9 game with a 9-0 run to lead by 12, 21-9 with 13 minutes left in the first half. Williams, who started the game with a trey, had seven points in the run.
The Minutewomen later narrowed the margin to seven after their own 8-2 run put the score at 27-20 with six minutes left, but they would come no closer. The Owls closed the half on a 15-5 run with scoring from five different players, and led 42-25 at the break.
Macaulay led all players with 11 points and five rebounds in the first half, while Williams finished the half with 10. Temple shot 51.5 percent from the field while holding UMass to 33.3 percent.
Lewis was the fifth player to reach double figures for the Owls, getting to 10 with a three-pointer at 10:56 that put Temple up by 28, 59-31. Macaulay soon gave the Owls their first 30-point lead, and Williams hit her third trey a moment later to double the Minutewomens’ score as Temple took a 66-33 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.
Rateska Brown hit a jumper and trey back-to-back to give the Owls a 34-point, 73-39 lead, their largest of the game with 4:37 left.
Temple scored 29 of its points by forcing 23 UMass turnovers, and out-shot the Minutewomen 45 percent to 37.5 percent for the game.
The Owls will be back at home for their next contest, at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 15 against George Washington for the annual School Day game.
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