PHILADELPHIA – The inside presence of Syracuse proved too much to overcome for Temple women’s basketball as the Owls suffered a season-ending loss to the Orange (21-14) by a score of 82-68 in the WNIT Sweet 16. Temple finishes the season at 23-10 after its furthest postseason run since the early 1980’s.
The Owls scored a season-high nine three-pointers, but Kayla Alexander had her way under the basket in the second half for Syracuse as she helped the Orange finish with a 42-26 advantage in points in the paint. Alexander scored a game-high 29 points and also grabbed 10 boards.
Shey Peddy scored 20 points and hit four treys in her final game for the Owls. Kristen McCarthy ended her Temple career with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while BJ Williams dished a team-high six assists in her final game.
“It’s always disappointing to send your seniors off on a loss,” said head coach Tonya Cardoza. “Actually, a lot of people do it, but as a coach you never want to end the season on a sour note. The fact that we didn’t play great makes it that much harder to swallow, but I couldn’t ask for a better group. What these guys have been able to do over the number of years that they’ve been here, and more importantly, the effort and the passion that they play with- it’s going to be hard to replace them. But I know that there’s a brighter future down the road for all of them.”
Victoria Macaulay also scored in double figures with 11 points, as did Nikki Works who came off the bench for a career-high 10 points. Works hit 3-of-4 from the field including both of her attempts behind the arc.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle with five lead changes and neither team shooting over 38 percent from the field. The Owls led by five early, but it would prove to be their largest lead of the half. After the second tie at 20-20, Syracuse got its first four-point lead before Temple rallied back with a 9-2 run that included three buckets from Macaulay.
The run ended with Temple up 29-26 just under the five-minute mark. The Orange scored the next seven points, ending with a trey for Hemingway for her first points of the game in the final seconds. The Owls had time for one quick possession, and Peddy launched the ball from just over the half-court line and drained it to send the Owls into halftime down one, 33-32.
Peddy finished the half with a team-high 10 points, while Alexander had 11 for Syracuse to lead all players at the break.
The lead changed hands six times in five minutes to start the season half. After Temple took a 43-42 lead on two made free throws from Works at 14:50, Syracuse used a 7-0 run to lead by six and the Orange never trailed again.
Every time Temple tried to get something going, Alexander had an answer for Syracuse, as she scored 18 second-half points.
The Owls hit five treys in the half including a pair from Rateska Brown, the second of which cut a 10-point margin to seven with 5:32 remaining, but it was as close as Temple could get. The Orange hit 10-of-11 at the line in the final two minutes to thwart any hopes of a Temple comeback.
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