PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – After trailing by double digits at halftime, Temple women’s basketball scored an impressive 49 points in the second half to hand Syracuse (7-1) its first loss of the season, 74-67. The Owls (5-2) had four players finish in double figures in scoring, led by Victoria Macaulay with her fourth double-double of the season.
Macaulay scored 20 points including 6-of-6 at the line, and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Rateska Brown hit 4-of-8 three-pointers and finished with a career-high 19 points, while Tyonna Williams notched the first double-double of her career with 14 points and a career-high 11 assists.
Natasha Thames scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, and was one of two players with seven rebounds along with Sally Kabengano.
The Orangewomen were one of the top teams receiving votes in both national polls heading into today’s game, and were the team to end Temple’s season in 2011-12 in the WNIT Third Round. Carmen Tyson-Thomas led Syracuse with 18 points in today’s game, while Kayla Alexander scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine boards.
At halftime, Temple trailed 39-25, but the Owls hit 18-of-31 (58.1 percent) from the field in the second half including 4-of-10 from behind the arc en route to out-scoring Syracuse 49-28. They also went 9-of-10 at the line in the second half and shot a season-best 86.7 percent at the line overall.
“I thought that was a great win for us,” said Temple head coach Tonya Cardoza. “It showed a lot of character, being down 14 at the half- we could have easily folded but that’s not what we do. We fight to the very end and we gave ourselves a chance. I thought the way we started that second half, we sort of took the life out of them. We lost it a little bit but we never quit.
So many guys for us had great games. It’s been a long time since we had numbers like this where you have four guys in double figures and two players getting double-doubles. It’s just an amazing win and I’m so proud of these guys.”
Syracuse took the lead early on, and built it to double digits within the first seven minutes. Alexander made her third bucket of the game for an 18-8 advantage, capping a 7-2 run.
After the Orangewomen increased the margin to 14 at the midway point, the Owls used an 8-0 run to narrow the gap to six, 24-18. Brown scored the last six of those points, and would eventually score 11 straight points for Temple down the stretch. Without contributions from her teammates, save for a layup from Thames in the final minute, Syracuse closed the half on a 9-2 run for a 14-point, 39-25 advantage at the break.
Syracuse held a 15-6 advantage in points off turnovers after the first half, with Temple committing 12 to the Orangewomens’ seven. The Owls held the edge on the glass, 23-19, including six rebounds from Macaulay.
The second half became a game of runs, starting with the Owls who exploded with 12 straight points to open the half and cut the margin to two points, 39-37 less than four minutes in.
Syracuse responded with a 10-0 run of its own, but Temple hung tough and came back yet again. Williams hit a trey to cap a 16-3 run that gave the Owls their first lead of the game, 55-54 with 7:05 remaining.
The lead changed hands four more times before it was Temple’s for good. It was Williams yet again with her third trey of the game to put the Owls in the lead for good, 62-60 with 4:41 left on the clock. The Orangewomen hit just a single field goal the rest of the way, but went 5-of-6 at the line to stay within striking distance.
Brown’s fourth and final three-pointer of the game was a dagger to Syracuse, giving Temple an eight-point, 71-63 lead with just a minute and a half remaining. Three turnovers by Temple combined with a layup and 2-of-2 at the line for Syracuse narrowed the gap to four with 30 seconds left, but Williams hit 3-of-4 at the line in the final 22 seconds to secure the victory.
The Owls will be on the road for their next six games, starting with a 7:00 p.m. contest at Kent State on Thursday, Dec. 6.
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