VILLANOVA, Pa. – Despite a game-high 17-point effort from Victoria Macaulay, the Temple women’s basketball team fully overcame an early deficit in a 55-44 loss at Villanova (9-1). The Owls (5-5) cut a 15-point margin to four but could come no closer as they dropped a third straight game. It was the first Philadelphia Big 5 game of the season for Temple, while the Wildcats improved to 3-0 in the Big 5 with the victory.
Macaulay hit 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 at the line, while also pulling down seven boards for Temple. Natasha Thames scored nine points and led all players with nine rebounds, while Rateska Brown came off the bench for eight points. Tyonna Williams dished a game-high eight assists.
Rachel Roberts led Villanova with 13 points and Megan Pearson came off the bench for 10. The Wildcats scored 12 points off 15 Temple turnovers while committing just four of their own the entire contest.
It was tough in the early going for the Owls as the Wildcats hit three of their first four attempts from behind the arc as part of a 13-0 run to open the game. Temple missed its first 11 attempts from the field, but then hit its next 3-of-3 to trim Villanova’s lead to nine.
After a three-point play by Thames the Owls were within seven at the midway point, but the Wildcats responded with a 7-0 run for a 14-point lead. Brown hit 2-of-3 from behind the arc over a four-minute stretch, but after Villanova’s fifth trey of the half the Wildcats had their largest lead at 30-15.
Meghan Roxas hit another three-pointer for Temple in a 7-0 run as the Owls nearly ended the half with just a single-digit deficit, but a steal and layup for Villanova in the final seconds put the home team ahead 32-22 at the break.
Villanova scored the first bucket of the second half, but after a 7-0 run for the Owls it was a single-digit game until the final six minutes. Sally Kabengano converted on a three-point play during the run as the Owls cut the margin to five, and a few minutes later the gap was down to four, 37-33 after a layup from Macaulay.
After shooting 40 percent from the field in the first half, the Wildcats made just 2-of-11 to start the second half.
Macaulay reached double figures in scoring near the eight-minute mark, but was the only Owl to score over a nearly 12-minute stretch extending to the final minute. The Wildcats picked up the pace, and with less than six minutes remaining, another three-pointer gave Villanova an 11-point, 47-36 advantage.
With another pair of buckets in the final four minutes, Macaulay continued to keep Temple within striking distance, but she had no help offensively as the Wildcats kept the lead near 10.
Thames made a layup to narrow the gap to eight, 52-44 with 1:01 on the clock, but Villanova’s seventh trey would be the final bucket of the game.
The Owls will be back on the road after the holiday break, traveling to Michigan State for a 12:00 p.m. game on Saturday, Dec. 29.
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