University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Temple
Temple Overpowers Women's Basketball, 64-52
02/09/2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - After getting off to a slow start, the Richmond women's basketball team dropped a 64-52 decision to the Temple Owls on Friday afternoon at the Liacouras Center. Danielle Bell and Christina Campion paced the Spiders with 12 points and 11 points, respectively as the Owls snapped the Spiders three-game road win streak.
Campion and Johanna McKnight also finished with six boards and Sarah Williams chipped in nine points for the Spiders.
Facing a 9-0 deficit in the first 4:02 of play, the Spiders finally put in their first basket at the 15:28 mark. Despite their efforts, the Spiders were unable to find their rhythm and the Owls held them to just six points until Campion put in a three-point play at 10:22.
The remainder of the half continued to be a slow run for the Spiders, who were only able to convert five shots from the field. Shooting a mere 16.7% from the field, the Spiders used 10-of-14 (71.4%) shooting to put in half of their 20-point first half output.
Two Owls entered the break in double figures, led by senior All-America Candidate Kamesha Hairston with 14 points and Fatima Maddox with 10 points.
Entering the second half with a 20-point deficit, the game continued to mirror the Spiders' first-half struggles, with only a 3-point basket from Bell on the board in the first five minutes of play. However; Richmond sparked into scoring action at 14:25, using seven different scorers to cut the 26-point deficit in half (to a 12-point difference) at the 9:02 mark.
After the Owls built up another 20-point lead with just under five minutes to go, the Spiders were once again able to cut the game to 12 before the buzzer.
Temple's Lady Comfort, who had nine first-half points, led the Owl's second half efforts with 12 points and finished with a game-high 21 points and four blocks. Hairston followed with 17 points and Maddox finished with 14 points, rounding out the Owls in double-figures.
"They were the aggressors to start the basketball game and we dug ourselves into a hole early," stated Richmond head coach Michael Shafer. "Anytime you do that against a good basketball team on the road, you expend a lot of energy to come back. But I give our kids a lot of credit to fighting back. I felt like the last 15 minutes they really improved."
With the win, Temple (19-5, 9-0 in A-10) remained as one of only two teams still undefeated in league play, winning 15 of its last 16 games and avenging last year's two-point loss to the Spiders.
The Spiders (10-14, 4-5 in A-10) will continue their road trip with the Duquesne Dukes (7-15, 2-7 in A-10), who have dropped their last six games, on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Live coverage will be available at RichmondSpiders.com.
