Philly Sports Jabronis
Report From Temple University
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Temple women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT with a 69-57 quarterfinal win over Middle Tennessee State University on the road on Sunday. The victory gives Temple a 20-win season for the first time since 2012. MT sees its season come to a close at 24-10.
Temple held Middle Tennessee to just five field goals in the first half, en route to a 20-point advantage at the break. The Owls then survived a four-minute stretch that saw MT score 15-straight points to open the second half. Temple iced the game by going 16-of-18 from the free throw line in the final 6:30 of play.
Senior Tyonna Williams led the Owls with 23 points and five assists, while also pulling down six boards. Sophomore Feyonda Fitzgerald added 15 points and three assists, while freshman Alliya Butts hit on three of four from beyond the arc to finish with nine points. Sophomore Safiya Martinled Temple with 15 rebounds, while junior Erica Covile added nine rebounds to go along with six points.
Temple turned an early 5-5 tie into an a 13-5 lead, by rattling off eight-straight points during a three-minute stretch. The Owls also forced three MT turnovers during the surge. The Blue Raiders interrupted the run with a Petty fast break bucket, but the Owls responded with two points each from Fitzgerald and Williams to push the lead to 17-7 with 8:14 on the clock.
Middle Tennessee scored four straight, including a Shanice Cason three, to cut the lead to 17-11 with 6:40 to play. However, Williams hit her second three of the game, sparking an 18-4 run that gave the Owls a 35-15 lead at the break.
Temple held the Blue Raiders to just 15.6% from the field in the first half, while the Owls shot 39.4% (13-33) from the field and 62.5% (5-8) from three-point range to account for the lopsided score.
Williams totaled 10 first-half points to lead all players, while also adding four assists. Fitzgerald chipped in with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, while Butts and Covile each added six points in the stanza. Martin had a monster first half on the boards, pulling down 12 rebounds, while Covile added eight to give Temple a 31-18 lead on the glass.
Middle Tennessee’s Ty Petty had six points to pace the Blue Raiders, while Cason added three in the tough first half.
MT all but erased the Temple advantage in the first four minutes of the second half, going on a 15-0 run to make it a 35-30 game with 16:04 to play. Temple stopped the bleeding with back-to-back buckets from Fitzgerald and Martin, before an old-fashioned three point play from Williams got the Temple advantage back to double-digits (42-32) with 12:36 left.
The Owls’ lead stayed in double-figures until back-to-back three from Middle Tennessee made it a 55-49 point game with 4:47 to play. With both teams in foul trouble, it was Temple that took advantage, as the Owls scored 16 of their final 18 points on free throws to close out the victory. Temple never let the lead go below 10 points in the final 4:34 of play, icing the game at the line.
The hosts rebounded from an abysmal first half shooting to connect on 38.2% from the field in the second half. Olivia Jones led the Blue Raiders with 24 points and five steals, while Brea Edwards had eight points and 20 rebounds, accounting for half of MT’s boards.
Temple will now head to West Virginia for the WNIT Semifinals on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
