Temple defeated Memphis 89-66 on Senior day Tuesday. This is the second to last game for the Owls as they will face the Tigers again tomorrow to make up a game originally scheduled to be played at Memphis earlier in the season. The Owls are now .500 at 10-10 and still are 5th in the American Conference. Temple was lead in scoring by junior forward Alexa Williamson who had a career-high 29 points. After the game, Williamson said, “I posted hard and made those easy buckets.” Williamson’s career-high wasn’t an accident either. Coach Cardoza said, ” We knew Memphis had tall players that can easily block three-pointers. This is why we had the guards get the ball out of their hands quickly and it paid off.” Also scoring big for Temple was Freshman Guard Jasha Clinton who had a career-high of 21 points.
Temple had an aggressive defense with 15 steals and causing the Tigers to turn over the ball 20 times. Coach Cardoza said, “our aggressive defense gave us easy buckets and helped us catch them off guard in transition.”
Temple Women’s Basketball honored 2 departing Seniors. Team Captain and Guard Nicolette Mayo and Grad Student Guard Jada Graves both are leaving Temple at the end of the season. But boy did they send them off in triumph scoring over 80 points which coach Tanya Cardoza said, “is a huge deal for us as a team and really is boosting our confidence.”
Both departing seniors had quiet games. Nicolette Mayo played only six minutes most of them at the end of the fourth quarter. She had a very surreal and exciting three-pointer in the final minute. You can see how her teammates react and feel about Nic here: (Courtesy of Temple Womens Basketball)
Q4, 0:48 | THREE FOR NIC ON SENIOR DAY!!!! pic.twitter.com/4SBDFLr5Rz
— Temple Women’s Basketball (@templewbb) March 2, 2021
Coach Cardoza was asked about Nic after the game and she said, ” Nic has been with us for a while now and she is a joy. She comes to every practice, works hard, coaches from the sideline. I told her I want you back in a different role next year if you choose to go to grad school I will pay for it. I don’t want to say goodbye.” I noticed when Nic was on the floor playing she never wasn’t having that big smile on her face and it rubbed off on all of her teammates when she was on or off the court.
The other departing senior guard Jada Graves was also quiet in her senior day game. She played more minutes than Nic did but had more points with 5. Graves also had two steals and 5 rebounds so she helped in a different way.
Temple’s Jasha Clinton was second in the points category with 21. Clinton also lead the team in assists with 11.
Memphis was lead in scoring by Jamirah Shutes with 18 points. She was really the only force on the Tigers the entire game. Memphis couldn’t get the ball in the basket and couldn’t stop Temple’s many drives to the basket.
Temple Ends against Memphis again tomorrow at home. It starts at noon and is broadcast on ESPN+. After tommorow’s game there will be a break before the Owls head to Dickies Arena in Fort Worth Texas for the American Conference Tournament.
Be the first to comment