City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Temple women’s basketball program entered into a new era this offseason when Diane Richardson was named the head coach. She takes over after 14 sea

Richardson takes over a team that went 13-15 in 2021-22, which marked the 14th and final season of the Owls’ all-time winningest head coach Tony Cardoza. 

She added seven transfers, including three from the WNIT team she coached at Towson last season, to help boost a team that will have to replace Mia Davis, the program’s all-time leader in points (2,376) and games played (140). 

Richardson’s tenure will start Nov. 7 with a road trip to Princeton as the Owls released their 2022-23 non-league schedule on Monday. The Tigers advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season after going undefeated in the Ivy League and took down Temple, 59-41, in non-league play.

The Owls follow their opener with a three-game stretch against Big East squads. They host Georgetown on Nov. 12, travel to St. John’s on Nov. 16 and then return home to open Big 5 play against Villanova on Nov. 20. The Owls lost to the Red Storm and picked up wins over the Hoyas and Wildcats in non-league matchups last season.

Temple concludes the month of November with a three-game road trip, traveling to St. Joe’s (Nov. 23), Bucknell (Nov. 27) and Old Dominion (Nov. 30). The contests are three more rematches from 2021-22 when the Owls lost to the Monarchs and Hawks and picked up a win over the Bison. Richardson’s Towson squad ended its season with a loss to ODU in the WNIT.

Richardson’s squad finishes its season with four of the next five games at home, beginning with a Dec. 3 home contest against UMBC, which will be a doubleheader with the men’s home game against VCU on the same day.

The Owls host La Salle on Dec. 5 and travel to Penn on Dec. 11 to wrap Big 5 play. They had both of those Big 5 matchups canceled last season. The season concludes with home games against Duquesne (Dec. 16), which Temple took down last season, and Ole Miss (Dec. 21).

Ole Miss is one three of last season’s NCAA Tournament teams on Temple’s non-league schedule along with Villanova and Princeton. Old Dominion and Bucknell also won 24 games apiece last season and should give the Owls two good early tests.

Following non-league play, Temple enters its 16-game American Athletic Conference schedule, where it finished fourth (8-8) last season before an early postseason exit. The Owls play six of their 10 AAC opponents twice and four one time. They will host Cincinnati, ECU, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulsa, UCF and Wichita State, while playing road only games against South Florida and Tulane.

Richardson’s top returners are from the sophomore class as the Owls leaned on four freshmen last season. Sophomore guards Aniya Gourdine (7.7 ppg) and Jasha Clinton (6.4 ppg) were third and fourth, respectively, in scoring last season and combined for 36 starts as freshmen. 

Sophomore guard Tiarra East (3.6 ppg) also made 12 starts, and sophomore forward Canada Perea and graduate guard Jalynn Holmes played both in all 28 games, including nine starts for Holmes, to round out the list of returners.

Richardson added some significant pieces through the transfer portal as senior guard Aleah Nelson (16.6 ppg) and graduate guard Kendall Currence (15.9 ppg) both arrive after earning first team all-conference honors in the Colonial Athletic Association last season. Nelson starred for Richardson at Towson, while Currence went up against the pair playing for Northeastern. 

Junior guard Tarriyonna Gary (8.2 ppg) and senior forward Rayne Tucker (6.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg) are two other players to reunite with Richardson from Towson’s WNIT squad a season ago. Senior forward Denise Solis (9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg at UMass-Lowell) and redshirt-junior forward Brittany Garner (6.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg at Prairie View A&M) are also new additions via the transfer portal.

Sophomore forward Ines Piper arrives from Northwest Florida State College, while Bethlehem Catholic product Kourtney Wilson is the team’s lone freshman to round out the roster’s new additions.

Temple WBB Non-League Schedule

Mon., Nov. 7 at Princeton
Sat., Nov. 12 vs. Georgetown
Wed., Nov. 16 at St. John’s
Sun., Nov. 20 vs. Villanova
Wed., Nov. 23 at Saint Joseph’s 
Sun., Nov. 27 at Bucknell
Wed., Nov. 20 at Old Dominion
Sat., Dec. 3 vs. UMBC
Mon., Dec. 5 vs. La Salle
Sun., Dec. 11 at Penn
Fri., Dec. 16 vs. Duquesne
Wed., Dec. 21 vs. Ole Miss