City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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NORTH PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug. Sometimes you’re both in one week.

The Temple women’s basketball program was flying high into Thursday night’s home game against Georgetown following a dominant win over Delaware State in Monday’s season opener. 

The Owls quickly felt what it’s like to be on the other side of one of those romps in a 68-45 loss to the Hoyas at the Liacouras Center. 

“I’m disappointed in the way we played” second-year coach Diane Richardson said. “Obviously Georgetown played a very, very tough game and they came in here wanting it. They did some games and stepped up their game and we didn’t respond. We’ve got some things to work on obviously, and we’re going to do that.”

Temple’s perplexing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like start to the season began with a record-setting night in its 109-43 win over Delaware State, which marked the second largest margin of victory and second points in a game in program history. 

Thursday night was a completely different story as the Owls finished with their fewest points during Richardson’s tenure as coach. It was the program’s lowest point total since a 68-31 loss to Central Florida on Feb. 21, 2022. 

Coming off a 14-17 campaign in 2022-23 that included a 78-61 early-season loss to the Owls, the Hoyas (2-0) were picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Big East preseason poll. That made Thursday's result even more of a head scratcher.

Redshirt-senior forward Rayne Tucker was a bright spot in the early going. Tucker, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, was 3-for-4 from the floor with eight points in the first period. They were the Owls’ only eight points as the rest of the team went 0-for-12 from the field and Georgetown ended the period with 11 unanswered points to grab a 24-8 lead.

“I feel like going into today, Monday was already over,” Tucker said. “It’s always a next-game mentality. I don’t think we were dwelling too much on it. I think we just came out and couldn’t make shots early on and our energy was kind of based off that.”

Tucker hit a three at the 3:20 mark in the first quarter and the Owls couldn’t get another bucket to go until junior guard Tiarra East broke the scoreless drought on a tough drive with 8:18 left in the second period. The Hoyas lead continued to grow as large as 25 — 37-12 with 2:21 to go before half. Georgetown led 39-17 at the break and continued to add to the lead in the third.

“They threw the first punch and we’ve got to respond to that,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately, we did not. The second quarter was the same as the first quarter.”

As frustrating as things seemed for the Owls on the offensive end, they seemed easy for the Hoyas, who scored 22 points in the paint in the first half and added on with 24 more in the second half for a whopping 46 in the game. 

There were backdoor cuts and easy layups after breakdowns at the top of the defense as well. Richardson switched her team into a zone at times were miscommunications continued to lead to easy Hoyas buckets.

Georgetown senior guard Kelsey Ransom ran the show, finishing with 16 points, five assists and eight rebounds. Graduate forwards Graceann Bennett (6-for-6 from the field) and Mya Bembry (5-for-7) both scored 12 points on efficient nights down low. 

“I just feel like we have to do a better job following the scout,” Tucker said. “The coaches did a good job of preparing us for this game and that was on the scout, so just making sure we execute all the time and going to the scout that we really lock in and pay attention and be aware of it.”

No one ever found a rhythm for the Owls, who shot 17-of-54 from the floor (31 percent). Senior guard Tarriyonna Gary matched Tucker with 12 points. Star guard Aleah Nelson went 2-for-10 from the floor for five points, and East mustered two points on 1-for 9 shooting. 

Senior forward Ines Piper, who led the team with 15 points in Monday’s opener, finished with five points and eight rebounds on just 2-for-4 shooting.

Richardson’s squad scored in the 40s just twice last season — a 67-49 loss to Princeton and a 56-48 loss to Houston. They bounced back from the Princeton loss last season with a win (which was actually the win over the Hoyas). 

“It’s early in the season, so as a coach I’m gauging what they can and can’t do and how resilient they are. Seeing today, I see that some people are more resilient than others, but it’s giving me an idea of what we can do in the future.”