City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Diane Richardson knew for Temple to slow down Drexel and stay alive in the Big 5 title race, her Owls had to do one thing before all else: stop Amaris Baker. 

The O’Hara grad and 2024 CAA Tournament MVP was the Dragons’ biggest offensive weapon by far, averaging 21 ppg through Drexel’s first three contests, giving her squad an outlet in the toughest of possessions. Stretching back to last February, nobody had done a good job of slowing her down — and without stopping her, Temple’s Big 5 championships hopes were a lot dimmer.

“They’re a well-coached team, they run their stuff — but when they get down to Mayday, we know it’s going to Amaris,” Richardson said. “So we wanted to limit her touches, and not let her be able to get the ball back.”

Mission accomplished.

With Baker absolutely locked down by the Temple defense in a game where buckets were at a premium, the Owls rolled by the Dragons, 52-43, to move into the driver’s seat in the race to get into the first-ever Big 5 Classic women’s championship game. 

Baker managed just four points on 2-of-10 shooting on Saturday, committing more than twice as many turnovers against the Temple press (eight) as she had through her team’s first three games (three). Half of those points came on a meaningless layup with three seconds left.

“We worked on (guarding her) all week,” said Temple senior Tiarra East, who led the Owls (2-2, 1-0 Big 5) with 15 points. “We know most of the offense comes through her, so being able to stop her stopped the rest of the team as well. [We were] just not giving her open catches, making it hard for her to catch the ball, pushing her catches out, and making sure she sees bodies the whole game.”

East and fellow senior Tarriyonna Gary handled most of the defensive work on Baker, but it was a whole-team effort for the Owls, who had bodies flying everywhere. Baker wasn’t able to turn the corner or find any space, constantly being double-teamed anytime she approached the paint or forced into longer jumpers than she was comfortable. 

The few times she got open looks, Temple’s constant pressure forced her into taking them quickly.

“I think Temple’s a very physical team, I think we knew that coming into it,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said, “and I think they really they did a nice job of keeping her from getting to the basket, from making plays, especially if it was 1-on-1 off the dribble. It limited what she was able to do at times, and it kept her from getting easy buckets or easy looks.”

Without Baker’s offensive output, the rest of the Drexel women struggled after a hot start. The Dragons finished 18-of-60 (30%) overall and 3-of-19 (15.8%) from the 3-point arc while committing a season-high 25 turnovers, right on Temple’s average of opponents’ mistakes. 

Take out sophomore Deja Evans, who had a team-high 18 points (9-19 FG) and 11-rebounds for her first Drexel double-double, and the Dragons were just 9-of-41 (22%) from the floor.

By virtue of a 34-point win over La Salle last week, Drexel came into the weekend needing a win over Temple to go 2-0 in pod play and take its place against either St. Joe’s or Villanova in Dec. 6’s title tripleheader at Villanova. Instead, Temple’s win means the Owls need only to beat the Explorers on Dec. 1 to secure that spot themselves. 

Even if they don’t, there’s still a good chance they’ll be able to secure that title anyways. Should La Salle pull out the win over Temple, leaving all three teams at 1-1 in pod play, the NCAA’s NET rating would resolve the tiebreaker. The 2024-25 NET ratings are not currently publicly available, but Temple would likely have the highest one of the trio, with games against Georgetown, Richmond and Princeton on the early part of the schedule giving it a big boost.

Temple doesn’t have a Philadelphia-area native on its roster or coaching staff, but Richardson and her staff have learned over the last three years what the Big 5 means. Being able to take home the championship in the first year of the new format, which copies the one the men initiated last year, is something they know would be a bit of history.

“Being a Big 5 champion is big in this city, and I’ve learned that,” Richardson said. “We want to represent Temple in this tournament because I think there are going to be a lot of eyes on the tournament this year.”

Early on, it looked like Drexel would be the one celebrating its ability to play in the Big 5 championship. The Dragons jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the game’s first eight minutes but then scored 16 points in the next 20 minutes combined, the Owls slowly closing the gap and then taking the lead for the first time since it was 2-0, 33-32 with 3:01 left in the third quarter.

A 3-pointer by DU junior Grace O’Neill had the teams knotted at 35 entering the final period, but that was the last time Drexel was tied or in the lead. 

Anissa Rivera, who entered the fourth quarter with just two points, scored 10 in the final frame for Temple (3-2, 1-0 Big 5), including the bucket that put them ahead for good, 39-37 with 8:57 to play. 

By that point, Drexel’s legs were shot from Temple’s full-court press. The Owls outscored the Dragons 13-4 over the next eight minutes to secure the win, East putting the cap on it with the last two buckets of the game.

“It was a tough game, but our defense won it for us,” Richardson said. “We turned up the pressure, we weren’t hitting shots early, so we turned up the pressure early and then it turned the tide for us.”

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Rivera continues strong run of play

Anissa ‘Peanut’ Rivera came to Temple this offseason after two years at NC Central and two at Towson, though she sat out last season due to injury. The 6-1 wing/forward from Maryland played for Richardson in her first year at Towson, Richardson’s last with the Tigers, averaging 10.3 ppg and 7.1 rpg that year, so Richardson knew exactly what she was getting when she brought Rivera along for her graduate year this year. 

After scoring four points with seven rebounds in Temple’s season opener, Rivera has scored in double figures in each of the last four. She’s now second on Temple in scoring (11.0 ppg) and the team leader in rebounding (9.6/game) after recording double-doubles against VCU (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Georgetown (16 points, 12 rebounds). 

“She’s played for me before and so I know what buttons to push with her, and I’ve known her since she was a little kid, so I know what kind of things gets her going,” Richardson said. “Coming off the bench, she’s put up some numbers for us, and she knows exactly what we do.”

She finished with 12 points and six rebounds against Drexel, adding four steals and two blocks, her length and athleticism a perfect fit for Richardon’s full-court press defense. 

“I like to play long, they like to play long; we like to play intense, I like to play intense,” she said. “We like to run out in transition, we like to get in the passing lines like everybody else. Once we do it as a team and individually, it’s great basketball.”

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Temple shooting itself in the foot

Five games into the season, Temple’s shooting has become a real concern. 

The Owls came into Saturday having shot below 40% from the floor in three straight, including a dreadful outing at Georgetown where they were just 17-of-61 (27.9%) from the floor and 1-of-16 (6.3%) from 3-point range. Though they won, they were 21-of-66 (31.8%) overall against Drexel, 3-of-12 (25%) from 3-point range, and turned it over 20 times. 

““I didn’t expect that our shooting would be down this game, I thought that we would be able to bounce back [after Georgetown],” Richardson said, “but we’re going to get back in the gym and knock down shots again, and still have the confidence, because these are shots that we normally make.”

Saturday’s outing puts Richardson’s team at 34.3% from the floor compared to 41.5% by their opponents; the Owls are shooting 25-of-99 (25.3%) from 3-point range. Tarriyonna Gary, who’s knocked down 36% of her 3-pointers the last three seasons, is 10-of-39 (25.6%), and nobody else on the team’s made more than four through five games.

Also concerning was some of the short-range shooting. Starting forward Jaleesa Molina was 0-for-8 from the floor against Drexel, and the Owls as a whole missed quite a few open layups. 

“I think we just need to keep shooting the ball,” Rivera said. “Our defense gets us offense, so as long as we keep shooting the ball and keep having confidence in our shots, then we’ll be good.”

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Evans dominates in the post for Drexel

While Drexel generally struggled on Saturday, Deja Evans shined.

The Dragons’ coaches had been counting on the 6-2 Wood graduate to be a game-changer in the middle, and so far, she’s been delivering. Evans had by far her most impactful game yet in a Drexel uniform on Saturday, finishing oh-so-close to a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and nine blocks as she was constantly involved at both ends. 

Despite being in the middle of a ton of physical play on both ends, she only played up two fouls in 39 minutes of action, the Archbishop Wood product and Albany transfer with the best game of her collegiate career.

“I’m really proud of Deja,” Mallon said. “ I think Deja tonight, you saw what she’s capable of doing. I think that’s just going to continue to be something she builds on. She almost had a triple-double, she missed it by one block. Just really really impressive what she did.”

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Up Next
Temple (3-2, 1-0) will play Ivy league preseason favorite Princeton on Tuesday, Nov. 26, with tipoff scheduled for 5:00 PM. 

Drexel (2-2, 1-1) returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at Penn State, with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 PM.