City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s about time Philly caught on — Diane Richardson’s Temple women can ball. 

The Owls came into the Finneran Pavilion on Friday night and walked out champions of the inaugural Big 5 Women’s Classic, taking down host Villanova 76-62 to capture the city series title in its first year of its new format.

“This feels special,” the Owls’ third-year coach, a Maryland-area native who’s spent most of her career in that state. “When I first came to Philly, I didn’t understand the magnitude of the Big 5, because I was a foreigner. Just being here these last two years, I realized that this is a big deal and it’s big for women’s basketball, especially this year when we have so much exposure.

“Every season is precious,” she added, “and to win the first Big 5 classic is precious.”

Temple senior Tiarra East led the way with 26 points, winning Mel Greenberg MVP honors from the assembled media. The Louisville native was 10-of-18 from the floor, hitting the 20-point mark for the third time this year and finishing two points shy of her season high. 

East’s biggest shots were the back-to-back 3-pointers she hit midway through the fourth quarter, the proverbial nails in the coffin, putting Temple up 14 with less than five minutes to play; she added a layup the next time down to push the advantage to 16. 

She came into Friday only 6-of-21 from 3-point range this season (28.6%), a career 26.7% 3-point shooter. But they were shots taken with the utmost confidence, and that’s no accident.

“I was in the gym after practice every day this week, and (the coaches) were like ‘T, why are you not shooting the 3? You need to shoot it, you can really shoot it,’” she said. “I believed in myself, they believed in me, and I let it go.”

East’s effort paced Temple (5-3) on a night the Owls were 29-of-52 (55.8%) from the floor and 6-of-12 from 3-point range, an atypical night for a program that prides itself on its aggressive defense but is shooting just 37.8% from the floor even after Friday’s stats were factored in.

Tristen Taylor (15 points), Tarriyonna Gary (14 points) and Kaylah Turner (10 points) joined East in double figures.

Temple beat La Salle and Drexel to earn a spot in the title game, going up against a ‘Nova squad that beat preseason favorite St. Joe’s and Penn to win its own three-team pod. 

Richardson’s attack is built around causing chaos, the Owls entering play Friday forcing more than 20 turnovers per game. Instead, it was her squad that struggled with giveaways early, committing 13 in the first half. But they cleaned up the mistakes out of the locker rooms, turning it over just twice in the third and fourth quarters combined.

Trailing by five at halftime, Temple flipped the script with an 11-0 run in the third quarter, then closed that period on an 11-5 stretch to take a 55-50 lead into the fourth. 

Three straight buckets by sophomore guard Kaylah Turner (10 points) pushed Temple’s lead into double figures for the first time. Villanova responded with two straight buckets, before a Gary 3-pointer set up East’s massive triples.

Villanova couldn’t muster up a run down the stretch. Freshman Jasmine Bascoe continued her strong debut campaign with 19 points, but the Wildcats shot 3-of-20 (15%) from 3-point range, lost the rebound battle 34-26 and were just 26-of-63 (41.3%) from the floor overall.

“I was a little surprised by our lack of intensity, the sense of urgency that needs to happen in a big game like this,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “I was not pleased with our attention to detail on either end of the floor; basically, competing. Temple came in here to win a championship and you could see it from the start, and they stayed with it. They set the tone and ran with it.”

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Third-Place Game: Saint Joseph’s 69, Drexel 47

St. Joe’s put the brakes on Drexel in the second half, using a big run spanning the third and fourth quarters to take what had been a tight lead and turn it into an easy win. 

The Hawks (6-2) were up just five with under two minutes left in the third quarter when a Mackenzie Smith layup began an 18-2 run which spanned the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, leaving them up 21 points with less than five minutes to play.

Smith, a senior wing and four-year starter who entered play Friday averaging a career-best 14.9 ppg, finished with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 3-of-5 from the 3-point arc. It was her third 20+ outing of the season and her second against D-I competition, two shy of her season-high 25 in a November win over Syracuse.

“I think a lot of my offense comes from my teammates,” she said. “They’re phenomenal passers, Tayla Brugler, for example, our post player, had nine assists today, she knows how to get it there on time and on target, and I give credit to Laura Ziegler too. But it’s my last season and Talya and I talk about quite frequently that we don’t want to leave here with any regrets.”

Ziegler added 17 points and seven rebounds; Gabby Casey scored 11 of her own and Brugler flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 10 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. 

Amaris Baker led Drexel with 16 points. 

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Fifth-Place Game: Penn 74, La Salle 63

Strong performances from the Quakers’ top four, led by a career outing from freshman guard Sarah Miller, led the way as Penn withstood La Salle’s depth and aggressiveness to pull away over the course of the second half. 

Miller, a 5-10 guard from Phoenix, entered play Friday averaging 4.8 ppg, her season high of 16 points coming against D-III Immaculata, though she was 11-of-28 (39.3%) from 3-point range. She didn’t hurt those numbers against La Salle, going 5-of-6 from deep while hitting her only two point attempt and all four of her foul shots to lead all scorers with 21 points. 

The Quakers (7-3) also got double-doubles from senior Stina Almqvist (18 points, 11 rebounds) and freshman Katie Collins (12 points, 11 rebounds), who did all over her scoring in the second half; sophomore point guard Mataya Gayle (11 points, nine assists) was one dime shy of joining them. 

Penn led La Salle (5-5) by four at the break, but a 3-pointer by Miller started a 13-4 run to open the third quarter, giving the Quakers their largest lead yet. That edge eventually grew to as large as 19 thanks to a 13-3 fourth-quarter spurt, La Salle ending the game with a small run to get the back to its final margin.

Ashleigh Connor led three Explorers with 13 points. La Salle shot just 25-of-75 (33.3%), making two fewer shots than Penn despite 19 more attempts.