BY JEREMY GOODE

PHILA.--Temple women’s basketball has not lost to La Salle in the last 13 games between the North Philadelphia schools.

Make it 14.

On Fri., Nov. 14, Temple hosted La Salle for a matinee Big 5 battle at 11 a.m., locking down on defense to defeat La Salle 75-54. The win improves the Owls to 3-1 on the early season, avenging their most recent loss by 28 at West Virginia.

“They’re a lot better,” La Salle head coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “They’re more athletic. They have more dynamic guards. They are longer in the paint… that’s a legit team we played so it was a big step up for us.”

Both teams came into the contest with solid starts to their season. La Salle was undefeated, earning wins against Loyola MD, St. Francis (PA), and Lehigh. Before most recently losing at West Virginia, Temple knocked off George Mason in overtime, and George Washington.

This season, Temple looks to expand on the season they had last year. The Owls finished fourth in the American Athletic Conference last March, going 20-11 in the regular season and 13-5 in the American. After beating Charlotte in the quarterfinals of the American Conference Championship, they fell to Rice by 18 points in the semifinals, ending any chance of playing in the NCAA tournament.

In October, the Owls were picked to finish fourth again in the league. MacGillivray does not seem to buy it.

“I told those young ladies as I was walking off the court, ‘go get that title,’” MacGillivray said in responding to whether Temple could win their conference. “They have the ability to do it for sure.”

It could have been the early 11 a.m. tip off that was responsible for the Owls slow start.

But after that slow start, the Owls picked up the pace in the second quarter and did not look back. They outscored the Explorers by 10 in the second half to go up 34-24 at halftime, and continued to outscore them in the second half by 11.

The reason for the slow start according to Temple head coach Diane Richardson? Execution and settling in.

“I think they need to be more patient… and we’ve started games slow because we’re taking quick shots and not executing our offense to get us better shots,” Richardson said. “That’s what happened when we went into the second quarter. Slow down, execute, make them play defense. And it worked well for us.”

After a tied first quarter and a sluggish shooting display by both teams, Temple upped their offensive effort, while maintaining the defensive identity they established in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Owls more than doubled their points and improved their field goal shooting by 10 percent and their three-point shooting by 30 percent.

The Owls extended their lead in the second half, giving up the lowest number of points in a quarter all game with 10. It also helped that six Owls scored in the third quarter, including two baskets in a row by Khloe Miller to extend Temple’s led to 47-32 with a few minutes left in the quarter.

“We have to play Temple basketball. We have to play our defense and not just sit back and put pressure,” Richardson said. “You noticed, we did pressure the point guard a lot more than typical, because I think we had that added advantage of pressure and pace.”

La Salle certainly noticed. 

Ashleigh Connor led the Explorers’ in scoring coming into the game averaging 21.3 points. Connor finished with 14 points but had only five after three quarters with La Salle down 15 points.

“We just had to close out… and no backdoors,” Jaleesa Molina said. “They’re really good at backdoors so we just kept at it.”

Connor, Aryss Macktoon, and Joan Quinn were contributing 56.6 of La Salle’s 78.7 points per game. The trio finished with 30 against Temple.

Part of what led to Temple’s consistent offensive presence from the second quarter on was their physicality. The Owls finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds.

“We like to rebound so we have to do it,” Molina said, who finished with 10 rebounds, two of them being offensive.

“We know La Salle from their guards to their bigs, they all like to rebound too, so, we just focused on rebounding,” Saniyah Craig said.

Craig and Molina both recorded double doubles.

Kaylah Turner led Temple in points with 12. Craig, Molina, and Kelian Cedano all added 11 points.

“I was focused on executing our plays,” Turner said. “I have to be consistent. When I come to the game, and I’m a starter now, I have to start from the jump and be that energy person for my team.”

While Temple only shot 40 percent from the field and 25 percent from three, they still recorded 75 points. La Salle shot 32% from the field and under seven percent from three.

Temple held La Salle to 25 points below their average, 17 percent below their field goals, and 30 percent below their three-point shooting.

It is a strong, early Big 5 win for Temple, a win in which they do not take for granted, regardless of recent history between the programs. 

"I've watched La Salle in their first few games and they hustle," Richardson said. "I knew that the toughness that they brought, we would have to handle that. They showed that in the first quarter and we had to step our game up and match their energy, and of course elevate a little bit to Temple's level of energy."