PHILADELPHIA – The Temple women’s basketball team. (10-11, 5-4 AAC) defeated the Wichita State Shockers (13-9, 3-6 AAC) 72-59 Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center. This is the Owls’ third straight win, the first time Cherry & White have won three straight this season.
Caranda Perea had a career-best 17 points and four rebounds. Trajata Colbert led all scorers with 25 points and also grabbed 11 boards.
First Quarter: Temple 18, Wichita State 12
> Temple started the game strong, going into the first media timeout the Owls hit four of their last five shots as they shut down the Shockers in the previous 2 minutes of the game (11-6, TU). > Thanks to points from seven different scorers, Cherry & White have built a nine-point lead. Wichita State hit two three-pointers in the closing minutes of the period to cut the lead. > Makayla Waleed and Perea tied for the team lead in points in the former with four each.
Second Quarter: Temple 35, Wichita State 28
> The Owls continued the diversified attack in the second quarter. Three different Cherry & White members scored the first five points of the quarter, holding WSU to 31% from the field in the first five minutes (26-18, TU). > Temple caught fire late in the second, Wichita State managed to stop Temple as each of the last four field goals of the half were scored by different Owls (35-22, TUs). > The Shockers scored the last five points of the quarter to cut the deficit to seven. > Six different Owls scored in the quarter, none of them scoring more than four points.
Third Quarter: Temple 57, Wichita State 41
> The two teams exchange punches for the first minutes of the quarter, with the lead never exceeding nine points. > Aleah Nelson’s free throws and Tiarra East triple extended the lead to 14, 48-34 TU. > WSU managed to staunch the bleeding until the final 90 seconds of the quarter, when Nelson and East combined for a quick five to extend the lead to 16 points. > Perea had the best quarter of the season, with 10 points. The forward broke his career-high of 15 in the middle of the frame (17 total).
Fourth Quarter: Temple 72, Wichita State 59
> The Owls scored four of the first six points. Wichita State scored the next seven points as the Owls walked cold from the field (61-50, TU). > Tarriyonna Gary made a three to get Cherry & White out of the cold stretch, but WSU continued to cut the lead into single digits (64-56, TU). > The Shockers pushed, but couldn’t get past the Owls’ sturdy defense. Temple scored the last six points to earn the win, 72-59.
Game notes
> Perea set a new career high with 17 points. She was extremely efficient from the field, knocking down 7-9 field goals and going 3-4 from deep. > This is the first time Temple has won a game in double digits since the conference opener Dec. 30 against Memphis (80-69). > Makayla Waleed scored a career-high six points, all in the first half. Prior to tonight she had scored eight points in her career.
Next up
> Temple sets off for a battle in Houston on Saturday (2 p.m. EST/ESPN+/Varsity Network App).
