Jan. 23, 2010
With its best defensive performance of the season, Temple earned a 55-31 win against Big 5 rival Penn on Saturday afternoon. Kristen McCarthy scored a team-high 13 points and BJ Williams dished out a game-high 10 assists as Temple improved to 14-5 overall.
Penn’s 31 points is the lowest total for a Temple opponent this season. The Owls earned a 25-2 advantage in points off turnovers as the Quakers (1-14) committed 18 of them to Temple’s 11.
McCarthy shot 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from behind the arc en route to her 13 points. Victoria Macaulay came off the bench for a career-high 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and Natasha Thames tied her career-high with 10 points. Williams’ 10 assists also tie a career-high for her.
Temple stormed out to a 14-1 lead in the game. Penn narrowed the margin to eight with two minutes remaining in the first half, but a trey from McCarthy followed by a layup from Thames gave the Owls a 13-point, 32-19 advantage at the break.
The Owls scored only 23 points in the second half, but held the Quakers to 12. Temple took a 20-point lead just after the midway point of the half and led by at least that many for the rest of the contest.
Temple finished with a season-high eight blocks, which included three by Macaulay.
