The Guru NCAAW Report: Temple Recovers From Blown Lead to Beat Memphis and Move Close to 4th Seed in AAC Tourney; Taurasi Announces Retirement

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

In a second-straight light day of games but not of news Temple was at it again Tuesday on the road where the Owls coughed up a big lead, this one 16 points in the third quarter but they came back in the next period to win at Memphis 91-79 and with Tulane’s narrow loss 77-73 at home to front-runner UTSA  (24-3, 15-1) in New Orleans opened a two-game lead on the Green Wave  (16-11, 9-7) for fourth place and the last double bye in next month’s American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.

Temple (17-10, 11-5) can clinch the spot on Friday night in the final home game of the regular season when the Owls honor their outgoing seniors at the Liacouras Center at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and then host Rice (14-14, 7-9).  They finish the schedule Tuesday at Charlotte (9-17, 4-11).

The win came on the same day that WNBA and UConn great Diana Taurasi, definitely the GOAT in the women’s collegiate and professional game, as well as international, made her anticipated retirement from the Phoenix Mercury official through an exclusive interview with Time Magazine.

Wilmington’s Elena Delle Donne, who starred at Delaware and last played on the WNBA Washington Mystics several seasons ago, is expected some time in the near future to do likewise.

Taurasi, a native of Southern California, played here several times at Villanova when the Huskies and Wildcats were in the original Power conference equivalent Big East during her collegiate era (2000-04) winning three national titles.

Back to the Temple game, the Owls stormed to a 46-30 halftime lead only to have it vanish to a 63-63 deadlock going into the final period on a 33-17 rally by Memphis (7-20, 5-11).

They then forged in front with a 28-16 finish looking more like the team that was tri-champions in the AAC regular season 12 months ago.

Tiarra East and Kaylah Turner tied for game honors with 21 points, the first time since December East reached 20, the same month she was MVP of the Big Five Classic, when Temple beat Villanova at the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion to win the first tournament configuration in the new City Series format.

Jaleesa Molina added 12 points, Anissa Rivera scored 11, and Tarriyonna Gary and Tristen Taylor each collected 10 points.

While fourth would mean a semifinal match up with first-place UTSA, which leads by a game if it holds the spot and not get upset through the AAC bracket, Temple had sizable leads to two of the three frontrunners it squandered besides getting swept by preseason favorite South Florida.

The championship game for the NCAA automatic bid would at worst lead to a spot in the new WBIT begun by the NCAA last year in which Villanova got to the title game or the WNIT, which Temple did not apply for consideration or Penn, fourth in the Ivy League, was not allowed by the Ivies to seek.

The National Scene

Since we did not post off Monday’s schedule, Texas (27-2, 13-1), which became No. 1 earlier in the day for the first time in 21 years, won its SEC trip to Georgia 57-26 in Athens as Taylor Jones had 17 points and matched her personal best 16 rebounds while Rori Harmon and Ndjakalenga each scored against the Bulldogs (10-18, 2-12), who have fallen on hard times from their days being one of the top ten teams in the nation.

This is Texas’ first year in the SEC having left with Oklahoma from the Big 12 and the Longhorns are tied for first place with No. 6 South Carolina in the final week of the regular season, the two having split their games.

The Texans finish at Mississippi State Thursday and host Florida in Austiin Sunday favored to win both while the defending NCAA champion Gamecocks (25-3, 13-1) are at Ole Miss Thursday at 9 p.m. on ESPN and host No. 15 Sunday in Columbia.

The other Monday game of note saw No. 17 Baylor win its Big 12 game at No. 14 Kansas 79-62 as Aaronette Vondeh scored 21 points with 12 rebounds for the Bears (25-5, 15-2) who have won nine straight while Serena Sundell scored 20 for the Wildcats (25-5, 13-4).

Baylor finishes Sunday hosting No. 10 TCU (26-3, 14-2) in Waco currently leading the Horned Frogs by a half-game for first.

TCU hosts Houston Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Fort Worth and a win means Sunday’s game is for No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which starts next week.

Looking Ahead

The schedule ramps back up with Villanova hosting Butler at 6 p.m. (FloSports), the final home game for the Wildcats, who will honor their seniors before finishing the Big East slate Sunday in Omaha, Neb., at No. 22 Creighton, which is at No. 5 Connecticut Thursday in Hartford.

A Huskies win clinches top seed for the Big East tourney next weekend returning to the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.

Saint Joseph’s has a must-win A-10 game Wednesday at Dayton (7 p.m., ESPN+) before hosting defending and regular season champion Richmond Saturday at Hagan Arena looking for a split with the Spiders on a day the Hawks honor their  seniors ahead of next weekend’s A-10 tourney returning to Henrico, Va., outside Richmond.

La Salle Wednesday is at Fordham Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+) in the Bronx before the Explorers  finish their A-10 slate Saturday honoring their seniors and hosting VCU (2 p.m., ESPN+) at John E. Glaser Arena.

In the Patriot League Wednesday Lehigh can move within a game of top seed in the conference tourney all played on home courts of the higher seeds by winning at Boston U. (6 p.m., ESPN+).

Lafayette is at Army at 3 p.m. (ESPN+).

Nationally, Wednesday, Davidson has an A-10 game 6 p.m. at Richmond (ESPN+) while in the Big Ten, No. 23 Michigan State is at No. 12 Ohio State at 7 p.m., while No. 2 UCLA at 8 p.m. is at Wisconsin on Peacock.

In the Big 12 besides the Houston/TCU game, No. 18 West Virginia hosts Utah at 7 p.m. in Morgantown.

And that’s the report.